[net.chess] Encounter

douglis@ucbvax.ARPA (Fred Douglis) (04/24/85)

The student center here at U.C. Berkeley recently obtained a computer game
called "Encounter" (tm), which is based on the game of Kriegspiel.  
The game is refereed by a computer with a speech synthesizer, and the
rules are something like this:

	- each player moves his own pieces and must guess the moves
	  of his opponent.  (There are two boards, divided by a partition.)

	- the computer announces when a piece or a pawn has been captured,
	  when a move is illegal, or when a player is in check (in which
	  case it announces the direction of check).
	
	- the computer announces when a player has the opportunity to
	  capture something with a pawn.

	- it is possible to play the game with a flat time limit, a
	  time limit for the first n moves, or no time limit at all.

Naturally, the rules are more complicated than that, but this should give
you the idea.

Now, my question: has anyone outside of U.C. Berkeley seen this game?  I'm
wondering just how widespread it is.  (I'm told we have a prototype version
and that the game costs ~$3000.)  Does anyone have any suggestions for
Kriegspiel strategy?

Please reply to me; if warranted, I'll summarize the results to the net.
-- 
                                    
				    Fred Douglis
			 ucbvax!douglis  douglis@Berkeley