I've had a life-long fascination with abstract strategy boardgames, especially chess. What I really enjoy are the tactical surprises: correct moves that at first glance look like blunders.
Freeze has a lot of those.
It took me a long time to piece together the knight's tour trick.
I had heard that George Koltanowski could do a knight's tour blindfolded, and I knew that he was a wizard at blindfold chess. Somewhere I came across a statement that he learned how to play blindfold chess by dividing the board into quadrants and visualizing those smaller sections. I assumed that that was how he solved the knight's tours. Working on that idea eventually led to the technique I've explained on this website.
Curiously, it was only recently that I researched the subject on the internet and learned more about Koltanowski's knight's tour exhibitions which, it turned out, did not use the method I described. The amazing thing about his tour was that the board squares contained information supplied by the audience: license
numbers, ages, names, etc. He'd study the board, and then begin the
blindfold tour, starting on a square someone in the audience suggested. When he called out a square, he also called out the
information on the square!
The idea for Freeze started off simply enough: the pieces move thusly, and they capture thusly.
But it soon became clear that a few other rules needed to be discovered. Some of those, including the one that gave Freeze its name, hid from me for a very long time. They're present now. I hope you'll give the game a try.
Thank you for your visit.
frezco@frezcogames.com
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