December 9, 2008
TZAAR on You Tube
A movie with an explanation of TZAAR has been put to You Tube. This is just a test; a better instruction movie will replace it later. And the plan is to add movies with an explanation of the other Project GIPF games in the near future. (I’m not sure, though, what “in the near future” may mean in the context of updates of this site. See below!)

Report of the Project GIPF WC
Two months—already!—have passed by since the Project GIPF WC in Prague. Wow, I didn’t even had the time yet to put something about it here. After Prague there was Spiel ’08, the yearly gamers Mekka in Essen, Germany, and after Spiel ’08 there was the follow up to take care off. And now I realise it is already the beginning of December...
Well, I may have failed to write something about the event, but Francis K. Lalumière didn’t. He came all the way from Montreal, Canada, with his girlfriend Suzie to join us in Prague. He wrote a full report about it, which he sent to Boardgamenews. To read his effort—i.e. the details and a few amusing anecdotes—follow this link.
But I’ll also do my share and brief you with a short summary:
In total 37 players showed up, coming from 9 different countries. The Netherlands were represented by 8 players and they appeared to be the strongest pack. They won two times gold (Mathijs Booden in PÜNCT and Xander Nijhuis in DVONN), 3 times silver and 4 times bronze. That resulted in a clear supremacy in the overall standings with 3 Dutch players in the top 5. Mathijs Booden (NL) became the first Project GIPF World Champion very convincingly. He scored 27 points out of 36 games played. Michael Reitz was the only German participant, but he stood strong on his own. On the last day he won the YINSH tournament with 6 wins in a row and snatched the 2nd place with 25 points. Bert Oostdijk (NL) was 3rd with 23,5 points and Jan Willem Knopper (NL) got the 4th place with a score of 23. Kris Boyer (B) ended on the 5th spot with 22 points, just ½ in front of yet another Dutchman, Erik Koster. Morton Mertner from Denmark became 7th with a score of 21, but he only played 5 tournaments (i.e. only 30 games). He could not be in time in Prague and missed the ZÈRTZ-tournament. Probably he could have ended a few spots higher, but that would not have changed the only possible final conclusion: Belgium is no longer in the lead; the Netherlands are currently the strongest GIPF-nation.

For the results of each tournament, go to the respective pages of the MSO-website. In chronological order:

- ZÈRTZ
- PÜNCT
- DVONN
- GIPF
- TZAAR
- YINSH

The overall results are:

Place	Name	Nat.	Tournaments played	Score
1	Mathijs Booden	NL	6	27
2	Michael Reitz	D	6	25
3	Bert Oostdijk	NL	6	23,5
4	Jan Willem Knopper	NL	6	23
5	Kris Boyen	B	6	22
6	Erik Koster	NL	6	21,5
7	Morten Mertner	DK	5	20,5
8	Patrick Van de Perre	B	6	20
	Werner Dupont	B	6	20
10	Boris Ammerlaan	NL	6	19
11	Jiri Bauma	CZ	5	18,5
12	Allan Mertner	GB	5	17
	Angelo Wentzler	NL	6	17
14	Christof Nuyttens	B	6	16
	Rita Pauwels	B	6	16
16	Filip Schneider A	CZ	6	15
17	Jos Oudenhoven	NL	6	12
18	David Korejtko	CZ	3	11,5
19	Xander Nijhuis	NL	2	9,5
20	Francis K. Lalumiere	CAN	4	9
21	Kamil Jerabek	CZ	3	8
22	Michal Konfrst	CZ	2	6
	Gianni Cottogni	IT	3	6
	Lambert Jezek	CZ	.4	6
25	Hana Kotinova	CZ	3	5
26	Jakub Tessynski	CZ	1	4
	Filip Medricky	CZ	2	4
	Martin Cepelik	CZ	2	4
	Suzie Dumont	CAN	4	4
30	Michal Jurek	CZ	1	3
	Kris Burm	B	1	3
32	Dzenko Pojmonova	CZ	1	2
	Robrecht Claes	B	2	2
	Radek Perlovsky	CZ	1	2
	Horst Schmied	A	1	2
36	Stanislav Cihak	CZ	2	1
	Maarten Dijsselbloem	B	2	1
	Gabriela Perlovsky	B	1	1

And to end with an off the record note: I’m already thinking about a next Project GIPF WC…

September 28, 2008
Final details of the Project GIPF World Championship
- For general info you can read the news of the previous update here. For all the details about the different PG tournaments we advise to go to the pages of the respective games on the MSO website:

• ZÈRTZ
• PÜNCT
• GIPF
• DVONN
• TZAAR
• YINSH

- We will use Fisher-tempo to run the tournaments. That means the each player gets a certain amount of time per game and an additional number of seconds per move. The advantage of this system is that you’ll always have to time to make a move.
The amount of time and additional seconds per game is based on 3 factors: the average number of moves needed to end a game, an average of 20 minutes per player/game, the number of rounds in a time frame of 4h30 per tournament.

