Hare and Hounds challenge

There’s a bit of a dispute in GQ about whether either side can guarantee a win in Hare and Hounds. Maybe that’ll eventually end up in GD; but in the meantime, I declare for the Hounds and am prepared to challenge all comers! First responder gets to be my first victim!

Here’s an opening board. I’m using D (Dog) for the Hounds and R (rabbit) for the Hare–makes it a bit easier to see in text:


  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
D-O-O-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O

Make sure to use


 tags when you copy the board to a response ... Hounds move first, so I'll post the first move as a response.

First move for the Hounds:


  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-D-O-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O

It’s much easier to just play the Java version, but sheeeet, I’ve got nothing better to do so I’ll play :).



  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-D-O-R-O
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O

Awesome!


  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-R-O
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  D-O-R
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-O
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O

BTW for anyone not familiar, the rules are:

'Course, the drag-and-drop thing doesn’t work, since we’re playing in ASCII text …


  D-O-R
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-O
 \|/|\|/
  O-D-O


  d-o-o
 /|\|/|\
o-o-d-r-o
 \|/|\|/
  o-d-o

For some reason, if you don’t put any text in the response, VBulletin changes all your letters in the code tag to lower case. I found this on preview …


  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-R-O
 \|/|\|/
  O-O-D

Yeah, it’s doing that “SDMB no all-caps thing.” Anyway:



  D-O-R
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-O
 \|/|\|/
  O-O-D

That’s OK, it makes the thread less boring if we post things other than moves … So, how’s your weather there?


  O-D-R
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-O
 \|/|\|/
  O-O-D

Was misty all day. I hate that shit. Would rather it just either rain or not rain. Shit I made a bad move back in post #7. I’m screwed.



  O-D-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-R-O
 \|/|\|/
  O-O-D

Yep. Game finishes:


  O-O-D
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-R-O
 \|/|\|/
  O-O-D

  O-O-D
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  O-O-D

  O-O-D
 /|\|/|\
O-O-O-D-R
 \|/|\|/
  O-O-D

We can roll it back though! (Rather than start over …) So, here’s the board from before that move:


  D-O-R
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-O
 \|/|\|/
  O-D-O

You know what? You changed my mind about this game. For some reason the Java version of the game always moves the left-most hound down from here


  D-O-R
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-O
 \|/|\|/
  O-D-O

rather than forward, which is a tactical mistake leading the hounds’ defeat. The hounds can force a win every time!

Woot!

Now, can we actually prove that? septimus’s program isn’t transparent enough, I don’t think, to provide more than empirical demonstrations …

Actually, after looking at it again, I see where I made my mistake. It was allowing you to get the board to this point in #8:



  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-R-O
 \|/|\|/
  O-O-D

If we were to start from scratch I can force a draw.

To save us some trouble (and some fun :() the ideally played game will play out like this:



  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
D-O-O-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-D-O-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-D-O-R-O
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-R-O
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  O-D-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  O-D-R
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-O
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  O-D-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  O-D-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  O-D-O



  O-O-D
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  O-D-O



  O-O-D
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-O
 \|/|\|/
  O-D-R

at which point only the forward hound is in play because the hound in the center hexagon cannot move because doing so will allow an outright win for the hare, so only the top hound can move, and it’s only move is down because moving forward traps it on the far right (because hounds can only move vertically or to the right), from which point we end up with:



  O-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-D-O
 \|/|\|/
  O-D-R

leaving hare’s only move as back to the far right yielding:



  O-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-D-R
 \|/|\|/
  O-D-O

from which hare can force the draw.

Did that make sense?

Sorry I fucked that up. There’s a couple of moves missing. The ideal game would play out like:



  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
D-O-O-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-D-O-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-D-O-R-O
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-R-O
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  O-D-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  O-D-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-O
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-R



  O-D-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-O
 \|/|\|/
  O-D-R



  O-D-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  O-D-O



  O-O-D
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-R
 \|/|\|/
  O-D-O



  O-O-D
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-O-O
 \|/|\|/
  O-D-R

at which point only the forward hound is in play because the hound in the center hexagon cannot move because doing so will allow an outright win for the hare, so only the top hound can move, and it’s only move is down because moving forward traps it on the far right (because hounds can only move vertically or to the right), from which point we end up with:



  O-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-D-O
 \|/|\|/
  O-D-R

leaving hare’s only move as back to the far right yielding:



  O-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-D-R
 \|/|\|/
  O-D-O

from which hare can force the draw.

Did that make sense?

DCnDC, I must respectfully disagree and throw my lot in with the hounds. Care to play it out?

I’ll follow the opening laid out in your last post up to the sixth move, where I will deviate as such:



  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-O-D-R
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O

Your move.

Actually, since you don’t have a choice in the hare’s next move (due to symmetry), I’ll go ahead and advance the game a little more, if you don’t mind.



  D-O-R
 /|\|/|\
O-O-O-D-O
 \|/|\|/
  D-O-O



  D-O-R
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-D-O
 \|/|\|/
  O-O-O

Your move.

I’m not DCnDC, but rabbit to left loses immediately, so



  D-O-O
 /|\|/|\
O-O-D-D-R
 \|/|\|/
  O-O-O