vortex

MICHAEL P. KAUFMANN · 1977 · NEVER MARKETED

One man built this. A naval strategy game for two, with eight lit ships, two invisible submarines, sea rocks, storms and an electronic referee — on a 1 Kbit chip, in 1977.

The machine is not your opponent. It remembers where the hidden submarines are, refuses every illegal command, sends the storms, and calls the winner. Your submarines are never touched on the board: you command them in the dark, under the mountain, behind a breaking wave the other player cannot see past.

Storm and the Eye of the Storm — introduce the element of chance Original sound language

CHOOSE THE MACHINE'S MIND

▶ HOW IT WORKS · 30 SECONDS Play a real person · by link

Two devices, two coves, real secrecy — refereed. Send a friend the link; the game is kept by an impartial server, so neither of you can peek at the other's submarines or tamper with the board.

INVITE A REAL OPPONENT

Send this invite to your opponent

The invite carries only the game id. Both fleets — and both hidden submarines — live on the referee, never on either phone, so there is nothing to peek at and nothing to tamper with. Play at your own pace: the board updates when it becomes your turn.

Keep looking at the board

THE OTHER PLAYER MUST LOOK ASIDE

I am alone with the board

THE WINNER

Playing instructions

TRANSCRIBED FROM THE ORIGINAL 1977 MANUAL

• Set up. Touch 8 spaces on your own half — those are your ships. Then, while the opponent looks aside, touch 2 more: your invisible submarines. They appear only on the hidden display under the mountain.
• Moving. Every turn you must move two vessels. Ships move one or two spaces in a single direction; submarines one space. Vertical and horizontal only, never diagonally.
• The cove. Ships are touched on the board. Submarines are commanded only from your cove, under the breaking wave, where the opponent cannot see the display or your hands.
• Sea rocks. A vessel that runs against a rock sinks. A ship may not jump over a rock — but it may pass over another vessel.
• Collision. Should any two vessels collide, both sink.
• Firing. After moving, pass the turn or fire. Range of fire — ships and submarines alike — is one space, vertical or horizontal only. Unlimited shots per turn, but the ammunition depot holds 25 for the whole game. Fire at a lit target, or at "empty" water where you suspect a hidden submarine.
• The invisible submarine. Once a submarine fires it appears on the board — flashing — for 6 turns. If it survives, it disappears again.
• Storm. On an average of every 12 turns a storm sinks whatever vessel happens to be on a randomly chosen space.
• The eye of the storm. On an average of every 25 turns the water goes still and every invisible submarine on the board is revealed — for one turn only. The chance key on the 1977 panel is printed as an eye above water: one symbol for both effects. The storm is the water; this is the eye.
• The winner wipes out the opposing fleet, or gets one of his ships (not a submarine) into the opponent's port.
• Your firing record. Every square you have fired into is marked on your board and on your chart — a cross for empty water, a dot for a hit — and fades as the intelligence goes stale. Only you can see your own marks. This is how a submarine is hunted.

Digital rulings where the 1977 manual is silent. A two-space ship move may pass over a vessel but not a rock. A submarine may not enter a port. Firing on your own vessel is permitted and sinks it. Storm and espionage run on a scheduled counter — 12±3 and 25±4 turns — rather than a coin toss, so "on an average of every 12 turns" is actually true. A rising sea is visible two turns before a storm breaks: weather can be read, the eye cannot. A shot must be aimed and then committed, because it is irreversible and the depot is small. Moves may be taken back until the second one commits the turn. The machine's three minds are wholly modern — in 1977 it was the referee, never a player.

Return to the game