Paper soccer

Paper soccer

An example board
Genre(s)	Paper and pencil game Abstract strategy game
Players	2
Setup time	couple seconds
Playing time	Five minutes
Synonym(s)	Paper hockey

Paper soccer (or paper hockey) is an abstract strategy game played on a square grid representing a football or hockey field. Players take turns to extend a line representing the position of a ball, until it reaches one of the grid's two goal spaces.

Background

Paper soccer is a traditional paper-and-pencil game. The game is commonly played in schools^[1] and can be found in children's magazines,^[2][3][4][5] and many computer implementations of the game exist.

Despite the game's simple rules, paper soccer has several expanded strategies and tactics.

General rules

The game's pitch is drawn as a rectangle on a grid, with small extended rectangles in the the center of each of the two shortest sides to represent the two goals. The grid can be any size, although both sides should be an even number of squares to allow a centre point for kickoff. The goal areas are typically 2x1 squares in size.

A "ball" is marked as a dot in the very centre of the pitch. Players then make moves alternately, "moving" the ball to a new point by drawing a line from its current position to a new one. Each such move must be to a point orthogonally or diagonally adjacent. The ball cannot be moved beyond the boundary of the pitch, nor along a line that has already been drawn.

Example of a "bounce" move, shown in red: the player moves the ball one space west, and then bounces it another space west

If the ball is moved to a point which already has one or more lines connected to it (including the perimeter of the pitch), the ball "bounces" and the player immediately takes another turn. The player's move finishes only when the ball reaches a point with no existing lines.

The winner is the player who places the ball in their opponent's goal. A player also wins if their opponent scores an own goal.^[6] If the ball reaches a point from which it cannot be moved (such as a corner of the pitch) this is regarded as a draw, or a loss for the player unable to move, depending on the rules being played by. In some versions of the game, both of these moves can be illegal.^[3][7]

Variants and modifications

The players can regulate the pitch's shape in various ways by altering the pitch's dimensions or the placement of the gates. In some variants, a special line (or lines) is added to the pitch. This modification is found in computer applications.^[8] Expanded variants of this modification are used by PDE Football.^[9]

In some variants of the game, the gameplay can be continued from the central pitch's point after a goal is scored or after a move blocks the gameplay. The player who did not score moves first from the central point.^[3] The game is finished when a move from the central place is not possible. This ends the game and the player with the most points wins.^[10]

Another variant allows a player to make a "bounce" during any turn if the line of that bounce would cross an existing diagonal line.^[11]

Strategy

Example of blocking a gate

Since the ball cannot move on previously drawn lines, players can block an opponent's potential moves with filling relevant places on the board. Blocking the opponent's moves is the main aim in the Paper Soccer and similar games.^[12] In this way the players can streamline their mobility, and limited their opponent's montlity. It is useful to score the goals, to block the gates' access.^[9] and to lead the ball to a situation, where their oponnent cannot be moved.^[13]

Sometimes a player who makes a gameplay's exit move first can have minimal advantage,^[11] but Paper Soccer's competition is significant in the next phase of its development, when more lines are drawn on the board, since players can make bounce moves and better maneuver their opponent.

If the players comply with the rule that a move blocking of the gameplay results in a draw, the limited access to goals will automatically results in the draw because the other solution in this case is impossible.

Based on the primary rule, which depends on scoring a goal and winning the game, some computer programs of the game have been projected in a unique way. They work so that ball is usually drawn into the goal, choosing the shorter way and omitting other strategies.^[14]

Game notation

Each move in the game may be recorded as a string or one or more digits from 0 to 7, each digit representing a direction (with 0 corresponding to 'north', 1 to 'north-east', 2 to 'east' and so on). It has been used in a PlayOk.com service.^[15]

This series of moves can be notated as "0", "3", "67", "5" and "0"

Similar games

There are also two similar games which imitate the football match. Their mechanisms also depend on drawing lines with a ball's moves.

Larger playing area

Usually in this version of the Paper Soccer, the pitch has much larger dimensions

On a lined sheet of paper, the players draw a rectangular field with an even number of squares along each side. The exact size of the field may vary (but as a rule ranges from a half of the sheet to the whole sheet). At the centers of the fields' shorter sides, gate boundaries are marked with two dots on each side so that the length of each gate is also even number of squares and is about a quarter of the field's side length (in some game variations the gate size should be exactly 6 squares). The center of the field itself (center spot) is also marked with a dot - this is initial position of the "ball." From here the game begins. The aim of the game is to move the "ball" into the opponent's gate.

Rules are as follows:

• Players make their moves one after another. The first move is decided by a coin toss.
• "Making a move" depends on drawing a jagged line in which the ball follows empty dots at line crossings of squares on the lined sheet. In one game variation, the line consists of 4 spans connecting the nearest dots along square's sides. In another, it consists of 3 spans, but they can also pass along a square's diagonals.
• The line should not intersect itself, previously drawn lines, or the field boundary except the gates. There is one exception here - penalty kicks (see below).
• The beginning of one line should start at the end of the previously drawn line. The first line starts at the center spot.
• If the player is unable to draw a line (without crossing another line or the field boundary) then his opponent should make a penalty kick: from the end of the previous move he draws a line 6 (13 in some game variations) spans of length in any of the eight directions. This penalty line can cross other lines except the field boundary. If the penalty line stops on already occupied dot or the player is unable to make his move from this point, his opponent makes the penalty kick again.
• If the penalty line touches the gate boundary dot (the goalpost), the line should bounce (like a beam of light bounces from a mirror) but the whole penalty line length should be still exactly 6 (or 13) spans. In some game variations the penalty line cannot bounce.
• If the line (during regular move or penalty kick) crosses the gate - the player scores a goal and the game starts again at the center spot of the same field or on an empty field. Loser makes the first move here. In another variation, the game stops after the first goal.

