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Amazons is a quite interesting game. Not at all a chess variant, however, not even remotely like it.
This game reminds me of an old chessboard puzzle involving the placing of a number of queens, to solve a certain task, but of course Amazons is something even more complex, in that it is a full-fledged game. It also seems almost simple at first sight, deceptively so.
You find a download for an Amazons.zrf by Jens Markmann at the end of his web page http://underworld.fortunecity.com/fifa/73/
Thanks! I found out it is named 'Killer Amazons' at www.zillionsofgames.com
Due to the AI playing it poorly, I think they didn't include Amazons in for Zillions. I believe a variant that allows killing of enemy Amazon pieces available for Zillions. Maybe you can hack that zrf.
Is there a .zrf file anywhere to play Amazons with Zillions of games? I have searched this site and also www.zillionsofgames.com, but found none. Somewhere someone wrote that Zillions plays Amazons poorly, this means that a .zrf must exist. I'm mainly interested in figuring out how to implement the firing of the arrows.
If you are interested in this popular territorial game and you are encouraged to try a very strong opponent, I suggest the AMAZONG Java applet that you can find at: jenslieberum.de/amazong/amazong.html AMAZONG is perhasp the strongest program playing Amazons now, nevertheless, it can be beated by humans, I have won a couple of times (but I have lost at least ten games against it). I think AMAZONG, under conventional time controls, plays at a level equivalent to 2400-2500 rating, translating it to Chess ELO, but the Java applet only uses a few seconds for each move, so the level is a bit lower, although it is strong enough, I believe not less than 2200. Try it!.
I don´t know how many users and members of TCVP have played this great game. I have only seen at brainking.com that Andreas has been an active Amazons player, with a good performance. The best rated Amazons player at brainking is Grim Reaper (Ed Trice) Total score: 269 wins, 17 draws, 0 losses. Impressively good score.
It should be good a Courier Preset for this extraordinary game, impressive both in its simplicity of ideas involved and in its complexity and deepness as board game. I don´t know if there is the need of a permission for it. All I know is that the name 'El Juego de las Amazonas' is a registered mark, I am not sure if the game has been patented or not. I have tried to stablish contact with the propertary of the mark ('Ediciones De Mente'), but it has been impossible, I do not know whether it exists or not now. This game can be played using a few other servers on the Internet, like 'Brainking', by example. Can we add a Preset for this game here?. If it is the case, I would ask editors for it, this popular game is not exactly a Chess variant, estrictly speaking, but it is hightly related to Chess and it has its own Page in TCVP. Amazons has merits enough for being in the Courier system.
You can play-by-web Amazons at www.littlegolem.net.
This is really a very interesting game! It can be played now also on <a href=http://www.brainking.com>BrainKing server.
Amazons is already implemented for e-play at Richard's pbem server, you know.
'El Juego de las Amazonas', from Walter Zamkaukas, is one of the best territorial games I have seen, it is interesting, deep, nice, and with an impressive simplicity of ideas involved. But it is a complex game, it is not an easy matter the construction of a good computer player (Try with Zillions and see how it plays!). Strictly speaking, Amazons is not a Chess game, but it is a very good abstract game that appears in TCVP as guest, I think because it has some elements of Chess. I like this game. Maybe I´ll prepare a Courier Preset for this game (or a variant...) Variants?: It is easy imagine a lot of them, some of them as near to chess as you want. Any interesting Ideas?.
A link collection about the game of Amazons is available at
<A HREF='http://home.snafu.de/frs/amazons.html' TARGET='_blank'>
http://home.snafu.de/frs/amazons.html</A>
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"Roberto Lavieri wrote on 2005-07-08 EDTExcellent ★★★★★
I don´t know how many users and members of TCVP have played this great game. I have only seen at brainking.com that Andreas has been an active Amazons player, with a good performance. The best rated Amazons player at brainking is Grim Reaper (Ed Trice) Total score: 269 wins, 17 draws, 0 losses. Impressively good score."
I (Kevin Pacey) am wondering how a draw is possible in a game of Amazons. Perhaps on brainking the players are allowed to agree to a draw, or one or both players noticed (too late) that both players' playing time on their clocks had elapsed, thus resulting in a draw that way(??)