- The format for the different tournaments will be the Swiss System.

- The best junior player (under 18) will win a Project GIPF game.

- To determine the overall winner of the first Project GIPF World Championship the score of each player for each of the Project GIPF tournaments will be ad up, regardless the number of tournaments played. In other words, the more tournaments a player plays, the more chances he has to score points. The player with the highest score is the first Project GIPF World Champion.

- The prize money for the different tournaments as well as for the overall standings will be split amongst players with an equal score.

- There will be trophies for the TOP 5 of the overall standings. In case of an equal score, the tie breaker will be the number of times the players scored 6 points each in the tournaments they played. If there’s still no difference, then the tie breaker will be the number of times the players scored 5 points, etc.

- There will be medals for the TOP 3 of each tournament. In case of an equal score we will use Median-Buchholz to have a clear cut between the 1st, the 2nd and the 3rd place.

- The ceremony will take place right after the finish of the last Project GIPF tournament, Sunday October 5, at about 14h30.

July 28, 2008
10 years Project GIPF
As some may remember, GIPF was launched in Belgium in 1997 by Don & Co. Schmidt Spiele picked it up and released it internationally in 1998. From then on we could consider GIPF as being available worldwide. Meanwhile it is 2008 and the games of Project GIPF are still around. SMART is now the publisher and to celebrate the 10th anniversary there will be a Project GIPF Championship is Prague, Czech Republic. Events for all six games will be scheduled–and in the context of 10 years of worldwide availability and recognition, it will not simply be a championship, but a World Championship. We’ll also compile the results of the different tournaments together, so in the end somebody will gain the title of Overall World Champion.

Schedule

The event will take place during the Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) in Prague, CZ Rep., which is organized yearly by Board Games Club Paluba with the assistance of clubs of classic games like Chess, Go, Othello, Scrabble and Renju. MSO starts on September 27 and ends on October 5. To know more, visit the website.

The Project GIPF tournaments are scheduled as follows:

Thursday, Oct. 2: ZËRTZ (48 rings)	17:00 - 21:00	20 min pp
Friday, Oct. 3: PÜNCT	10:00 - 14:00	20 min pp
Friday, Oct. 3: DVONN	16:00 - 21:00	20 min pp
Saturday, Oct. 4: GIPF	09:30 - 15:00	25 min pp
Saturday, Oct. 4: TZAAR	16:00 - 20:00	20 min pp
Sunday, Oct. 5: YINSH	09:30 - 14:00	20 min pp
Sunday, Oct 5: Ceremony	14:30

This schedule is final as far as we can determine it at this moment, so is it possible that there will be minor adjustments.

The tournaments will be played according to the Swiss system. The number of rounds for each tournaments will be set at a minimum of five.
For the overall standings, we will add up all the points scored by each player in the different tournaments, regardless of the number of tournaments he/she has played. A player gets one point for each win. The more tournaments a player plays, the more opportunities he/she has to score points. Let it be clear: there’s no obligation to play all the tournaments.
As said above, each tournament will feature a minimum of five rounds, meaning that up to five points can be won. If there is a serious difference in the number of players per tournament, it implies that it will be easier to score well in tournaments with less players than in tournaments with more players. This will be rectified by adding one or even two rounds to a tournament with significantly more players.

The place to be

Name of the building: Czech Sokol
Address: Újezd 40, Prague 1, CZech Republic
Tramways: 6, 9, 12, 20, 22, 23 (stops Hellichova or Újezd)
A map will follow later.

Prizes and Sponsoring

There will be prizes for each PG tournament.

