Ataxx
Encyclopedia
Ataxx is a board game
that first appeared in 1990
as an arcade video game by The Leland Corporation. It also appeared in 1990 as the video game Spot and later as the Microscope Puzzle from the 1993 CD-ROM game The 7th Guest
. The game was invented by Dave Crummack and Craig Galley in 1988
and was originally called Infection. It was first programmed on Amiga
, Commodore 64
and Atari ST
. The game is purportedly in the public domain now.
Although Ataxx was sold as a video game and never as a physical game set, it can be played with a Reversi
set.
Each player begins with two pieces, white and black, for the first player and second player respectively. The game starts with the four pieces on the four corners of the board, with white in the top left and bottom right and black on the other two. White moves first.
During their turn, players move one of their pieces either one or two spaces in any direction. Diagonal
distances are equivalent to orthogonal distances, e.g. it is legal to move to a square whose relative position is two squares away both vertically and horizontally. If the destination is adjacent to the source, a new piece is created on the empty departure square. Otherwise the piece on the source moves to the destination. After the move, all of the opponent player's pieces adjacent to the destination square are converted to the color of the moving player. Players must move unless no legal move is possible, in which case they must pass.
The board configuration may be altered by having certain squares filled (not playable by either player), or using different board sizes.
The game ends when all squares have been filled or one of the players has no remaining pieces. The player with the most pieces wins. A draw may occur when the number of squares are even, either from non playable squares or non standard sizes having an even number of squares. Some versions also implement the threefold repetition
rule from chess.
The arcade version is timed, similarly to blitz chess
. Each player's timer counts down while it is their turn to move; they lose if it reaches zero, but may buy more time (100 seconds per quarter) while the game is in progress. After completing a game (whether they won or lost), a player may choose whether or not to play another game with the time remaining.
, Commodore 64
and Atari ST
, none saw a commercial release. Eventually the game was picked up by Virgin Mastertronic US, which licensed it to the Leland corporation, who then released it as the arcade game Ataxx in 1990. Around the same time, Virgin released its own version of the game, Spot for NES, PC, and Game Boy, based on Cool Spot
, a character from a 7 Up
marketing campaign of the time.
In 1993 Virgin released the Trilobyte
-produced game The 7th Guest
, which contained a version of Ataxx as its Microscope Puzzle. Graeme Devine
of Trilobyte, co-creator of The 7th Guest, had overseen the production of Spot while working at Virgin. The Microscope Puzzle is one of the most popular versions of Ataxx. The player faces off with the AI
in the game, in this case the antagonist "Stauf", who is incredibly difficult to beat—all the while laughing and ridiculing the player with phrases like "Ooooooooo Baaaaaaaad Mooooooooove," and "We'll all be dead by the time you solve this!" The pieces were seen through a microscope
on a slide, interpreted as bacterial cells, two sets blue and two sets green. Passing over this puzzle in the game requires two trips to the library to the hint book. Winning this puzzle causes Stauf to let out a growl, then say "Don't think you'll be so lucky next time!" In April 2011 an updated version the Microscope Puzzle was released as a stand-alone app for iPad
under the title The 7th Guest: Infection
.
The sequel to The 7th Guest, The 11th Hour
, also features a version of Ataxx, but with a hexagonal board.
, a pre-internet dial-up game network. Two to four players fought on a large board (9×9). The pieces, called boogers, were colored green, yellow, purple and blue. Blocks were randomly placed on the board to alter game play. Jumping one's booger over an opponent's booger would change the victim's color, resulting in more boogers for the aggressor. Chatting both openly and privately was integrated into the game: this promoted shady non-aggression pacts, ganging up, and stabbing opponents in the back.
YouTube ImagiNation Network Boogers
Ataxx Arcade is an iPhone version that attempts to recreate some of the atmosphere of the original arcade game. It has 5 opponents: Colony, Droolman, Mushman, Medusa, and Cephalo; and 40 levels in its current version. The AI uses a min/max alpha beta pruning strategy, with Medusa employing a 1-ply search and Cephalo employing a 2-ply search, which most players find difficult to beat.
The Sierra educational title Mega Math included a clone of Ataxx where the player must answer math questions in order to move.
Buzzlabs has a freeware version called Aquataxx for Mac OS X, written in the Java language with Apple's Cocoa Frameworks. It has online chat and network play.
Green Thumb is a variant for the iPhone that turns the game into more of a puzzle-style game with over 50 different boards to try to solve.
Kloon! is a freeware variant that adds several different options to the game, such as obstacles and random "misclones", which don't capture any opponent pieces.
The 1998 eGames variant Blobs uses the Zillions Development Engine and allows for choosing different boards with obstacles.
Hexxagōn is a variant of Ataxx that is played on a hexagonal
board instead of a square one. It was released as a PC game in 1993 by Software Creations
. The rules of the game are the same as in Ataxx.
