Pounce is a simple turn-based board game, written as a Java applet. The goal is to maneuver the other player onto a square where he can be captured or where he has no legal move. It takes a few seconds to load -- you can amuse yourself by reading the instructions below.
The game board is at the lower right of the applet. It has a grid of twenty-five squares, as well as a counter indicating how many moves have been made, and a turn indicator.
Setup: The first player selects a square and places his piece there with the mouse. The second player then places his piece on a different square. (Capturing is not allowed on the first turn).
How to move: After the players have placed their pieces, they take turns moving them around the board by selecting the square they want to move to with the mouse. Pieces move like queens in chess (that is to say, any number of squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally), with the following caveat. Each square moved from is filled in and becomes a block, and no player may occupy that square again, or move over or through it.
How to win: You can win in two ways. When your opponent is on a square you may legally move to, you can capture him by moving to that square yourself. This is called pouncing. You also win when your opponent has no legal moves left, i.e., all his adjacent squares are filled. This is called trapping. Of course, you lose if you are trapped, or if your opponent pounces on you.
The upper part of the applet has a control panel which lets you control how the game plays. You can change these options at any time, but you must select the "New Game" button for them to take effect.
Who moves first: You can choose to move first, to move second, or to alternate starting with the computer.
Who plays X: You can play X or O, which ever you have more affinity for. Regardless of which you choose, your piece is always green, and the opponent's is always red.
Game difficulty: The computer can play at three levels of difficulty. The harder you make the computer work, the longer it will take to make its move.
Starting over: A few seconds after one game is over, the next will start automatically. However, at any point you may begin a new game by selecting the "New Game" button.
The computer is quite chatty and will engage in conversation if you talk to it. Type your message in the space at the lower left of the applet and hit return. Your message and the computer's reply will both appear in the bigger window at the upper left -- the computer's replies begin with ">>". It may take the computer a few seconds to speak if it is busy thinking about its move.
The computer's responses are generated by a program called Eliza, originally described by Joseph Weizenbaum in the Communications of the ACM, January 1966. This excellent Java implementation is by Charles Hayden, with small modifications to allow it to be run from inside the game.
Copyright © 1997 Andrew MacDonald and
Max Minkoff, All Rights Reserved
Last updated: September 24, 1997