626:; one needs to keep one's options open. Building a tall stack early in the movement phase is a mistake. Most often, the game is won by the player who is capable of making the last move(s). Maintaining some single stones until the end phase is, therefore, very often a good strategy. As a general rule one can state that using a tower to take a single stone of the opponent usually is one of the better moves, since this preserves own singles. A second general rule for selecting which move to make is that you should not make a move that the opponent cannot prevent you from making at a later time.
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capturing an opponent's stone, they are effectively losing one stone. Only when a really large group of own stones is at risk, or in the end-phase of the game, should one consider placing own stones on top of each other. In any other situation, it is better to just give up the stone(s) in risk of being isolated and play offensive moves elsewhere and make the opponent lose a similar or preferably larger number of stones on another part of the board.
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The first few moves should correct any place where your position must be fixed: helping or moving pieces that could become isolated and moving outside pieces in order to give inside ones mobility. To go for a victory, one should try to recognize if it is possible to isolate part of the board from all
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A player is not allowed to pass unless no legal moves are available. The game ends when both players have no legal moves. To determine the winner, each player collects their owned stacks into a single tower. The winner is the player with the higher tower. The game ends in a draw in case both players
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A very common mistake among beginners is that they are stacking own stones on top of each other in an attempt to prevent losing stones by being cut off by the opponent. However, since the game is all about mobility, this usually is a bad thing, since by stacking two of their own stones, instead of
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is played on a board with 49 spaces. The board has a hexagonal layout 5 hexes wide. Equivalently, the board can be considered to be a hexagonal shape with three intersecting nodes on four sides, and nine nodes on two longer sides opposite each other. These nodes are connected by a triangular grid,
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piece helps defend them from potential attack. Next, pieces that are surrounded cannot move; therefore, having pieces along the side to start the game is valuable. Such pieces should also be in position to free other pieces on the inside. Finally, lumping groups of one's own pieces together is
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Many beginner players place their pieces at the start of the game without a clear objective. However, placement is as major a factor in winning as the movement phase. While it is not possible to guarantee victory with a strong setup, it is possible to have no chance of winning by placing your
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piece; keeping all of one's pieces together often makes this difficult. Spreading pieces out across the board also increases the chance of maintaining a short (and therefore highly mobile) stack into endgame, where it may be moved into position for a crucial capture.
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After move 70 (about 20 moves into the movement phase) the board clears and settles. It becomes much more important to look ahead to see how every move affects the overall situation. Tall stacks are very hard to move, so they should be formed next to (or on)
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The maximum possible number of moves in the game is 97 (49 for placement and 48 in play, passes are not counted). In competition, each player typically gets 15 minutes for the entire game in real-life tournaments, or 10 minutes for online tournaments.
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pieces. Pieces can be placed on any unoccupied space. White starts, and the players alternate. So Black is the first to place a piece of their own color. The first phase ends when all pieces are placed on the board, filling it completely.
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All moves must follow a straight line; most interior spaces have six potential directions for movement, while the perimeter spaces have four directions, and the corner spaces have three. The triangular-gridded board illustrates this
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piece is especially desirable if it is possible to move it toward one's own pieces and away from one's opponent's. However, every capture counts, so big captures and maintaining mobility is more important than just taking
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strategy discussions among expert players often use a number of terms to express the game situation. In the Yahoo Gipf discussion group the development of this list of terms was initiated by Alan Kwan and completed by
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of a stack determines the number of spaces that stack will move. In the illustrated example, the only legal move for the black-owned stack of two at D3 is two spaces to the right to F3, denoted
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The white player takes the first move in the movement phase. Because the board is completely filled, the white player must move a white piece on the perimeter of the board as the first move.
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is equal to the number of pieces in the stack. In this phase, "stacks" and "pieces" are used interchangeably, with the understanding that a piece is simply a stack with one member or height
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piece is taken, the opponent is not losing a stone, which means that effectively you are set back one stone in the stonecount compared to the opponent. Therefore, one should take a
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It may also be possible to string a line of one's own pieces across the board up and down. Play almost always separates along this line; pieces on one side of a string that has no
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piece are usually doomed. An additional advantage of placing stones connected in a line is that moving a stone on either end of the line will free another own stone for movement.
