Andantino (game)
Andantino is a two-player dynamic board game of abstract strategy, invented by David Smith. The players take turns placing hexagonal tiles on an empty surface, creating the "board" as the game progresses.
Andantino can be played on Richard's PBeM Server. Statistics have shown that the first player wins about 92.5% of all games, some players see this as evidence that the game is flawed, others see it as a challenge.
The rules are as follows:
- The two players, Black and White, each have an unlimited supply of tiles of their own colour. The tiles are regular hexagons with no distinguishing features other than colour.
- The two players alternately place tiles, starting with White.
- Black must place his or her first tile adjacent to the starting tile. After this, every tile must be placed adjacent to at least two of the tiles already placed.
- A player wins by accomplishing one of two goals:
- Completing a straight line of five tiles, or
- Surrounding one or more of the opponent's tiles in a continuous loop. There may be empty spaces inside the loop, as long as there is at least one opposing tile.
Like many connection games, where pieces typically do not move or become captured, Andantino lends itself well to play as a pencil and paper game. It can be considered a considerably deeper replacement for Tic-Tac-Toe. Irensei provides a similar mix of line-building and capturing goals, and is played on a go board.
David Smith's games commonly use a dynamic board, as is the case in Spangles and Trax.
Analysis
The first three plays of the game are forced. After the third move the game will always consist of a triangle of two white hexes and one black. This may be rotated, but gameplay is identical
White apparently has a considerable advantage in Andantino, so it is common to play games in pairs with color roles reversed.
References
- Andantino web page on Richard Rognlie's Play-By-eMail Server
- Statistics (Andantino, The Game of Susan)