Provided by: atom4_4.1-9_amd64 
NAME
atom4 - two-player color puzzle game
SYNOPSIS
atom4 [ -a n ] [ -d level ] [ -mt | -mx ]
atom4 -h
DESCRIPTION
Atom-4 is a two-player color manipulation game played with colored spherical pieces on a
board divided into equilateral triangles. The player who first makes a row of 4 pieces of
the right color wins.
There is an AI mode where you play against the computer. By default, atom4 runs in
2-player mode. Since 2-player mode is controlled from the same terminal, it can be used as
a "practice" mode to acquiant oneself with the color change rules or to explore strategic
possibilities in a controlled way.
atom4 supports both a curses-based text interface and an X11 interface. The interface can
be selected with the -m option. By default, atom4 launches the X11 interface if the
$DISPLAY environment variable is set, and the curses-based interface otherwise.
OPTIONS
-a n Play against AI player. n must be either 1 or 2, specifying which player the AI
will be.
-d n Set AI player's difficulty level, where n is an integer from 0 or larger. The
default difficulty setting is 2. This version of Atom-4 uses a real min-max
algorithm; higher difficulty settings are actually much harder unlike in the
previous version. However, be warned that very high difficulty settings will likely
be very slow, as the game tree grows very quickly.
-h Shows a summary of command-line options that atom4 takes.
-mt Selects the text (curses-based) interface. The curses-based interface requires a
terminal with color capabilities; at least 9 colors are needed.
-mx Selects the X11 interface. The X11 interface requires an X display that supports at
least 8-bit color. Note that currently, atom4 will always connect to the X server
specified in the $DISPLAY environment variable.
TEXT MODE INTERFACE
The text mode interface requires a terminal that supports at least 9 colors.
The game controls are straightforward: the keypad arrow keys move the cursor around the
board, and the Enter key or the Space key will place the piece being played on the board.
The panel on the right shows you which piece is currently being played. Gameplay proceeds
until one of the players win.
You can press q at any time to quit the game.
After one of the players win, the game will pause. You can either press n to proceed to
the next round, or q to quit.
X11 INTERFACE
The X11 interface requires an X display which has at least 8-bit color.
Gameplay on the X11 interface is simple: the color wheel in the right panel shows the
order in which pieces are played, as well as the current player (number in the center).
The current piece being played is highlighted in the color wheel. To play the piece,
simply locate your mouse over the desired spot on the board and click the mouse button.
When it is your turn to play, and your mouse hovers over a legal position where you can
place a piece, the piece you are currently playing will appear under the mouse cursor. It
is not actually placed on the board until you click the mouse button.
At any time during the game, you may press q to quit the game.
After one of the players win, press n to proceed to the next round.
GAME RULES
(Adapted from the README file.)
Pieces may be placed only on the vertices of the triangular game board divisions, and only
if touching two other pieces which themselves are adjacent to each other (i.e., it must
form an equilateral triangle with two adjacent pieces already on the board).
Theoretically, the board is unlimited in size; practically, we limit it to 16 vertices
across and 16 rows down.
Pieces have 8 different colors in total, grouped into 4 groups:
- black
- red, green, and blue (the primary, or "additive", colors)
- yellow, cyan, and purple (the secondary, or "subtractive", colors)
- white
Black and white are also called "propagators" (explained below).
The first player plays additive colors, and must make a row of 4 whites. White is the
"goal piece" of the first player. Similarly, the second player plays subtractive colors,
and must make a row of 4 blacks. Black is the "goal piece" of the second player.
Since neither player can play their goal pieces directly, they need to combine the colors
they play in order to form their goal pieces on the game board, indirectly. Whenever an
additive or subtractive piece is put on the board, it changes the color of pieces
surrounding it. The color changes are illustrated by the following color wheel:
red yellow
\ /
purple --*-- green
/ \
blue cyan
1) If the neighbouring piece has an adjacent color on the wheel, it does not change. For
example, if red is placed next to yellow or purple, the yellow or purple remains
the same.
2) If the neighbouring piece has a color 60 degrees away on the wheel, then it changes to
the color in between. For example, if red is placed next to green, the green turns
into a yellow. If a red is placed next to a blue, the blue turns purple.
3) If the neighbouring piece has the opposite color on the wheel, then it changes to
either white or black, depending on what type of color the new piece is. If the new
piece is an additive piece, the neighbour becomes white; if it is a subtractive
piece, the neighbour becomes black. For example, if a red is placed next to a cyan,
the cyan turns white; but if a cyan is placed next to the red, the red turns black.
4) If the new piece is additive and the neighbouring piece is black, then the black
changes to the same color as the new piece. Similarly, if the new piece is
subtractive and the neighbouring piece is white, then the white changes to the same
color as the new piece.