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pieces over the board is usually recommended for novice players, since this way they will be less vulnerable against groups of stones being lost by a cut off. Having all 3 red
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The set includes 49 colored pieces. One player has 23 black pieces to play, while the other player has 23 white pieces. There are also 3 neutral red pieces, called
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RoRoRo the Bot and Jan's program used to play online at the LittleGolem games site until 2014 and 2016 respectively, and were usually among the top 10 players.
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piece only if one has a plan with it to gain a larger advantage, or if one needs to prevent the opponent from gaining a significant advantage by moving it.
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Stacks cannot be moved onto an empty space. All moves must terminate on an occupied space. However, stacks may jump over empty or occupied spaces.
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pieces in such a way that the isolated part will contain more of the opponents stones than your own. Preferably, always play stones towards the
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can be learned in a few minutes. The main factor needed to win is to be in control of the game. The basic strategy of the game is given on the
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cannot be moved, but they can be moved once they are part of a stack. For example, the black-owned stack at C2 could be moved on top of the
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would disconnect the white stack of two at K4 and remove it from the board, which would not be advantageous for the white player.
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piece controlled by the opponent can isolate a large group of pieces. However, mobility is the most important aspect of
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The game starts with an empty board and proceeds in two phases: first the players take turns filling the board in the
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Players build stacks of pieces during the second phase by moving pieces and stacks onto other pieces or stacks.
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pieces grouped together near the edge almost guarantees a win for an experienced player playing with white.
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There are many computer programs capable of playing Dvonn at a high level. Some of the early ones include:
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website. The more advanced strategy tips are derived from the general strategy guidelines developed by the
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is determined by the number of surrounding stacks. If a stack is surrounded by 6 adjacent stacks, it is
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pieces. A similar rule applies here as is the case for placing own stones on top of each other. When a
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pieces, thereby keeping them safe from potential separation. Keeping at least three pieces by each
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During the first phase, the players place their pieces on the board, starting with the three red
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The white-owned stack of nine pieces at I5 is effectively immobile, as there are no legal moves.
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pieces, spaces by the side, and general density. The first objective is to place pieces by
284:. To start, players determine which one moves first; that player is assigned two of the red
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The object of the game is to control more pieces than your opponent at the end of the game.
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which produced many high-level computer players, including contest winner PrimaDvonna.
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in which the objective is to accumulate pieces in stacks. It was released in 2001 by
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usually poor strategy. It is desirable to capture on every move, or at least take a
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After each move, all stacks that are not connected via adjoining stacks to a
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526:. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed.
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and the twenty-three white pieces. The other player is assigned one
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Pieces should be placed with three main goals in mind: spaces by
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926:"DVONN spelbeschrijving (with strategy terminology in English)"
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is a program supporting multiple games, including Dvonn.
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game site. In 2003, 2004, and 2008 the game developer,
906:"Dvonn World Championship at Mind Sports Olympiad 2008"
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game in progress, with stack heights for illustration.
972:"DVONN: proposed glossary for strategy discussions"
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280:, then players build stacks of pieces during the
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434:own an equal number of stones in their tower.
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8:
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542:Learn how and when to remove this message
192:magazine Game of the Year Award in 2003.
946:"GIPF · (unofficial GIPF mailing list)"
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614:Capturing pieces that could capture a
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346:by a player if their color is on top.
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618:piece can be important, as a moving
1246:, against human or robot opponents.
611:pieces rather than away from them.
586:Having an even distribution of the
292:and the twenty-three black pieces.
801:"BrettspielWelt Dvonn guild forum"
14:
1161:Verver, Maks (11 February 2022).
1199:Family games : The 100 best
1183:"Pyramid: Pyramid Review: Dvonn"
708:Dvonn was the topic of the 2011
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29:
678:Dvonn playing computer programs
1394:Board games introduced in 2001
249:similar to other games in the
35:Close-up board and game pieces
1:
16:Abstract strategy board game
522:the claims made and adding
365:During the movement phase:
76:; 23 years ago
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729:Family Games: The 100 Best
238:Equivalent triangular grid
184:International Gamers Award
171:as the fourth game in the
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885:"World Championship 2004"
864:"World Championship 2003"
781:"World Championship 2004"
28:
1148:"CodeCup 2011 (archive)"
1087:"Dvonn practice program"
843:"Leitfaden für Anfänger"
480:, organized a real life
1399:Abstract strategy games
1196:Lowder, James (2010).
