Game review: Yavalath

Can a computer make a game? Not play a game, we've proven that hundreds of times with Deep Blue and AlphaGo and many more computers ready to overtake humans who play board games.

Cameron Browne set out to answer this question, using a computer program that will make new games from an input of a bunch of game rules. Unsurprisingly, most of the games are garbage, but two game stood out enough to be sold on nestorgames. This review will deal with one of them, Yavalath.

In essence, Yavalath is a hexagonal n-in-a-row game played on a regular hexagon board. What adds to this otherwise plain hexagon tic-tac-toe is the addition of a loss condition that's neither failure do comply to the rules or an inverse of the win condition.

The game can be played with a board and stones, or with pen and paper. The board is hexagonal with 5 units per side, and stones in two to three sets of colors. Players take turns placing a stone on any cell on the board, with the goal of making a row of four or more stones of their color on the board, but will lose if they make a three-in-a-row first.

The three player game works like usual, but players must block the next players win if possible, and losing players leave the game, but not their pieces, winner is either the survivor or whoever makes four-in-a-row.

This loss mechanic opens room for more volatile sequences that happen faster than on games like Gomoku. Little preparation is needed before opening fire and giving the opponent hell. But this game demands perfection, one wrong move and the scales tip against you.

Ties are rare in this game, when the board fills up with no three or four stones lined up. This occurrence rarely happens as someone will either screw up or find a killer move in a quiet position. Positions are as sure as how good you can direct it to your favor

Mind you, this is not a flaw in the game, as moves can make or break you, like any good abstract strategy game. The pace is rather fast and might be scary. Tactics slightly outdo strategy, as threats of winning and losing are always apparent.

If you want some fast-paced abstract game goodness, this is for your. You can lengthen the lines to any n but not (n-1) game, as long as the board is large enough. For a hex board, it should probably be (n+1)