10 votes

In spades, is a deuce of clubs considered a spade?

The deuce of club and hearts do not considered a spade in the standard game, however there are variants where they do. From Pagat: In some versions of Spades, some or all of the four twos are ...
Cohensius's user avatar
  • 4,075
6 votes

What variants are there for the playing-card-based game "War"?

Strategy War / Armed War There is a variant of war, called "Strategy War" or "Armed War" (a joke on hands) where, instead of pulling the card from the top of your deck, you chose ...
Zags's user avatar
  • 17.9k
6 votes

What is this game, played with chess board and pieces, but with totally different rules?

It's Ultima King, represented by the King. Withdrawer, represented by the Queen. Chameleon, represented by the Bishop. Long Leaper, represented by the Knight. Coordinator, represented by the Rook. ...
user19566's user avatar
6 votes

Why Does Magic Use The "Paris Mulligan" Rule?

There is an excellent article up by one of the Magic developers that discusses the issues with various mulligan types, and why they upgraded to the new "Vancouver" Scry 1 mulligan. A quick summary: ...
deworde's user avatar
  • 1,985
5 votes
Accepted

How do I play 4D Tic-Tac-Toe?

You could draw a 2D array of 2D boards, like this: ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢b▢ aaa ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢b▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ c▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢▢ ▢c▢ ▢▢▢ ▢b▢ ▢▢▢ ▢▢c You'd probably want a 4x4 array of ...
Benjamin Cosman's user avatar
4 votes

Does a Go variant on an infinite board exist?

There is a Go variant without boundaries (but, of course, on a finite board): Torus Go. It is sometimes played in Go clubs or as a side event on Go tournaments. On a traditional board I find it very ...
Sir Cornflakes's user avatar
3 votes
Accepted

What is 5/5/2 variant of the Machi Koro?

This variant seems to have been introduced with the Harbor Expansion and I'm not sure it would work well with just the base game. It's a way to avoid having only low (resp. high) numbered buildings ...
beewee's user avatar
  • 1,830
3 votes

Checkers - with customized starting setups and AI agents

I found a Windows program on https://dammen.startpagina.nl/ (checkers is called 'dammen'in Dutch). On this page I installed the program "dam 2.2". This is amazing. I can customize the setup (...
Marlein's user avatar
  • 61
3 votes
Accepted

Help me refind this 3d go variant - pieces can be stacked in a pyramid fashion

It sounds like it might be Margo, except that Margo is played on a 7X7 grid, not 9X9. Per the linked website by Cameron Browne: Two players, White and Black, each have at least enough marbles of ...
1006a's user avatar
  • 196
3 votes

Different between Capsa, Big two and Daifugō

According to Wikipedia, Cap Sa and Big Two are the same game while Daifugo has slightly different rules. I could scrutinize those pages and try to summarize the differences here, but I think there's ...
Benjamin Cosman's user avatar
3 votes

Winning strategy for NxN Tic-Tac-Toe

Optimal play on NxN boards where you need N in a row leads to a draw for all N > 2. Contemporary Combinatorics, by Bela Bollobas has a proof of it. Below is a summary of this. The images below are ...
Zags's user avatar
  • 17.9k
3 votes

Looking to identify an unusual type of solitaire

This sounds like it's equivalent to Clock Patience, but with a less space-consuming layout and using the aces as the starter pile rather than the kings. I've also seen it referred to as "Travellers".
aschoonmaker's user avatar
3 votes

Does a Go variant on an infinite board exist?

There are variants like 3 dimensional Go, which may be interesting to you. However, from personal experience as well as seeing higher dans struggle, I'd guess humans are far worse at them than ...
mafu's user avatar
  • 6,972
3 votes

Can you identify this likely chess variant?

Michael Ireland, the person who posted their copy on chessvairants.com, remembered some details, and replied with some added information (original post here). I will quote it here: Viking Chess Rules ...
blobfish sandwich's user avatar
3 votes

Strategy for Movable Tic Tac Toe

The game you are describing is more similar to Three Men's Morris than to Tic Tac Toe. Unlike Three Men's Morris, the extra movement options under the rules you cite mean the game is likely a draw ...
Zags's user avatar
  • 17.9k
2 votes

Can I legally make a boggle variant?

