It is nice when the computer keeps me from cheating

I keep on telling myself I am going to teach someone Lines of Action and play a game of it face-to-face.

However, for years now, I've just kept playing it online at Super Duper Games. In fact, even when I am taking a break from all the other games on that site, I usually have a game of Lines of Actions going.

And part of the reason is that Super Duper Games will keep me from accidentally cheating. (To be fair, another part is I can _always_ find a game of Lines of Action there)

You see, while Lines of Actions' rules are so simple I can explain them in the three sentences (1. You win by connecting all your pieces. 2. A piece can move in any direction but only the exact number of spaces as the pieces in that line. 3. You can only jump over your own pieces but landing on an opponents piece captures it.), it is still easy to mess up moves. While I am much better at it, I still occasionally miscount moves.

Hey, I said that the rules were simple. The play can get pretty complex. :P

While there are a number of drawbacks to playing online, one benefit is that it can keep you from accidentally cheating. And with some games, abstracts in particular it seems, it can be easy to make an illegal move without realizing it.

I remember getting Quads, a pre-GIPF game by Kris Burm, and playing in a series of games with a friend. It's a super simple game but we kept on realizing that we were making illegal plays without either of us noticing. I eventually got rid of the game because, well, it wasn't GIPF quality and it was too easy not to catch mistakes.

Having said that, I am probably being lazy and unfair to Lines of Action. After all, the whole count the number of pieces rule is also in Ramses and I have had no problems teaching or playing that. Heck, now that I've said it, I know I want to make a new set of Ramses via print and play.