Gipf: I play the game

July 30, 2003
Is YINSH the 5th or the 6th game of Project GIPF?

When GIPF was published in 1997, I announced it as the first and central game of a Project that eventually was going to consist of 6 games. TAMSK (1999) was the 2nd game, ZÈRTZ (2000) the 3rd, and DVONN (2002) the 4th. Now, you would expect the next game to be the 5th, but that is not entirely the case! YINSH may be the 5th game for the moment, but, in the end, it will be the 6th! In other words, YINSH is meant to be the last game of Project GIPF.

YINSH finishes Project GIPF because it goes back to where the series started, thus to GIPF. Of course, it is first and foremost an original game that -- I hope -- widens the variety that Project GIPF has to offer. But in addition, it also makes use of a few game principles that clearly refer to GIPF. For that reason, YINSH is the game that closes the circle of Project GIPF.

Some may think that I could just have kept it simple -- that I could have put YINSH aside for one year and published another game instead -- but things are not always as simple as they seem. Anyway, while I was working on YINSH, I always thought of it as a good opportunity to make sure, right now, that Project GIPF would end in a way with which I could feel satisfied. So I decided to take that chance. But rest assured: that does not mean that Project GIPF ends here. One more game will follow! And that game will get a place in the series between DVONN and YINSH. At least, that is how I look at things now!

And, to end, here's what really matters: YINSH will be released in the autumn of this year.

(In case you would have missed the pic of the box and the short description, go back to the Home page and click on the YINSH-logo.)
No GIPF Set 3 yet !

People who are interested in the YINSH-potentials will have to show a bit of patience. GIPF Set 3 will not be released until October 2004. Set 3 will not only contain the YINSH-potentials, but also the potentials of the game that will make Project GIPF definitively complete. And, as you'll understand, since that game does not exist yet, the potentials do not exist yet either. Stay tuned!

GIPF, ZÈRTZ and DVONN WC's in the Netherlands

It was said that the World Championships GIPF, ZÈRTZ and DVONN were going to take place either in Manchester (GB) or in Prague (CZ) this year, but it will be neither of the two. We asked you to let us know your preference. We received 13 reactions (thanks!) and Prague was clearly the winner, but unfortunetely we will not be able to make to that great city this year. Especially the period of the 3rd MSO in Prague caused practical problems: from the 4th to the 12th of October. That is only days before the yearly fair in Essen, and in that period we will be fully occupied with (a) preparing that fair, and (b) the release of YINSH. And since it was too late for Manchester, we went looking for an alternative - which we found in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. "Games Spectacular" is for the Dutch gamers what the fair in Essen in for the German gaming scene. The organizers of that fair were immediately prepared to host the GIPF, ZÈRTZ and DVONN World Championships 2003.
Games Spectacular takes place from Friday, October 31, to Sunday, November 2. You will find more details and the exact WC schedules in the Agenda soon!

DVONN A.I.'s

So far you can already find two programs on the internet to play DVONN. The first is written by Jan C. de Graaf (NL). Jan is in the first place an Othello player, but now he has become pasionated by DVONN, too. So he wrote a DVONN program! And he has challenged other DVONN programs for a match during the 8th Computer Olympiad that will take place from the 23rd to the 27th of November, 2003, in Graz, Austria. If you want to know more about his challenge, go to the Olympiad's website. Or you can address yourself directly to Jan C. de Graaf.
The second program is written by Matthias Bodenstein (D) and it is called "Dvonner". To download Mattias' program, go to his Dvonner site.
Another dude from Germany is working on a 3rd DVONN program. Soon more about these 3 A.I.s all together! Is there a match between 3 DVONN programs coming up?

We have been too occupied to check out these programs, so we cannot tell how they play. We count on you to test them for us. If you do so, let us know your opinion!