Simultaneous Connect 4x4™ (for four!)

[mathgrant]

This game is a combination of Connect 4x4™ and Simultaneous Captain's Mistress.

Connect 4x4™ is a four-player adaptation of Connect Four® (also known as The Captain's Mistress); it is played on a vertical double-layered grid with 6 rows and 7 columns. Each player gets an unlimited supply of ring-shaped "checkers" and 2 double-sided "blocker" checkers of a single color. The players take turns dropping a checker into any column of the grid, where it falls and lands on the bottommost unoccupied spot. A regular checker occupies only one layer of the grid (front or back), while a blocker checker consists of two back-to-back checkers that occupy both the front and the back layer of the grid. (Consequently, if the front layer and back layer of a column are of different heights and a blocker checker is placed there, some empty space will exist between the blocker checker and the top of the shorter column.) Gameplay continues in this manner until one player gets four checkers in a line of horizontally, vertically, or diagonally adjacent spaces, regardless of which layers the checkers occupy. The player who accomplishes this wins the game.

In Simultaneous Connect 4x4™, players don't take turns, but instead choose their moves simultaneously. At the start of the game, the players will be put in random order to determine priority. Each round, players will Private Message the moderator their moves. To drop a regular checker, give me a column number followed by "B" for back or "F" for front (for example, 5F specifies the front layer of the fifth column). To drop a blocker checker (remember, you only get two of these!), give me a column number followed by "BF".

When all players have sent their moves, anyone who chose a blocker checker will be moved to the top of the priority list, and the players' moves will be resolved as follows, in the order dictated by the priority list:

1. Your checker will be dropped onto the grid. (If a player above you on the priority list has caused that column to be filled up, you forfeit your checker. That means your blocker checker can be lost if a higher-priority one fills up the column.)
2. If at least one player below you on the priority list has selected the same column and layer as you (such that their checker would come to rest on yours), you will be moved to the bottom of the priority list for the next round.

Consider this example:

[lexprod]

IN
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I'll have a P please...

[bgg1996]

in
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The one member below 18

[sAbLLimINal]

in

[MatthewV]

I could play.

[mathgrant]

Priority list for round 1:
1. lexprod
2. MatthewV
3. sAbLLimINal
4. bgg1996

Send in your moves!
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My logic puzzle blog

[MatthewV]

I request that the colors be

Leopard for lexprod
Magno for MatthewV
Sunshine for sAbLLimINal
Barnyard for bgg1996

Or anything that makes our markers the same as the first letter of our names.

[bgg1996]

I've never heard of barnyard. Is it a type of blue?
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The one member below 18

[MatthewV]

I think of it as a nice barn colored red. In a dirty, honest, hardworking way. yes, the color has a "hardworking" aspect to it

[mathgrant]

lexprod - 4B
MatthewV - 4F
sAbLLimINal - 3B
bgg1996 - 4BF

bgg1996 jumps the priority list in the first round, and is promptly demoted back to the bottom for conflicting with lexprod and MatthewV.

[MatthewV]

On winning: would you win if you had pieces in 1F, 2F, 3B, 4B ?

[mathgrant]

[mathgrant]

lexprod – 3F
MatthewV – 3B
sAbLLimINal – 6F
bgg1996 – 5B

No conflicts, the priority list remains unchanged.

[mathgrant]

lexprod – 5B
MatthewV – 5B
sAbLLimINal – 5B
bgg1996 – 7F

[mathgrant]

sAbLLimINal – 6B
bgg1996 – 6B
lexprod – 6BF
MatthewV – 4F

[mathgrant]

bgg1996 – 6F
MatthewV – 6F
lexprod – 7BF
sAbLLimINal – 7BF

[sAbLLimINal]

That went by fast, but congrats lexprod.

[MatthewV]

Did anyone else find the blocker checkers and jumping priority order a bit too unpredictable? I think it would be better if it just went ABCD, BCDA etc

And good job Lex!

[mathgrant]

I'm thinking of doing turn-based Connect 4x4 (ABCDABCDABCD. . .) next, because that should last longer.
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My logic puzzle blog

[MatthewV]

What would happen if it went ABCD BCDA CDAB DABC (spaces added to show the pattern more clearly)? This turn over makes it so player would place every third turn a few times and then have a short wait.
my ex-girlfriend hated when I tried to change games with this type of twist.

[sAbLLimINal]

I agree with MattV's idea. Considering that all moves are done simultaneously, it would seem like player A would have a bit of an advantage if the priority was ABCD ABCD ABCD.

[MatthewV]

This is for a turn based game.

[lexprod]

LOL thought the game was idling, didn't realize my cunning strategy worked! HUZZAH
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I'll have a P please...