bocch Articles
From the basic rules to theory, strategies and tactics. Every board diagram is drawn by replaying the moves one by one under the actual rules, and every figure is counted from AI-vs-AI games.
Basics
- bocch Rules and How to PlayThe rules of bocch, a board game on a 6×6 board where each stone jumps as far as the number of stones around it, explained with board diagrams. How move distance works, how to win, and what to watch for in your first few moves.
- bocch GlossaryWhat the words used in bocch articles and videos mean: number, loner, reach, gap, Snuggle, Shoulder to Shoulder, tower, backfire, push-up and more.
Theory
Strategies
- Twin Walls: A Strategy That Wins 90%, and Its One WeaknessIn AI-vs-AI games, the bocch strategy "Twin Walls" wins over 90% against almost every reply. Here is the one defense it can't beat, Shoulder to Shoulder, and what to play against it instead, with win rates.
- How the New AI Changed Move-3 Theory, and 10 StrategiesWe rebuilt bocch's Strongest CPU, replacing its scoring table with a neural network. Here is opening theory for move 3 as the new AI sees it, plus 10 "strategies": named combinations of your first and second moves.
Tactics
- Backfire: How Not to Set Up Your Opponent's Winning MoveIn 26,000 AI-vs-AI games, one kind of move was played 2,047 times, and the side that played it never won a single game. How to spot a "backfire", where you change your opponent's numbers yourself, with board diagrams and a practice problem.
- The Poisoned Bun: Winning by Giving Something Awaybocch has no captures. What you can give away instead is "numbers" and "first arrival". Using real AI games, this article shows the "wake-up", where you deliberately let an opponent stone move, and the "draw-back", where you pull a stone back.