1. Prize money

Per tournament:

3rd place:	€ 50		+ medal
2nd place: 	€ 100 		+ medal 
1st place: 	€ 150		+ medal
									
Overall standings:

3rd place:	€ 150		+ trophy
2nd place: 	€ 200		+ trophy
1st place: 	€ 250		+ trophy

SMART is prepared to sponsor participants from outside the Czech Republic by refunding part of the travel costs:

- Players from neighbouring countries will receive € 50 when playing four or five PG tournaments and € 100 when playing all six tournaments.
- Players from other European countries will receive € 75 when playing four or five PG tournaments and € 150 when playing all six tournaments.
- Players coming from another continent will receive € 150 when playing four or five PG tournaments and € 250 when playing all six tournaments.

April 5, 2008
The Project GIPF site
I’m very sorry that the Project GIPF site hasn’t been updated for such a long time and that I haven’t been able to give proper information about TZAAR and the replacement of TAMSK. The last news posted on this site dates back to October 2006. Already so long ago…
As some may remember, I had become slow with updating the site anyway. The main reason is that I’m not good at it. The more updates I did myself, the more difficult if became to go on with it. I’ll say the words: I made a mess of it. The question here at SMART was: shall we ask a wizard to clean up and reorganise the chaos, or is it wiser to start from scratch again and set up a structure that will make it easier to update the site from now on?
So far what I wrote in the last GIPF newsletter. Meanwhile a decision has been made—and An Stuyck was the victim who had to face the outrageous task; she was the poor dudette who was pointed out to tackle the chaos with all possible means—legally allowed or not. And look: a miracle has happened. Here we are again!

FAQ’s
I have received many questions since TAMSK has been replaced by TZAAR. Read some of the answers in this update’s editorial.

Availability of TZAAR
The official version of TZAAR is ready. The only differences with the pre-release version are the artwork of the box and the colour of the paint on the white Tzaars and Tzarra’s. That was silver, now it is gold. The black Tzaars and Tzarras still have silver paint, the same as in the pre-release version.
The games have been shipped to the distributors in the respective territories, so the game should be available soon. Thanks for your patience!

October 7, 2006
Alive & kicking

Yes, still alive and kicking! I'm very sorry for my silence - and for the fact that this site hasn't had an update for such a long time. First of all, I needed a break after the release of PÜNCT. The previous years have been very satisfying, but also very tough. Taking a few steps back for a while was an absolute necessity, amongst other reasons to spend a bit more time at home. Today - that is: heute, aujourd'hui, vandaag! - Lou, my youngest son and very promising "Ultimate GIPF" player (see below), is becoming 1 year! So, awaiting the birthday cake, picking up the maintenance of this site is part of the celebration.

Another reason is that I always knew that being a publisher was only temporary. With the completion of Project GIPF there was no reason to remain a publisher. Which leads me to the following topic:

Project GIPF transfered to "SMART"

I'm enraptured - and very reliefed as well! - to announce that I have come to an agreement with SMART. Through this agreement SMART will become the publisher of all of the games and sets of Project GIPF. In other words: SMART will take over the work I was doing with Don& Co - and will undoubtedly do it a lot better!

Under the brandname of SmartGames, SMART today has a line of successful Multilevel Mind Challenging Games that are distributed in more than 25 countries. With obtaining an exclusive license for the games of Project GIPF, SMART wants to widen it range of action. It expresses its strong interest in abstract strategy games for 2 players and their long term commitment and ambition to publish - permit me to quote myself - :"this most beautiful category of games!"

The first concrete result of the new partnership will be the release of GIPF Set 3 during “Spiel 06”. Which leads me to the following topic:

Release GIPF Set 3

We will have a small quantity of GIPF Set 3 ready for the fair in Essen. Set 3 will contain 6 white and 6 black YINSH-potentials, 6 white and 6 black PÜNCT-potentials, and 3 white and 3 black extra GIPF-pieces to play "Ultimate GIPF". For the very brave amongst you: that is GIPF with 21 basic pieces and all 5 different kinds of potentials.

Don & Co and SMART will share a booth in Essen. Everybody is invited to pass by at our stand in Hall 9 and have a game of GIPF with as many potentials as you want! Which leads me to the following topic:

Use of potentials: rule adjustment

Originally you had to bring the different kinds of potentials into play according to a specific order. That is not the case anymore. You may load your basic pieces with potentials in any order and you may switch from one type of potentials to another as often as you want. Which leads me back to the previous topic: in particular if you agree that a fair amount of chaos can be fun, feel free to join us in Essen, in Hall 9, booth 48. (The show runs from the 19th to the 22nd of October!)