Awele-lx
version 1.00

This is Awele for the hplx.  Awele is an African game with
an agricultural metaphor.  The rules are simple but seem to
vary slightly from place to place.  The game is played
between two players, each of whom have six "fields", which
are lined up in a row, and a "silo".  Initially both silos
are empty and the fields each have four "seeds".

       [P1]    6    5    4    3    2    1
     +------+----+----+----+----+----+----+------+
     |      |  4 |  4 |  4 |  4 |  4 |  4 |      |
     |  0   +----+----+----+----+----+----+  0   |
     |      |  4 |  4 |  4 |  4 |  4 |  4 |      |
     +------+----+----+----+----+----+----+------+
               1    2    3    4    5    6   [P0]

Play proceeds in turns and passing is not allowed.  Play
consists of two stages: "sowing" and "harvesting".  Sowing
consists of picking up the seeds on one of your fields and
planting one in each of the subseqent fields (both yours and
your opponents, moving counter-clockwise) until you have run
out.  If the board is as above and P0 sows from the 5-th
field, then the board will look like

       [P1]    6    5    4    3    2    1
     +------+----+----+----+----+----+----+------+
     |      |  4 |  4 |  4 |  5 |  5 |  5 |      |
     |  0   +----+----+----+----+----+----+  0   |
     |      |  4 |  4 |  4 |  4 |  0 |  5 |      |
     +------+----+----+----+----+----+----+------+
               1    2    3    4    5    6   [P0]

One special rule is that if all of your opponents' fields
are empty, you have to make a move to sow at least one of
his or her fields.  So, if the board is

       [P1]    6    5    4    3    2    1
     +------+----+----+----+----+----+----+------+
     |      |  0 |  0 |  0 |  0 |  0 |  0 |      |
     |  0   +----+----+----+----+----+----+  0   |
     |      |  3 |  9 |  4 |  4 |  1 |  1 |      |
     +------+----+----+----+----+----+----+------+
               1    2    3    4    5    6   [P0]

the valid moves for P0 are 2, 3, 4 and 6.  If P0 had had no
valid moves, the game would end in a draw.

Another special rule is that you may never sow on the field
that you drew from.  For example, if the field is

       [P1]    6    5    4    3    2    1
     +------+----+----+----+----+----+----+------+
     |      |  0 |  0 |  0 |  0 |  0 |  1 |      |
     |  0   +----+----+----+----+----+----+  0   |
     |      |  0 |  0 |  0 |  0 |  14|  0 |      |
     +------+----+----+----+----+----+----+------+
               1    2    3    4    5    6   [P0]

and P0 picks up from field 5, then the result will be

       [P1]    6    5    4    3    2    1
     +------+----+----+----+----+----+----+------+
     |      |  1 |  1 |  1 |  1 |  2 |  3 |      |
     |  0   +----+----+----+----+----+----+  0   |
     |      |  1 |  1 |  1 |  1 |  0 |  2 |      |
     +------+----+----+----+----+----+----+------+
               1    2    3    4    5    6   [P0]

Harvesting takes place when two conditions are met: 1) the
last field sowed belonged to your opponent and 2) there are
two or three seeds in that field.  To harvest a field, you
take the seeds out of that field and put them into your
silo.  You harvest not only the last field you sowed, but
also all of the preceeding fields which meet those two
conditions.  So in the example above, after sowing, P0 can
harvest fields 2 (the last field sowed) and 1, and the board
will look like

       [P1]    6    5    4    3    2    1
     +------+----+----+----+----+----+----+------+
     |      |  1 |  1 |  1 |  1 |  0 |  0 |      |
     |  0   +----+----+----+----+----+----+  5   |
     |      |  1 |  1 |  1 |  1 |  0 |  2 |      |
     +------+----+----+----+----+----+----+------+
               1    2    3    4    5    6   [P0]

If there are twelve consecutive turns without either player
harvesting any seeds, the game is declared a tie.

The winner of a game is the first player to get 25 or more
seeds into his or her silo.  Ties are possible.  A full
match is a best-of-five series.

To choose a field, use the F-keys or the number pad.  F10
or 'q' quits.

I'd like to thank Olivier Seydoux (and his uncle! :) for
introducing me to the game and clarifying its rules.

Awele-lx is freeware.  Portions copyright PAL Group.

Feedback or ideas on how to improve Awele-lx are certainly
appreciated.

Eric Wong
egwong@netcom.com
112 East Edith Ave.
Los Altos, CA 94022