Players have the opportunity to block an opponent's potential moves. Sometimes a player who starts the game first has a minimal advantage. Gameplay's competition is important at the edges of the field, which players can use to maneuver the opponent. Players can also aim to make a trap for a penalty kick. This is useful gameplay, but sometimes can result in extreme moves for an opponent.^[16]

The game was popular in many USSR places.^[16] There are Russian magazines about this game^[17][18] as well as several computer versions too.^{[16][19][20][21]}

xrSoccer

XrSoccer is a computer game in published in 2005 by the company eXtreme Results International Inc.^[12] xrSoccer's gameplay is also possible with the use of paper and pencil. It has something in common with both options of the soccer game on paper and looks similar to Paper Soccer but its gameplay generally is not like to both versions.

Rules of the game:^[22]

• The pitch has 13x19 points and there aren't any lines (bounds), which limit the ball's moves at the border. The gates are marked as three purple points and they are placed at the centres of the shorter sides.
• Players make moves with drawing the ball`s way, which is a 3-part long line. Lines drawn in the gameplay can cross and contact each other, but lines cannot cover each other. A player doesn't have bounce move due to the fact that the line drawn in his move touches some other lines which have been drawn before.
• The yellow points are the markers of the places where the ball won't reach in the future. It is due to the fact that the access to those points has been limited by the lines drawn before.
• When the player can't continue his move, the ball is carried by yellow dots to the nearest, unblocked point. That point is placed in the same rank or in the rank which is placed nearer to opponent's gate. If not blocked point is placed in neighboring file and in the same rank, the ball is carried to this point by last part of the before movement.
• The players cannot score goals with the bonus moves (carrying), because gates' points also are carrying the ball.
• The game isn't finished when a player scores a goal. After the goals, the ball is carried to the most central point on the pitch, and the player who scores a goal gets a point. The player also gets a point if his opponent scores his own goal. The player who doesn't get a goal continues the game from the central point of the pitch.
• If one player scores all the possible goals in the gameplay, the game is finished. In xrSoccer resulting in a draw is impossible.

References

1. Marek Futrega. "Wiadomości kurnikowe, archiwalna wersja z dnia 20.04.2004" (in Polish). Archived from the original on June 9, 2004. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
2. Архангельск присоединился к всемирной акции «Игротека». 2 November 2014 – via YouTube.
3. Anonim. "8x10 Paper soccer" (in Russian). Retrieved 2015-01-27.
4. Ławicki, Mariusz. 155 gier i zabaw z dzieckiem, dziećmi i dla dzieci. p. 14. ISBN 978-83-931024-0-2.
5. Joanne O’sullivean I Don’t Care pp 212.
6. "Google".
7. Work of Line Bounder app. (lack of own goal, and getting the points for finish a gameplay by short way]
8. For example it is relevant in: (, , ) or Paper Soccer for geeks, PageFootball PDE Football)
9. Elephants Will Be Mine (February 2013). "PageFootball". google play store. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
10. Work of Inteligentna piłka app.
11. "Интеллектуальный футбол на бумаге" (in Russian). Retrieved 2016-02-17.
12. eXtreme Results International, Inc. "Description of xrSoccer". Retrieved 2016-02-25.
13. Unknown. "Rules of the Paper soccer at Playok.com" (in Polish). Retrieved 2016-03-05. gdy któryś z graczy zostanie zablokowany (when one of players gets blocked)
14. Bartosz Tarnowski. "Gra "Piłkarzyki"". Implementacja sztucznej inteligencji (in Polish). Retrieved 2016-02-13.
15. "PlayOk - statistics' resreach".
16. "Gridball Game".
17. "Самые известные игры на бумаге".
18. Olga Bogdanova, 300 лучших игр для веселой компании от бывалого тамады, приколиста и заводилы
19. http://treegame.ru/images/preview/football.jpg
20. "TreeGame — онлайновые игры на любой вкус: настольные, карточные, интеллектуальные и азартные".
21. AlHeSoft:. "P&P Soccer". Download.com. CBS Interactive.
22. eXtreme Results International, Inc. (2016-02-18). "Video with download XrSoccer and show of the gameplay".

Bibliography

Standard version

• Mariusz Ławicki 155 gier i zabaw z dzieckiem, dziećmi i dla dzieci pp 14 ISBN 978-83-931024-0-2, 2010
• Joanne O’sullivean I Don’t Care pp 212

Playing large area

• "Самые известные игры на бумаге".
• Olga Bogdanova, 300 лучших игр для веселой компании от бывалого тамады, приколиста и заводилы

Videography

XrSoccer

• eXtreme Results International, Inc. (2016-02-18). "A video which shows download and the gameplay of the XrSoccer".