V'shi

V'shi (Warriors) is a two-player strategy board game commonly played in T'vaqi. Unmodified, tournament-legal games of V'shi are played on a cubic board with six faces, each with a 4x4 grid of alternating light and dark-colored squares. The color of the squares is inconsequential to actual gameplay, though squares typically alternate between contrasting colors (e.g. black and white) to make distinguishing individual squares easier.

Rules

Tournament rule stipulates that a V'shi board must be set down on a flat surface for play to be legal; the bottom face of the board is not used during gameplay. Modern V'shi boards and pieces are magnetic; older boards were typically made from corkboard or a similarly permeable material, while pieces had thin, sharp needles protruding from the bottom.

V'shi is played with two identical sets of pieces, typically red and blue in tournament play. All pieces are made of cylinders, and most cylinders are hollow. Taller, thinner cylinders can be smoothly inserted into shorter, flatter ones. V'shi has three unique types of piece, each of which may move in any horizontal direction:

A Dagger is capable of moving up to four spaces per turn. Daggers are the smallest type of piece, with only a single cylinder.
A Warrior is capable of moving up to three spaces per turn. Warriors have two cylinders, and are incapable of usurping daggers.
A Chief is capable of moving up to two spaces per turn. Chiefs are the tallest type of piece with three cylinders, and are incapable of usurping other pieces.

Setup at the start of a game involves both parties placing their pieces on opposite sides of the board. The player with the starting move is determined by coin flip. Players then take turns moving pieces around the board; a player must move one piece on their turn, and may not pass their turn.

The object of the game is to usurp all of your opponent's Chiefs. A piece can usurp an opponent's piece by moving to its location on the board. The attacking player will then remove the appropriate amount of cylinders from the usurped piece and place them in the hole of their attacking piece (for example, a Dagger usurping a Chief would take both of its inner cylinders, becoming a Chief itself). The usurped piece is then removed from the board. The game ends when a player has no Chiefs remaining, upon which the other player is declared the winner.

Notation

Move notation

Each individual move in a game of V'shi can be given its own compact notation. Notation for a move typically includes the type of piece moved, where it moved from, its destination, and whether or not it usurped another piece. Move notation is represented entirely through various symbols which communicate these details. A Dagger is represented by a crossed circle (⦻), a Warrior with two concentric circles (◎), and a Chief with the inner circle filled in (◉). If a piece is usurped by the move, the symbol for the usurped piece is placed at the end of the notation.

Typically, a V'shi board will have its faces marked with T'vaqi numerals one through five, with one indicating the top face; the numeral is always located in the top left of the face, to ensure that all move notation is relative to the numeral's position. Move notation uses these numerals to represent the face a piece has moved to. A piece's exact position on the 4x4 grid is represented using two consecutive squares; for example, ◰◱ would indicate the top left quadrant of the face, specifically the bottom left square in the quadrant. A small horizontal line (-) separates the piece's origin from its destination.

Using these symbols, complete notation can be achieved:

⦻4◰◱-1◲◰◉

A Dagger piece on the bottom left square of the top left quadrant of the fourth face on the board usurps a Chief on the top left square of the bottom right quadrant of the first face of the board. This move can be seen in the related image.

Strategy notation

In many cases, after a tournament game is completed, one or more analysts may examine the game move-by-move to determine the overall strategic value of each turn. Strategic evaluations have no effect on a player's official rankings, but do contribute to their overall credibility as a talented player. The strategic value of a move is represented by an extra symbol appended to the end of a move's notation. There are five widely used symbols:

Game-winning move (▲), used for moves that result in inevitable loss for the opponent.
Good move (△), used for moves that provide a strategic advantage to the player.
Dubious move (◁), used for moves that provide an advantage to the player but have potential negative consequences.
Bad move (▽), used for moves that provide a clear disadvantage to the player.
Game-losing move (▼), used for moves that result in inevitable loss for the player.

Symbols for "Clever move" (▷) and "Opening move" (◇) exist, but typically go unused in favor of more straightforward options. A complete move with strategic evaluation added is as follows:

⦻4◰◱-1◲◰◉△

Strategy notation is considered an essential element of tournament-level V'shi.

History

Modern V'shi was officially invented in 248 TT, though older versions of the game existed at least 100 years prior. Before cubic boards were common, V'shi boards typically took the form of unfolded cubes; two-dimensional V'shi remains a relatively popular variant of the game. The premise of the game is based on the conflicts between the Factions of T'vaqi; a game of V'shi is meant to simulate a battle between two factions. The game experienced an initial wave of popularity among upper-class families, and gained a reputation as a frivolity for the wealthy to waste their time on. However, V'shi would only become increasingly popular over the years, and is now ubiquitous among the T'vaqi populace. Hrso Vinshasi, the inventor of the Cognitive Capacity Scale, claimed that much of the inspiration for the system came from his experience playing V'shi with others. The CC Exam still features questions where a V'shi board is given, and the test-taker must select the optimal next move.

Not long after the game rose to popularity, a standardized nationwide ranking system was developed. Expert V'shi players could enter official tournaments, and their official rank would increase or decrease based on the number of games won. Q'ar V'shi ("Nation of Warriors"), often referred to as Q'V, was the first league to emerge, and has remained the largest since. V'shi tournaments boast hundreds of participants from across the nation, and championship games can attract thousands of spectators.

In 58 PC, T'vaqi engineers developed Big Boy, the nation's first computer capable of outclassing top-rated V'shi players. The computer, spanning multiple rooms, was trained on an enormous database of moves from expert players and their respective strategic values. Satri Pioq, a top-level V'shi player ranked third in the nation, played five games against the machine, which would dictate its moves to an engineer. He lost three out of the five, noting that while the computer was impressive, it would certainly need to reduce its thinking time if it were to compete in a real tournament. The average amount of time Big Boy needed to calculate each of its moves was 13 minutes and 47 seconds.

Variants

Several different variants of V'shi are played. Two-dimensional boards, while lacking any actual gameplay changes, are the most popular type of V'shi variant. Another popular variation of the game involves the use of the sixth face of the cube as a valid set of squares; six-sided boards are typically propped up on special stands. Separate, smaller tournaments have been created for six-sided V'shi. Large boards with 8x8 grids of squares exist, and are sometimes used to add a third or fourth player to the game. Other variants add new pieces to the board with additional capabilities.

V'shi is considered by many to be one of the most diverse games in existence, evidenced by the number of variants it has. The game has become an item of cultural pride among T'vaqi citizens.