5) If the new piece is additive and the neighbouring piece is white, then the white does
not change, but the color change effect "propagates" through the white to the piece
behind the white. That piece then changes as though the new piece had been placed
next to it. If it is also white, then the effect continues propagating in the same
direction, in a straight line, until it reaches a non-white piece, and then changes
that non-white piece as though the new piece was placed next to it. If an empty
spot is reached before a non-white piece, then nothing happens. Because of this
effect, white pieces are also called "additive propagators".
6) Similarly, if the new piece is subtractive and the neighbouring piece is black, the
color change effect propagates in the direction of the black until it reaches a
non-black piece, which then changes as though the new piece had been placed next to
it. Nothing happens if an empty spot is reached before a non-black piece. Hence,
black pieces are also called "subtractive propagators".
(Another way to understand the color changes is treat colors as red, green, and blue
combinations. Additive colors always try to "add" themselves to their neighbours: red +
green = yellow (red & green together); red + cyan (green & blue) = white. Subtractive
colors try to remove their complement color from their neighbours. For example, the
complement of yellow (red & green) is blue; so yellow tries to remove blue from its
neighbours. Hence, when yellow (red & green) is placed next to cyan (green & blue), the
cyan turns green (loses the blue component). Similarly, when cyan (green & blue) is placed
next to white (red & green & blue), it removes its complement, red, from the white; so the
white becomes cyan as well. In other words, additive colors behave like colored light,
whilst subtractive colors behave like colored paint.)
The initial state of the board consists of two pieces, green and purple, in the middle of
the board, touching each other. The first player then plays a red, the second player plays
a yellow, and then the first player plays a green, and so on, taking turns, going
clockwise around the color wheel. The first person to make a row of 4 propagators wins.
If the game is played in multiple rounds, the second player may start first on the second
round, using a subtractive piece, and then the first player with the next color clockwise
on the color wheel, and so on. The starting configuration always consists of two pieces,
one 30 degrees counterclockwise from the starting color on the color wheel, and the other
60 degrees clockwise; each touching the other in the center of the board.
GAME STRATEGY CONSIDERATIONS
Notice that in order to get from additive colors to white, the first player must form
secondary colors and then add their complements; but the second player already plays
secondary colors. So the first player can make use of the pieces played by the second
player to make whites, which is faster than building whites from scratch. Similarly, the
second player plays subtractive pieces and must first form primary colors and then add the
complements to make black; but the first player already plays primary colors, which can be
exploited to make blacks.
This also means that when playing a piece, one should be careful not to give too much
advantage to the other player by providing material to make propagators (black or white).
Propagators (blacks or whites) are useful for changing colors of pieces already blocked
from direct access because they are surrounded by other pieces. Using propagators, you can
create more propagators from such "buried" pieces. Strategic positioning of propagators
that allow you to reach these "internal" pieces is key to winning the game.
Since it is relatively easy for one's opponent to prevent one from winning by changing the
color of a piece intended to be the 4th propagator in the row of 4, a good strategy is to
devise a way to have at least two different pieces that can serve as a 4th piece in the
row. Another good strategy is to bury the prospective 4th piece with other non-essential
pieces so that the opponent cannot easily reach it, and have multiple propagator paths to
it. Then if the opponent blocks one propagator path, another one is available to reach
it.
It is very useful to anticipate the color of one's subsequent piece, and plan accordingly.
For example, if the first player is playing a red, and there are no cyans around, it is
useful to place the red next to blue pieces, because they form purple which can be
complemented by the green on the next turn. If they are placed next to green pieces, the
result is yellow, which cannot be used until 2 turns later.
HISTORY
The original 2-color version of the game was developed in December 2002. It was based on
much simpler rules (basically, each player directly plays his goal piece), but because of
the very small initial state space and the proximity of winning states, one player always
had the advantage. Several different starting configurations, including randomized
starting states, were tried in an attempt to balance the game, but with limited results.
Because of these limitations, more elaborate versions of the game were sought. The
current 8-color version was first introduced in February 2003. Its main motivation was to
postpone winning states until the state space has grown significantly.
A min-max algorithm with alpha/beta pruning was introduced to the AI player in April 2003.
This replaced the previous, more limited algorithm which only performed well at certain
search depths.
The "4" in the name "Atom-4" refers obviously to the goal of making the 4-in-a-row. The
"atom" part refers to the similarity to atoms forming into a crystal lattice: you can't
just stick an atom anywhere in a crystal lattice; it must fit into a "stable" position (in
this case, touching two other adjacent "atoms" already on the board). Also, atoms don't
just stick together; chemical reactions (color changes) happen when they come together,
and some chemical changes have far-reaching effects (color change propagating over whites
and blacks).
AUTHOR
The game concept of Atom-4, the design and implementation of the software version of the
game, and the graphics used by the game, were all done by Hwei Sheng Teoh
<hsteoh@debian.org>.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2002-2003 by Hwei Sheng Teoh <hsteoh@debian.org>
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU
General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or
(at your option) any later version without ANY WARRANTIES.
ATOM4(6)