Fano330-R-Morris (English)

History †

Fano330-R-Morris is a very simple yet very strategic pattern making game, designed by Masahiro Nakajima, the Curator of 'The Museum of Abstract Strategy Games' in 2015. The game was invented as a bonus game for the free magazine that The Museum is distributing at The Game Market 2015 Fall.

The game has been announced and test played at The Nestor Meeting 2015, London Meeting 2015, The 40th Meeting of The Abstract Strategy Game Society and very well received.

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Description †

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Board & Pieces †


Original Board for Game Market 2015 Autumn	Original Pieces (330yen and Prototype pieces)


Board of Nestor Version	Pieces of Nestor Version

Fano Plane (the finite projective plane of order 2) as above is used for the board, and the Japanese coins below are used for the official pieces of the game:

1st Player: ¥100 × 2, ¥50 × 2
2nd Player: ¥10 × 2, ¥5 × 2

For the Nestor version of the official pieces, you can use two different shaped pieces in two different colors as below:

1st Player: ○×2, △×2
2nd Player: ●×2, ▲×2

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Game Play †

A “ruthless” game that you can never win in your turn, but lose :-(☺

The player who has the following conditions in her turn loses:

If she does not have any pieces that can be moved when starting her turn.
If 3 pieces in the same color or in the same shape are on a “straight line” when finishing her turn.
- “Straight lines” are the 7 lines that connect the following three grids on the board: {1,2,4},{2,3,5},{3,4,6},{4,5,7},{5,6,1},{6,7,2},{7,1,3}
- Only the pieces on top applied when pieces are stacked. (See below “Placement Phase B)”.)

In case “repetition of moves” happens, the game ends in a draw, or players need to play the game again: The 1st Player plays second, and the 2nd Player plays the first.

Placement Phase

Players place one of their pieces on the board in their turns, following the rules below:

Place them on the circled grids.
Pieces can be stacked on other pieces already on the grids of the board. Only two pieces can be stacked but not more than three. Exactly same pieces (the same color and the same shape) cannot be stacked.

Move Phase

If the game still continues when Placement Phase finishes, players move one of their pieces to adjacent grids in turns, following the rules below:

Move them to adjacent circled grids.
Pieces can be stacked on other pieces already on the grids of the board. Only two pieces can be stacked but not more than three. Two same pieces (the same color and the same shape) cannot be stacked.
When stacked, pieces on the first layer cannot be moved.

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Note †

Applying the rule that "you can never win in your turn, but lose," this game does not have to have exceptions for the winning or losing conditions such as; if such and such occurs, you win, but another such and such happens, then you lose.

In your turn, you need to think what you should do in order your opponent only has a hand that makes him lose in the next turn. Looking one hand ahead is the key to win the game.

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Download †

Paper Board Fano330-R-Morris.pdf
A printable set of a Fano Plane board and pieces for the game. Of course, you can also play the game using 330 yen (2 x 100 yen coins, 2 x 50 yen coins, 2 x 10 yen coins, and 2 x 5 yen coins).

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