Pushfight

Pushfight is my favourite abstract game discovered on BoardSpace.  Its board is small, there are not too many pieces and their moves are simple, the rules are straightforward and the objective - to push an opponent's piece off the board - is clear.  Despite this simplicity, the game feels very rich.  I feel that an experienced player would have learned strategic skills that should win against a tactically more astute novice.  Each player turn is comprised of up to 2 piece movements and a push move.  The combinations of these lead to a multitude of possibilities.  A unique feature is that the piece that pushes is anchored for your opponents turn, so they cannot immediately push back, or push it in any direction.  There is usually tension and threats in a position after just a few moves and positions are often double edged win/lose.  Even after an oversight, there might well be defensive trickery to save the day.  I think of it as team Sumo wrestling but with only pushing allowed!

Here is a link to the BoardSpace Push Fight rules, and the game can be played on BoardSpace - try the bots to learn the game or hone your skills.

A downside is that the game is not commercially available at the moment.  The inventor, Brett Picotte does sell his hand made sets, though for non-US customers this is expensive.  My very nice colleague Dave Regis made himself a set and kindly made one for me too!

In this position, Black has just pushed a white piece against the barrier on the right (and then been anchored with the small red cube).  This white piece is in danger of being pushed off the board on Black's next turn.  However, on their next turn, White can move this piece to safety and set up a winning attack on Black's piece at the top left using a basic idea,  Can you see how?

Here is a link to Brett's Push Fight Website with lots of useful info, including a link to a research paper that shows Push Fight to be PSPACE-hard.

Here is a link to a great Pushfight article  - Push Fight - The New Abstract Games.