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
that first appeared in 1990
1990 in video gaming
-Notable releases:*Bonk's Adventure is released for NEC's TurboGrafx-16 and is the first US appearance of Bonk, the mascot of the TurboGrafx-16.*February 12 — Nintendo releases the NES game Super Mario Bros. 3 in North America...
as an arcade video game by The Leland Corporation. It also appeared in 1990 as the video game Spot and later as the Microscope Puzzle from the 1993 CD-ROM game The 7th Guest
The 7th Guest
The 7th Guest, produced by Trilobyte and released by Virgin Games in 1993, is an FMV-based puzzle video game. It was one of the first computer video games to be released only on CD-ROM. The 7th Guest is a horror story told from the unfolding perspective of the player, as an amnesiac...
. The game was invented by Dave Crummack and Craig Galley in 1988
1988 in video gaming
-Events:*June — Nintendo releases the last issue of "Nintendo fun club news";*July — Nintendo releases the first issue of Nintendo Power magazine.-Notable releases:*January 8, Konami releases Super Contra....
and was originally called Infection. It was first programmed on Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
. The game is purportedly in the public domain now.
Although Ataxx was sold as a video game and never as a physical game set, it can be played with a Reversi
Reversi
Reversi is a board game involving abstract strategy and played by two players on a board with 8 rows and 8 columns and a set of distinct pieces for each side. Pieces typically are disks with a light and a dark face, each face belonging to one player...
set.
Game play
Ataxx is an abstract strategy board game that involves play by two parties on a seven-by-seven square grid. The object of the game is to make your pieces constitute a majority of the pieces on the board at the end of the game, by converting as many of your opponent's pieces as possible.Each player begins with two pieces, white and black, for the first player and second player respectively. The game starts with the four pieces on the four corners of the board, with white in the top left and bottom right and black on the other two. White moves first.
During their turn, players move one of their pieces either one or two spaces in any direction. Diagonal
Diagonal
A diagonal is a line joining two nonconsecutive vertices of a polygon or polyhedron. Informally, any sloping line is called diagonal. The word "diagonal" derives from the Greek διαγώνιος , from dia- and gonia ; it was used by both Strabo and Euclid to refer to a line connecting two vertices of a...
distances are equivalent to orthogonal distances, e.g. it is legal to move to a square whose relative position is two squares away both vertically and horizontally. If the destination is adjacent to the source, a new piece is created on the empty departure square. Otherwise the piece on the source moves to the destination. After the move, all of the opponent player's pieces adjacent to the destination square are converted to the color of the moving player. Players must move unless no legal move is possible, in which case they must pass.
The board configuration may be altered by having certain squares filled (not playable by either player), or using different board sizes.
The game ends when all squares have been filled or one of the players has no remaining pieces. The player with the most pieces wins. A draw may occur when the number of squares are even, either from non playable squares or non standard sizes having an even number of squares. Some versions also implement the threefold repetition
Threefold repetition
In chess and some other abstract strategy games, the threefold repetition rule states that a player can claim a draw if the same position occurs three times, or will occur after their next move, with the same player to move. The repeated positions need not occur in succession...
rule from chess.
Variations
Blitz chess
Fast chess, also known as blitz chess, lightning chess, sudden death, speed chess, bullet chess and rapid chess, is a type of chess game in which each side is given less time to make their moves than under the normal tournament time controls of 60 to 180 minutes per player.-Overview:The different...
. Each player's timer counts down while it is their turn to move; they lose if it reaches zero, but may buy more time (100 seconds per quarter) while the game is in progress. After completing a game (whether they won or lost), a player may choose whether or not to play another game with the time remaining.
History
Originally called Infection, the game was invented by Dave Crummack and Craig Galley in 1988 for Wise Owl Software, which then sold the rights to Virgin Mastertronic UK. Although versions of Infection were programmed for AmigaAmiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
, none saw a commercial release. Eventually the game was picked up by Virgin Mastertronic US, which licensed it to the Leland corporation, who then released it as the arcade game Ataxx in 1990. Around the same time, Virgin released its own version of the game, Spot for NES, PC, and Game Boy, based on Cool Spot
Cool Spot
Cool Spot was a mascot for 7 Up beginning in the late 80s. During this time, the red spot in the 7 Up logo was anthropomorphized: given arms, legs, a mouth, and sunglasses....
, a character from a 7 Up
7 Up
7 Up is a brand of a lemon-lime flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The rights to the brand are held by Dr Pepper Snapple Group in the United States, and PepsiCo in the rest of the world, including Puerto Rico, where the concentrate is manufactured at the Pepsi facility in Cidra...
marketing campaign of the time.