Copyright only covers specific implementations, i.e. the exact wording of the rules. Patents are a nonissue in this case, Boggle was released in 1972 so any patent applying to it would have expired ...
r256's user avatar
  • 146
2 votes
Accepted

Barbu - should the declarer pass after every hand?

In France, it's not considered a house-rule, but a variant. It's usually played that way with newcomers because it makes the game more active and seems more "fair" since people don't have to do their ...
LamaDelRay's user avatar
2 votes
Accepted

Player count variants for Pitch

I'm an avid pitch player as well, 4pt 10pt and 13pt :) For 2-3 players, you can play 4 point pitch with no teams! I find 4 point perfect for times when you need something to do but don't have a whole ...
cet51's user avatar
  • 136
2 votes
Accepted

40k 8th Edition Unit Customization

Has 40k lost a lot of its customization and character options? Yes and no. In Matched play your options are much more limited, but in Open, and to a lesser extent Narrative play whatever your ...
aslum's user avatar
  • 4,756
2 votes

Crazyhouse Chess: is it possible to get all eighteen queens?

If that is the goal of both players, should be easy to achieve. Simply move weak side king away from his 1st rank and build a wall of minor pieces between him and the passed pawns. With a little ...
Lee's user avatar
  • 816
2 votes
Accepted

What is timing for Global Conflicts Variant in through the ages?

There is ambiguity, but I would do the Global Conflict culture award first, and then follow the usual start of a new age process as defined in the rulebook. Discard antiquated cards Remove antiquated ...
Pat Ludwig's user avatar
  • 29.9k
2 votes

What variants are there for the playing-card-based game "War"?

Strategy War with identical decks: Deal: split the card deck into equal black and red piles, add the two jokers on to each pile as the weakest cards. Play: players choose any card from their pile ...
Frank's user avatar
  • 21
2 votes

What strategies are there for the “no forced jumps” variant of checkers?

One of the big reasons kids don't like the forced jump rule is the simple fact of feeling trapped into sacrificing their pieces by taking yours. I believe you are correct in your strategy of holding ...
Jokus's user avatar
  • 417
2 votes

Does a Go variant on an infinite board exist?

With a time control, you could play on the infinite board. A player could be forced to pass when the time limit is reached. Eventually, both players pass (unless somebody resigns before) and the game ...
Vladimir Reshetnikov's user avatar
2 votes
Accepted

Gin Rummy with Jokers

Various sites (e.g., rummyculture) list rummy variants with jokers, but not Gin Rummy specifically. But the rules could be adapted directly. Suggested set of rules: Jokers are worth 30, as in most ...
L. Scott Johnson's user avatar
2 votes

What's the name of this Connect 4 variant?

This is not a well-known variant. But it sounds like an interesting House rule If it was a common variant it would be mentioned in one of the Connect4 variant lists which appear on BGG, Wiki, ...
Cohensius's user avatar
  • 4,075
2 votes
Accepted

What's the name of this Connect 4 variant?

This is not an official variant of the game. It's similar to the "PopOut" variant by Hasbro, and seems like a totally viable house-rule variant if you have a Connect 4 Revised Edition board....
Zags's user avatar
  • 17.9k
1 vote
Accepted

Gin-Rummy with different number of cards

The standard 13 Card Rummy suggests you're OK to look to 13 as the basis of your pattern, yes. For Gin, I'd say you have it right: hands should be 4 + 3*k cards for some positive integer k. 11 is ...
L. Scott Johnson's user avatar
1 vote
Accepted

What are the rules for playing Four way Chess

https://www.chess.com/4-player-chess It's a point-based system where you get points for a variety of events, including: capturing pieces of the other three players, putting multiple kings in check ...
The Chaz 2.0's user avatar
  • 3,486
1 vote

Winning strategy for NxN Tic-Tac-Toe

There are several generalizations to tic-tac-toe. The most natural one (imho), is the m,n,k-game, which is the game of k-in-a-row played on an (m,n) board. In (n,n,n) games, for n>2, the second ...
Cohensius's user avatar
  • 4,075

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