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About Dominions
The game of Dominions derives from the particular set of 64 hexagons and the puzzles it provides. As a 64-pieces puzzle the set offers three distinct kinds of solutions:
Amazingly a transcendental solution preceded the set! It was Martin Medema, a Dutch inventor of usually very elaborate games, who first perceived the concept of 64 hexagons in a configuration wherein each would differ from all others in terms of the configuration of neighbours around it. That was brilliant. That he proceeded by constructing one using unmarked draughtsmen and keeping a very elaborate administration (because adding one, inevitably changes its neighbours) is again brilliant in terms of tenaciousness. I'm not that tenacious, but I figured that if you marked the draughtsmen with a fixed arrow for orientation, and the 64 patterns as lines radiating from the center, you could create what was to be termed a "transcendental solution" in a quarter of an hour instead of a week. Thus I made the first set, and generalizations over squares, triangles, cubes, all but the last both as primary sets (squares and triangles both 16 pieces, hexagons 64) and secondary sets (including diagonal lines - triangles 128 pieces, squares 256 and hexagons a staggering 4096). Now that the pieces were marked, compact solutions also became an obvious possibility, and later Martin developed the concept of a Starmap. Martin developed a number of games that used a trancendental solution for a board - often quite fascinating, yet at the same time very elaborate and somewhat outside my tunnelvision concerning games. Dominions took form when I started to look at the lines on the pieces as liberties. I went through the game before making the required double faced sets and eventually spotted the necessity of limiting the possibilities for extending from one's own groups. After that its unusual character somewhat reluctantly explained itself. It took me two games on a table in 1980 to see that a board was needed: without "eye space" newly started groups stand no chance agains a big one. And in empty space, eye space is hard to come by. The border plays an essential role in the development of eye space and the boardsize turned out to be critical: 169 is clearly too crammed and 271 already shows its significanc wane. After six more games that only took place after the game had remained on the shelf for more than two decades, waiting for an applet, an unusually well hidden bug was spotted and removed to finally unlock the game.
Dominions ©
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