1022:Bodenstein, Matthias.
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327:Relevant definitions:
321:
97:Abstract strategy game
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422: (1W)J4→J5
418: (1W)F1→F2
400: (3B)C2→F2
378: (2B)D3→F3
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1404:Mensa Select winners
662:Strategy terminology
484:world championship.
429:Passing and game end
339:and cannot be moved.
1126:Trautmann, Martin.
1107:"Dvonn rating list"
695:Jan's Dvonn program
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507:possibly contains
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408:(or stacks with a
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1209:978-1-934547-21-2
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1045:"RoRoRo the Bot"
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1000:. Archived from
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978:on July 10, 2012
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57:Rio Grande Games
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1066:"Jan's Program"
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1002:the original
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976:the original
970:Kwan, Alan.
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950:the original
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904:Burm, Kris.
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883:Burm, Kris.
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862:Burm, Kris.
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820:Burm, Kris.
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779:Burm, Kris.
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119:Playing time
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414:DVONN piece
410:DVONN piece
396:DVONN piece
372:The height
353:of a stack
342:A stack is
290:DVONN piece
272:Game phases
211:game boards
71:Publication
1388:Categories
1242:online at
1133:2011-11-25
1112:2007-10-02
1092:2007-10-02
1071:2007-10-02
1050:2007-10-02
1029:2007-10-02
1008:2007-10-02
996:NivoZero.
982:2007-07-31
956:2007-07-31
931:2007-07-31
911:2008-10-14
890:2007-07-30
869:2007-07-30
848:2007-07-30
841:Penelopé.
827:2007-08-16
822:"Strategy"
806:2007-07-30
786:2007-07-30
735:References
516:improve it
165:board game
122:30 minutes
114:Negligible
111:Setup time
93:Board game
65:SmartGames
53:Publishers
1024:"Dvonner"
672:Kris Burm
633:Taking a
520:verifying
478:Kris Burm
296:Placement
253:Project.
201:Equipment
169:Kris Burm
149:, tactics
135:Age range
47:Kris Burm
42:Designers
998:"dDvonn"
759:GIPF.com
603:the red
442:Strategy
384:clearly.
337:immobile
333:mobility
309:Movement
186:and the
162:strategy
147:Strategy
138:8 and up
1128:"Holtz"
723:Pyramid
716:Reviews
710:CodeCup
689:Dvonner
514:Please
466:Project
398:at F2:
390:Single
176:Project
103:Players
79: (
1206:
1168:GitHub
764:6 July
686:dDvonn
416:at F2
351:height
331:Stack
264:Object
143:Skills
127:Chance
89:Genres
1368:LYNGK
1357:PÜNCT
1346:YINSH
1335:DVONN
1324:ZÈRTZ
1313:TAMSK
1308:TZAAR
1239:DVONN
1237:Play
1227:DVONN
703:Holtz
667:DVONN
656:DVONN
648:DVONN
644:DVONN
640:DVONN
635:DVONN
624:DVONN
620:DVONN
616:DVONN
609:DVONN
605:DVONN
592:Dvonn
588:DVONN
581:DVONN
573:DVONN
568:DVONN
564:DVONN
560:DVONN
482:DVONN
470:DVONN
459:DVONN
451:DVONN
344:owned
318:DVONN
302:DVONN
246:DVONN
209:DVONN
196:Rules
189:Games
180:DVONN
157:DVONN
23:DVONN
1297:GIPF
1204:ISBN
766:2022
464:GIPF
361:= 1.
349:The
251:GIPF
174:GIPF
130:None
81:2001
74:2001
1230:at
518:by
1390::
1165:.
757:.
742:^
674:.
260:.
178:.
1273:e
1266:t
1259:v
1212:.
1185:.
1171:.
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1136:.
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893:.
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851:.
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768:.
545:)
539:(
534:)
530:(
512:.
374:h
359:h
355:h
106:2
83:)
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