inconsequential ruminations

I have been investigating Twixt recently. After being turned off by the over-seriousness and commitment required from Go, I have wanted to find a challenging abstract that would be easier to get into. Mikko mentioned he was experimenting with Twixt on Little Golem, so I thought it would be a good time to try.

Mikko managed to beat me in about five moves, so the first thing that struck me is how brutal Twixt is. One false move and it really is all over. My second impression was how difficult it is to plan any strategy, particularly when defending. Especially initially, Twixt has little clarity. I later tried it quickly, with paper and pencil, with a friend at work and we could not figure it out at all.

Luckily, I managed to find K2Z. Rather like the Kiseido Go Server, a nice program allows you to play in real-time. The program itself is slick. There is no install required, it is only 484 KB and it does all the basics well, including a reasonable AI for basic training. It also lets you play back old games, for self-study. There is even Java version for Windows fugitives.

Playing back a few games between experts let me discover some tactics. It is surprisingly like Go in terms of the thinking required. It is much faster to play and less dense, so hardcore Go players might not like it, but these are bonuses for me.

If you want a game, just instant message me and we can meet on K2Z.