MindSports
Glass Bead Game
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About
Rules
Games
Read Me

Strategy
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1 The House
2 Direct capture
3 Indirect capture
4 Delayed direct
5 Delayed indirect
7 A big mistake
8 A correct defense
9 Endgame part 1
10 Endgame part 2
11 Endgame part 3
12 Endgame part 4
13 Endgame part 5


Something About Tempo

The making of a house usually demands the sacrifice of a number of gems in a strategy revolving around tempo moves, that is: moves within the player's own pits. For this reason, houses are always build in the rightmost pit. If, say, pit D (d) were employed, the player would soon run into problems because pit E (e) is useless for tempo play.

A basic thing about tempo play is illustrated below. The question is: how many moves can south make within his own pits. The answer is: 14 if he keeps selecting the rightmost of the pits A to D as shown. If he were to start with pit A however, this would simultaneously mark the end of his tempo moves!

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What's wrong with this example? It shows that south can make 14 tempo moves in the absence of north. In actual play, if north were to move first and drop one bead in pit A, this would reduce the number to 7. Sowing 4 beads from pit e would eliminate them altogether. An opponent's options to disrupt tempo play must always be considered!

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