Introduction.

Achi is a board game for two people. It is similar to tic-tac-toe, except that you get to move your pieces after you put them all down.

You should use theFirefox browser or the Safari browser to get the best display for the game. If you use the Internet Explorer browser, the display for the game is poor.

You can choose to play a game against the computer, or you can choose to solve puzzles where you have to win in a certain number of moves.

Rules of the game.

A player wins the game if he forms a mill or stalemates his opponent. A mill is three pieces of the same color in a row or in a column. A player who has no legal moves is stalemated. Note that three pieces of the same color on one of the diagonals is not a win.

A game consists of two stages. In the first stage, the players alternate moving one of their unplayed pieces onto a vacant point of the board. If nobody wins during this phase, and all eight pieces have been played, then the second stage begins. In the second stage, the players alternate moving one of their pieces to the vacant point on the board. A player can move a piece only if it is immediately adjacent to the vacant point, and both are connected by one of the straight lines drawn on the board.

Players.

The computer is the "me" player, who is at the top of the screen and moves the white pieces. You are the "you" player, who is at the bottom of the screen and moves the black pieces.

How to move a piece.

To move a piece, you must click on it and drag it onto the point of the board where you want it to be placed, and then release the mouse button. If you form a mill or stalemate your opponent, you win and the game ends. Otherwise, it's your opponent's turn to play. If you decide that you don't want to move the piece that you selected, then just drag it to a neutral location off the board and release the mouse button. The piece will return back to its original location. You can then select another piece to move.

How to start a new game.

When a game is over and you want to start a new game, drag one of your black pieces off the board and release the mouse button.

Scorepad.

The scorepad will keep a record of the moves made during the game. During the first stage of the game, the scorepad records the point that the player drops his piece on. During the second stage, the scorepad records the point that the piece is moved from followed by the point that it is moved to.

Who plays first.

The first player to play is the loser of the previous game. The name of the player who plays first is always on the left side of the scorepad.