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I've already sung the praises of the rules of Draughts. Hexdame is a literal translation of Draughts to the hexgrid, and therewith its invention was no more than a technical affair on which I embarked after having seen a ridiculous attempt, published nevertheless in a magazine called 'Games & Puzzles', by someone who not only employed a diagonal sub-grid, but in the wrong orientation, with two forwards moves, two sideways and two backwards.
So here it is, a perfect way to illustrate how the same set of rules can render a game with a totally different character, despite the many similarities in the combinatorial realm. I'll go into that a bit more:
- The initial position perfectly suits the board. As in square games with orthogonal movement and capture, like Turkish Draughts or Dameo, progress along the edges is possible without 'entering the field'. That's why Dameo's initial position is adapted to counter massive build-up along them. Here the initial position makes an adaption unnecessary.
- In consequence of the above, Hexdame has 2x16 men on 61 cells, whereas Draughts has 2x20 men on 50 squares. Hexdame gives far more room to manoeuver in the opening, whereas Draughts is 'close contact' from the onset. Some might consider Hexdame 'slower' for that reason.
- In Draughts differences in pace can only arise by exchanges, for instance where an advanced man is exchanged for a defender or where a forward capture is answered by a backward one. In Hexdame such differences can also arise by straight or oblique movement.
- HexDame knows no one-on-one opposition and has fewer means to block an opponent. The game therefore has a tendency towards breakthrough and race, rather than opposition and blockade, with hardly any possibility to keep a game closed.
- In HexDame three kings suffice to capture a lone one. The game's margin of draws therefore supposedly lies somewhere between Draughts and Dameo.
As expected, Draughts players didn't turn en masse to the hexagonal brother from the gutter. But over the years the appreciation has grown to the point that it is not, as most variants, automatically ridiculed by the Draughts community. Some comments are even quite favorable, but of course few actually play it.
That's all right with me. I wouldn't have it stand in the way of Dameo. Now that, dear Draughts community, is the game to really worry about. It might solve the problem you "don't have"!
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