Vying Games : Amazons

Amazons, or The Game of the Amazons as it's also known, was invented in 1988 by Walter Zamkauskas. It's a territorial game with a simple but compelling concept.

How to Play

Amazons is played on a 10x10 board by two players. Each player controls 4 white or 4 black amazons (sometimes called "queens" because of their movement style).

The amazons move in the same way that a Chess queen does. That is, as far as one likes in a straight line (including diagonals). The amazons cannot pass through obstacles like other amazons, and there is no capturing as there is in Chess.

The players take turns moving one amazon. After moving, the amazon shoots an arrow. Arrows travel in the same way that amazons move: In a straight line (including diagonals), and cannot pass through obstacles such as another amazon or arrow. Arrows effectively block the movement of the amazons.

The goal of the game is to claim more territory than your opponent. The first player that runs out of space and cannot move is the loser.

Score

Most games of Amazons are effectively over once all the amazons are divided into separate territories. At that point, there is no more land left to divide and each amazon moves and fires arrows in such a way as to make efficient use of her territory.

It should be clear at this point, that if one player has access to more territory than the other, then careful play will lead to a tedious victory. So, one player may want to forfeit to end the game early rather than playing out an obvious loss.

To help players decide how the game will play out, we provide a score by each player's name. The score is the number of squares the player has access to. The score is mostly worthless until all the amazons have been divided into separate territories. At which point it can be used for guesstimating which side will win.

But, be careful. The score can be misleading. Just because an amazon has access to 3 squares, for example, does not mean she can utilize them all. If the 3 squares are not in a straight line, and the amazon is in the middle, she'll be forced to divide the territory in half, losing access to the other half. This is called a defective territory.

One last note about score: It doesn't effect the outcome of the game in any way. The first player who cannot move loses, regardless of the score. It's actually possible to lose despite having a higher score.

About the Bots

The two bots for Amazons are not very smart. But, at least they know it, and will (usually, eventually) forfeit when they know they're going to lose. We'll try to add a third, smarter bot once we have a better grasp on Amazons strategy.