In 1993 Virgin released the Trilobyte
Trilobyte
Trilobyte is a computer game developer founded in December 1990 by Graeme Devine and Rob Landeros. They are well known in the computer game industry for The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour games, and to a lesser extent for Clandestiny and other titles.- Logo :The official company logo consists of a...
-produced game The 7th Guest
The 7th Guest
The 7th Guest, produced by Trilobyte and released by Virgin Games in 1993, is an FMV-based puzzle video game. It was one of the first computer video games to be released only on CD-ROM. The 7th Guest is a horror story told from the unfolding perspective of the player, as an amnesiac...
, which contained a version of Ataxx as its Microscope Puzzle. Graeme Devine
Graeme Devine
Graeme Devine is a computer game designer and programmer who co-founded Trilobyte, created bestselling games The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour, and designed id Software's Quake III Arena. He was also Chairman of the International Game Developers Association from 2002-2003...
of Trilobyte, co-creator of The 7th Guest, had overseen the production of Spot while working at Virgin. The Microscope Puzzle is one of the most popular versions of Ataxx. The player faces off with the AI
Ai
AI, A.I., Ai, or ai may refer to:- Computers :* Artificial intelligence, a branch of computer science* Ad impression, in online advertising* .ai, the ISO Internet 2-letter country code for Anguilla...
in the game, in this case the antagonist "Stauf", who is incredibly difficult to beat—all the while laughing and ridiculing the player with phrases like "Ooooooooo Baaaaaaaad Mooooooooove," and "We'll all be dead by the time you solve this!" The pieces were seen through a microscope
Microscope
A microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy...
on a slide, interpreted as bacterial cells, two sets blue and two sets green. Passing over this puzzle in the game requires two trips to the library to the hint book. Winning this puzzle causes Stauf to let out a growl, then say "Don't think you'll be so lucky next time!" In April 2011 an updated version the Microscope Puzzle was released as a stand-alone app for iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
under the title The 7th Guest: Infection
The 7th Guest: Infection
The 7th Guest: Infection is a strategy-oriented mobile game which originally appeared as the Microscope Puzzle in the 1993 computer game The 7th Guest...
.
The sequel to The 7th Guest, The 11th Hour
The 11th Hour (computer game)
The 11th Hour is a 1995 puzzle computer game with a horror setting. It is the sequel to the 1992 game The 7th Guest. It was developed by Trilobyte and used a later version of the "Groovie" graphic engine than that used by The 7th Guest...
, also features a version of Ataxx, but with a hexagonal board.
Ataxx clones
One Ataxx clone was Boogers, an online 4-player version hosted by the ImagiNation NetworkImagiNation Network
The ImagiNation Network , aka The Sierra Network , was an early online multiplayer gaming system. Developed by Sierra On-Line in 1989, and first available to the public in 1991, the ImagiNation Network was a unique online gaming network that gave subscribers from all over the United States of...
, a pre-internet dial-up game network. Two to four players fought on a large board (9×9). The pieces, called boogers, were colored green, yellow, purple and blue. Blocks were randomly placed on the board to alter game play. Jumping one's booger over an opponent's booger would change the victim's color, resulting in more boogers for the aggressor. Chatting both openly and privately was integrated into the game: this promoted shady non-aggression pacts, ganging up, and stabbing opponents in the back.
YouTube ImagiNation Network Boogers
Ataxx Arcade is an iPhone version that attempts to recreate some of the atmosphere of the original arcade game. It has 5 opponents: Colony, Droolman, Mushman, Medusa, and Cephalo; and 40 levels in its current version. The AI uses a min/max alpha beta pruning strategy, with Medusa employing a 1-ply search and Cephalo employing a 2-ply search, which most players find difficult to beat.
The Sierra educational title Mega Math included a clone of Ataxx where the player must answer math questions in order to move.
Buzzlabs has a freeware version called Aquataxx for Mac OS X, written in the Java language with Apple's Cocoa Frameworks. It has online chat and network play.
Green Thumb is a variant for the iPhone that turns the game into more of a puzzle-style game with over 50 different boards to try to solve.
Kloon! is a freeware variant that adds several different options to the game, such as obstacles and random "misclones", which don't capture any opponent pieces.
The 1998 eGames variant Blobs uses the Zillions Development Engine and allows for choosing different boards with obstacles.
Hexxagōn is a variant of Ataxx that is played on a hexagonal
Hex map
A hex map, hex board or hex grid is a gameboard design commonly used in wargames of all scales. The map is subdivided into small regular hexagons of identical size.-Advantages and disadvantages:...
board instead of a square one. It was released as a PC game in 1993 by Software Creations
Software Creations (US)
Software Creations was a division of Linton Enterprises located in Clinton, Massachusetts, and run by Dan Linton. It was not connected with Software Creations , the British software development company specializing in computer games located in Manchester, England.-Software Creations BBS:Software...
. The rules of the game are the same as in Ataxx.
