Universe
and Pan-Kai
Universe
is a pentomino placement game invented by Alex
Randolph. Universe precedes the popular modern game
Blokus by
25 years. It looks very similar, and requires similar
perceptual skills, but it's a quite different
game. In universe, you can place anywhere
except you
cannot fence off an area smaller than 5 spaces. In effect,
any areas of size 6-9 become dead zones where no one can
play. The 2 player version, which is the oldest
pentomino game, is called Pan-Kai.
Rules:
Players take turns placing any of their pieces on any unoccupied
squares where it fits, except you cannot fence off an area less than 5
spaces large.
Winner:
is the last player to place a piece.
Strategy:
the standard strategy is to try to create spaces with exactly 5 tiles,
which fit one of your remaining pieces which your opponents have
already played. This effectively reserves that space for you
to fill later.
Robots:
Universe and Pan-Kai use a UCT random-playout robot. The
Pan-Kai version is adequate, but surprisingly, the same logic seems a
lot stronger when there are 3-4 players in Universe.
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