HEART 2017 Design competition

HEART 2017 will follow the tradition of previous HEARTs of having an FPGA design competition associated with the conference. This year, we have for the design competition the New Zealand game, TRAX.

TRAX was invented in New Zealand by David Smith in 1980 and is now sold and played in many countries. TRAX is a two player abstract strategy game of loops and lines. It can be played on any flat surface (no board) using identical square tiles with straights on one side and curves on the other side. The rules of TRAX are simple: place tiles adjacent to those already in play such that the colours of the tracks match. The objective is to get a loop or line of your colour while attempting to stop your opponent in their colour. What gives TRAX its strategic depth is the forced play rule which allows (or even requires) multiple tiles to be played in a turn.

Challenges for an FPGA implementation:

• Managing the potentially unlimited size of the playing area
• Devising a representation of the position that allows efficient play
• Devising an effective evaluation of a position

Click here for more detailed rules for HEART 2017.

Please send an email to the design contest chair (D.G.Bailey@massey.ac.nz) with the following information:

• Team title
• Contact name
• Contact email
• Contact affiliation
• FPGA device and board used
• Names of team members (for certificate of participation)

Team members who are present the design competition should register for the conference.

There are considerable resources available at http://www.traxgame.com

• Outline of basic patterns and strategies
• Back issues of OnTrax magazine, with strategy articles
• About 300 commented games
• Archives of previous tournament games
• TRAX player software /(for Windows)

 Book: "Trax Strategy for Beginners". Available from the Traxgame shop.

Design contest chair:
Donald Bailey, Massey University, NZ