Ataxx (Game)

Ataxx

GAME » on February 21, 1990

An early 90's arcade board game similar to Reversi, where you spread your pieces throughout a 7×7 board while infecting those of your opponent.

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Overview

Ataxx is a virtual board game released by Leland Corporation (Company) (along with Capcom (Company) in Japan) for arcades in 1990.

An abstract strategy game similar in concept to Reversi (Concept) and Go (Concept), Ataxx has two players fighting for supremacy of a 7×7 gridded board by spreading their pieces (or "Globs") throughout the board and "capturing" their opponents' pieces by moving adjacent to them.

The game is known for its sci-fi horror aesthetic similar to the works of H. R. Giger, its use of dual trackball controls (one for each player), and a persistent player-based zero-sum ranking system similar to the Elo rating system (which is very rare for an arcade game of the time). As an arcade game, players have a limited amount of time to complete their turns before they are disqualified, which can be replenished through additional credits.

Ataxx was originally conceived by Dave Crummack and Craig Galley of Wise Owl Software (Company) in 1988 as the unreleased computer game Infection, which was intended to be published by Virgin Mastertronic as a budget game. Virgin later licensed the original game to Leland for Ataxx while releasing their own home version with Spot: The Video Game and including a simplified version as puzzle mini-games in both The 7th Guest (Game) and The 11th Hour (Game) (the latter of which uses a more complex hexagonal board). There have been several unofficial clones of the game, including the game Hexxagon (Game), the "Orff Strategy" mini-game in the edutainment game Mega Math (Game), and the "Conquest" mini-game in the arcade multi-game Megatouch.

While the game has never received a real-life board game adaptation, it can be played using the pieces and boards of other board games, including Reversi/Othello and Go (Concept).

Gameplay

Ataxx is played on a 7×7 gridded board, with each player starting with two pieces (or "Globs"), one piece on each diagonally-opposing corner of the board. Much of the gameplay involves moving a cursor with the trackball, with both players (human or AI) taking turns making valid moves using their pieces until either the board is completely full, one player has no more pieces, or one player has their timer expire. The remaining player with the most pieces on the board at the end of the game wins.

For each turn, the player must either:

Split one of their pieces into two, moving the other to an unoccupied adjacent space.
Jump one of their pieces, even over obstacles (such as blocks and other pieces) to an unoccupied space two spaces away. It is sometimes a risky maneuver due to leaving the original space vacant.
Skip their turn, but only if they cannot make a valid move.

When a player occupies a new space, all opposing pieces adjacent to that space are "captured" and converted into their own pieces.

All 21 board layouts.

The game utilizes a time control system in which each human player has a timer that counts down during their turn, ending the game in their defeat if it ever reaches zero. By default, players are given 100 seconds per credit, with the option of adding 100 more seconds mid-game with additional credits. Winning a match allows players to bring their remaining time to the next match.

There are 21 board layouts in total, each of them having a different assortment of blocks that already occupy spaces (and cannot be converted). When the losing player continues in a multiplayer game, they can opt to choose the next board.

Rating & Opponents

A human player is named Bypass if they choose not to track their stats. Here, they are about to lose against the Rank B AI Gorgon.

At the start of the player's credit, they can choose to load their stats (which is determined by their initials and birthdate), consisting of their current rating (along with the rating's "Class") and their overall win-loss stats. New players and players who choose not to use stats start with a rating of 1,200.

After each match, each human player's rating goes up or down with each match based on both player's ratings and who won the match, with the possibility of players losing some rating by winning against a lower-ranked opponent.

In addition to human opponents, the game includes five AI opponents to face off against, each with their own difficulty:

Colony - Rank E, 800 rating. Reserve class.
Droolman - Rank D, 1,200 rating. Reserve class.
Mush Man - Rank C, 1,700 rating. Expert class.
Gorgon - Rank B, 2,000 rating. Ace class.
Cephalo Man - Rank A, 2,200 rating. Champion class.

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