Redstone
Redstone Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
You must annihilate your opponent, removing all of his stones from the board. If your placement eliminates all black and white stones from the board, you win. If your placement eliminates all of your own stones while enemy stones remain on the board, you lose.
Play
Starting with Black, the two players take turns placing stones onto unoccupied points on the board, subject to restrictions, one stone per turn.
No Passing
Passing is not allowed in Redstone. Players will always have a placement available and must make one.
Groups and Liberties
A group is an orthogonally interconnected collection of one or more like-colored stones. Only black groups and white groups will be discussed here, not red groups. A liberty is an unoccupied point adjacent to a (black or white) group.
Captures
A capturing placement results in one or more groups, of either or both colors, having no liberties. Such a placement can only be made with a red stone. Conversely, a red stone can only be placed if it bounds (completely deprives of liberties) one or more groups of either or both colors. Red stones are permanent. They cannot themselves be captured. Self capture is allowed.
When multiple groups without liberties result from a placement, all such groups are removed immediately following said placement, regardless of the groups' colors. Unlike Go, if you unbound your own temporarily bounded group by removing a neighboring enemy group, you must still remove your own temporarily bounded group.
A player may claim a bounded point with a red stone, capturing his own bounded group, or with a like-colored stone joining his groups together without capturing anything, when placing there would not itself create a bounded group.
A player is not allowed to place a stone of any color on a point where a stone of that color would itself be a bounded group, unless a red stone placed there would bound at least one group — because a red stone can only be played if it bounds a group, and no groups would be bounded by a red stone on such a point unless it truly bounds one.
Pie Rule
Since Redstone is a game of annihilation, not of point score, Go's komi can't be used. Instead, Redstone uses the pie rule for balance.
Author's Note
Feel free to publish this rule sheet, and to program the game of Redstone for online or offline play. There is no licensing fee, and no royalties are expected. However please don't change the name or the rules, and please attribute the game to Mark Steere. His other games can be found at marksteeregames.com.
Copyright (c) February 2012 by Mark Steere.