Streak
0
Best
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Your turn — move the neutron
A sharp two-player abstract on a 5×5 board. There is one shared neutron in the middle and five pawns each. Every turn you first move the neutron, then one of your own pawns — and every piece slides until it hits something. Land the neutron on your home row, or leave the AI unable to move it, and build the longest streak.
Your five pawns (dark) start on the bottom row — that is your home. The AI's pawns (light) sit on the top row, and the shared neutron starts in the centre.
Every piece moves the same way: pick a direction (straight or diagonal) and it slides until it is stopped by the edge of the board or another piece. It cannot stop short.
A full turn is two moves in order: first you move the neutron, then you move one of your pawns. (The very first turn of a round skips the neutron and just moves a pawn.)
You win the round if you slide the neutron onto your own home row — the bottom row — or if the AI, on its turn, cannot move the neutron at all. You lose if the AI lands the neutron on the top row, or if you are the one who cannot move it. There are almost never draws.
A win adds 1 to your streak and deals a fresh board; a loss ends the game. The AI plays sharper as your streak grows, and who moves first alternates each round.
The whole game turns on one uncomfortable fact: on your turn you move the neutron, but on the AI's turn the AI moves it. So you never want to leave the neutron where the AI can slide it straight to the top row. Before you finish a turn, look at every direction the neutron could go next and make sure none of them reaches the AI's home.
Your pawns are walls. Because pieces slide until they are blocked, a single pawn placed in the neutron's path decides where it can and cannot stop. Use your five pawns to seal the routes to the top row while keeping at least one lane to the bottom row open for yourself.
Win by trapping, not just by racing. You also win if the AI cannot move the neutron on its turn — so surrounding the neutron with pawns (and the board edge) so that no direction is clear can end the game outright. A neutron wedged into a corner with every exit blocked is a win waiting to happen.
Watch both goals at once. The same neutron position that is one slide from your home is often one slide from the AI's home too, just in the opposite direction. Whoever gets to move it next decides which way it goes, so control the tempo: leave the neutron safe for you and dangerous for the AI, never the reverse.
The AI starts loose and tightens fast. Below a streak of two it drifts and hands you the neutron; higher up it defends the top row and hunts for the trap with a full look-ahead. The long streaks come from thinking one move deeper than it about who moves the neutron next.