Catchup rules changed

New games of Catchup will be have changed rules according to " Officially changing the rules of Catchup.":https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1358767/officially-changing-rules-catchup

It is not possible to play Catchup games for me after this change. I see "Error on this page Exception: java.lang.NumberFormatException: null ".

Rules shouldn't be changed without good reason, so I hope that new rules are definitely better than older.

I don't know how it's implemented but the best would be to have 2 variant with old and new rules, all new tournaments and games should have new rules, and all old games should stay with old rules (maybe rating games should give possibility to choose beetween old and new rules). This is my opinion at least.

Yes - old games and tournaments are played with old rules (pink background) and only new games are played with new rules.

BTW there is a new random variant of Catchup add too.

Hi, there seems to be a bug in the new rules. According to the new rules, the scoring markers begin at 1, so catchup can only be given when making a group of size 2 or more.

See https://boardgamegeek.com/article/19030372#19030372 for official confirmation.

But in game 1704946, I am being given catchup on my second turn as first player after the second player made two groups of 1 on his first turn. By the rules, I should not be given catchup.

Could you make it more explicit about the rules used for each game (except just a background change)?

You could for example display both counters of max chains.

Game 1704946  is OK now. There was a bug.

Good, I like the rule change.

Thanks for the quick fix.

What are the rules for the random variant?

How could the size or shape of the board have an influence on the rules?

I had no idea what a random variant was... didn't know it referred to the size and shape of a board. I've seen randomly generated variants of rules themselves.

Random variant is only experiment with random board. There are no change in rules (new rules are used). Size of random board is the same as standard board - 61 fields.

LG's implementation seems to be forcing me to place the maximum number of stones (2 or 3 if I have catchup, the rules on BGG say you only have to place at least one). Is this by design, or is it a bug?

I experience a NullPointerException when trying to play on my iPhone. It works OK on my desktop computer.

Specifically, the following URL results in NullPointerException for me: http://littlegolem.net/iphone/game.jsp?gid=1705455&move=%C3%85%C3%84

The text is"Error on this pageException:java.lang.NullPointerException"

The corresponding desktop URL, which works, is http://littlegolem.net/jsp/game/game.jsp?gid=1705455&move=%C3%85%C3%84

Current game state:[game;id:1705455;move:2]

RIchard, is it possible we could get a catchup forum?

Or a "Catchup and Morelli" forum?

Oops, I have not realised, that the rules were changed, until my opponent could play 3 stones, where I expected 2 stones :-(

(Move 19 in http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/game/game.jsp?gid=1706836) Maybe a message about the change in the rules to all Catchup players would have been nice.

It almost cost me the game (against a starting player), but I think I can still win.  :-)

I will have a look, whether this change makes the game of Catchup better. Could be interesting.

Oops, I have not realised, that the rules were changed, until my opponent could play 3 stones, where I expected 2 stones: move 19 in http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/game/game.jsp?gid=1706836 Maybe a message about the change in the rules to all Catchup players would have been nice.

It almost cost me the game (against a starting player), but I think I can still win.

I will have a look, whether this change makes the game of Catchup better. Could be interesting.

Regarding the random variant, what's the difference between VA[RANDOM] and VA[RANDOM2]?

This game is using VA[RANDOM]: http://littlegolem.net/jsp/game/game.jsp?gid=1705453

This game is using VA[RANDOM2]: http://littlegolem.net/jsp/game/game.jsp?gid=1707127

I'm also getting the Java.lang.NullPointerException on the mobile site (in game 1707129).