LawToe Help
By Layman E. Allen and Sandra L. Bartlett
Welcome to the game of LawToe, a two-player game played on a 3x3
Playing Mat like the game of Tic-Tac-Toe. It is designed to help
prepare you to learn the Legal Argument Game of LEGAL RELATIONS by
introducing some features and strategies of resource-allocation games.
One player is the Plaintiff and the other is the Defendant, with the
computer program and the learner sometimes in each role. Plaintiff and
Defendant take turns entering letters in the squares until all squares
are filled or somebody challenges to end the match. The Plaintiff
sets the Goal and seeks to write a Solution that satisfies the Goal,
while the Defendant tries to block any such Solution.
The game starts with Pedagogue Plaintiff. The computer is the
Plaintiff and you are the Defendant. After you have won 3 times in a
row, you can choose to play Dragoman Defendant. The computer is the
Defendant and you are the Plaintiff.
How to play
- Set the Goal - Odd or Even
The Plaintiff must set a Goal of Odd or Even.
For an odd Goal, an odd number of Triplets will be a Solution.
For an even Goal, an even number of Triplets will be a Solution.
A set of squares in the 3x3 Playing Mat is a Triplet IF AND ONLY IF
it is a set
of three touching squares with P's or O's in them
that connect the top side to the bottom side of the
Playing Mat or connect the left side to the right side, where touching may be
vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. For example, 123, 126, and 456 connect
the left side to the right side; 148, 258, and 359 connect the top to
the bottom; and 159 makes two Triplets, by connecting the top to the bottom
while at the same time connecting the left side to the right side.
On the other hand, 142, 256, and 578 are not Triplets, because
they do not connect one side to its opposite side.
- Make a Move - Fill the Squares with F, P, and O
After the Goal is set, the players take turns typing a letter in an
empty square and pressing Enter.
Allowed letters are
- F (for Forbidden) A square with F must not be used in any of the Triplets in
the proposed Solution.
- P (for Permitted) A square with P may, but need not be, used in a Triplet
in the proposed Solution.
- O (for Obligatory) A square with O must be used in at
least one Triplet in the
Solution. In addition, all Triplets that use an O-square must be counted
in the proposed Solution.
There are two different variants of LawToe, each with its own playing rules.
- Pedagogue Plaintiff
In Pedagogue Plaintiff the computer program plays as Plaintiff,
and the Defendant can always win.
After the Plaintiff sets the Goal, the Defendant must type letters
in two empty squares. Thereafter, the player and the
computer take turns typing a
letter in any empty square until either someone challenges to end the match
or all squares get filled.
- Dragoman Defendant
In Dragoman Defendant the computer program plays as Defendant, and the Plaintiff can always win.
After the Plaintiff sets the Goal, the Defendant must type letters
in two empty squares, but can never type a letter in the center
square (square-5).
Thereafter, the players take turns, the Plaintiff typing in one
square and the Defendant typing in two squares until someone challenges to
end the match or all squares get filled.
- End the Match
There are two ways to end a match of LawToe.
- Challenge - A-flub or CA-flub
A Challenge ends the game early.
When it is a player's turn to make a move, that player can Challenge
instead of making a move by typing a letter.
There are two kinds of challenges:
- a Challenge that the player who just moved has made an A-flub -
a move that (A)llowed the other player to write a Solution and win on
the next move. (Only the Plaintiff can correctly make A-flub challenges.)
- a Challenge that the player who just moved has made a CA-flub -
the player moved instead of making a correct Challenge that was possible.
The Challenger must specify the kind of Challenge being made,
since this determines
the nature of the Burden of Proof that must be sustained by the
Challenger.
- Exhaust Resources
A player types a letter in the last empty square. In this case,
the Plaintiff has the Burden of Proof, if there is no Challenge.
- Sustain the Burden of Proof
For all Challenges, the Burden of Proof is on the Challenger.
If the game ends because there are no more empty squares, the
Plaintiff has the Burden of Proof.
- For an A-flub Challenge, the Challenger must show that a
Solution can be written by making an appropriate next move.
The proof is a list of Triplets that satisfy the Goal, when a P
is entered in a blank square used in at least one of the Triplets.
- For a CA-flub Challenge, the Challenger must show that there was
an A-flub made prior to the move being challenged as a CA-flub.
The proof is specifying the state of the game when the A-flub occured,
and a list of Triplets that satisfy the Goal, when a P
is entered in a blank square used in at least one of the Triplets.
- If the Match ends because all the squares have been filled and
there has been no Challenge, then
the Plaintiff has the Burden of Proof.
The proof consists of just one element:
the list of Triplets that satisfies the Goal.
In all cases, to sustain the Burden of Proof,
(1) every O-square must be used in a Triplet in
the Solution offered, and (2) the list of Triplets
- Must contain an odd number of Triplets if the Goal is odd
- Must contain an even number of Triplets if the Goal is even
- Must NOT contain any Triplet that has an F
- Must contain all Triplets that have at least one O and no F
and
- May contain any Triplet that is all P's
- Score
If the Burden of Proof has been sustained, then the writer's score
is 10, unless the CA-flub Challenge was a Bold
Challenge - a CA-flub Challenge of the move that immediately
follows the move that makes the A-flub - in which case the
score is 16. (In other words, a player may
deliberately make an A-flub hoping the other player will not
challenge it, and if the second player does fail to challenge,
the first player can make a Bold CA-flub Challenge.)
On a successful Bold Challenge where the writer sustains the burden of proof,
the writer scores 16.
If the Burden of Proof has NOT been sustained, then the writer's
score is 6 and the other player's score is 10.
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