I had a dream that someone beat this with 66 ply, am glad to see that this did not actually happen

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Entries for Weekly Challenge 134 has closed. Thanks to all users who participated.

The winner is @FangCheng who won a game of Abalone with marbles pushed out on all 6 sides of the board in 37 moves (73 ply) in the following game: playstrategy.org/hveo3JT0

Users are still welcome to attempt this challenge and post answers here, but the winner has been fixed. The next challenge can be found here: playstrategy.org/forum/weekly-challenges/weekly-challenge-135-palace-party

We are so back after a 52-week drought from 82 to 133

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I just discovered the challenges and enjoyed this one.

Once you master the basics, the bot, even if not really powerful, can be a nice partner if you combine it with some more rules as for this challenge.
And trying to achieve the goals of the challenge, you challenge yourself much more than the bot.

I tried to complete the challenge with one more restriction :
- eject using only the corners.

Obtaining 6-0 was a nice to have but not mandatory, so the 6-1 score.

Here is my solution : playstrategy.org/6KSibw4shji7
With 122 moves, for sure a quicker solution can be found, even with 6-0 score.

Future challenges

Here are some suggestions of variations on the same theme :
- eject using 6 corners;
- use the corners clockwise or counterclockwise;
- eject using only a specified sumito (ie 3-2 or 3-1 or 2-1);
- eject all marbles using the same point of the board that was used for the firt ejection, or a specific point;
- combinations of these constraints.

One probable XXL challenge could be something like :
Eject in left board's corners, using only 3-2 sumitos.

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Congrats FangCheng !

Thank you Air for sharing you enjoyed and some ideas :)
Here is my version of corners only (mine is also not in counterclockwise order :D), played during the weekly this morning :
playstrategy.org/HinWGP34jmis

Well done @fangcheng !
Keep me posted about what happens to me in your next dreams :
playstrategy.org/15kyUaCd

Interesting to see if less than 66 is possible.

Thank you for creating the weekly challenge it was very fun !

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Ah, looks like my dream did come true after all! I've been working on a bot (StockAbalone) which was supposed to play Abalone, but I can currently only get it to play chess at a not very good level, so if PlayStrategy can get it to feature in some challenges that would be nice. Thanks to Vincent and Julienaba, it was a pleasure competing with you, and I'll make sure that we have many more magnificent competitions in the future!

Thanks for the challenge suggestions @Airisson! Keep an eye out on the weekly challenge over the coming months - some may get used...

Great to hear that many of you enjoyed this one, and that is made it into some dreams!

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Congrats to @FangCheng !

Well done @vincent ! Nice to see that it triggered your interest! :D

I'm looking forward to see wich one would be used @stattmatt!

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