Make four towers of height 3 to win.
Move your piece in any direction. If you are standing on a single disc, you may carry that disc with you. Discs can't be carried over an opponent. If you move your disc so as to make a tower of height 3, you claim that tower.
General comments:
Play: Combinatorial
Family: Combinatorial 2015,Kickstarter
Mechanism(s): Stacking,Movement
Components: Board
| BGG Entry | Stac |
|---|---|
| BGG Rating | 6.95294 |
| #Voters | 51 |
| SD | 2.01118 |
| BGG Weight | 1.6667 |
| #Voters | 3 |
| Year | 2015 |
| User | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| RDReilly | 8 | Somewhat provisional rating after three or four plays with my nephew. The game is quick, the rules are simple, but each game we found ourselves learning something new about what works and what doesn't. In other words, there are some interesting tactics in this game, although I haven't played enough yet to say whether or not there is much strategy. Still, it was fun: a neat little abstract game. |
| ololola | 9 | |
| psel62 | 7 | |
| eddieMart1979 | 9 | Easy to carry, easy to play - great break similar to checkers. |
| mrraow | 3 | Trying to make towers gets punished by the opponent stealing your tower, so why bother? And with competent play, the game never ends. |
| xeps | 6.4 | |
| capsmolet | N/A | 5x5 Modern |
| fogus | 5.5 | |
| singer4660 | 10 | |
| alejo4 | 5 | |
| ceelte | 7 | |
| BeyondMonopoly | 7 | |
| DrDetroit | 10 | Relaxing game - perfect to chill with. |
| Tolkana | 4 | |
| Kamantsev | 9 | Carry in my bag always. |
| BuckWilde | 6 | |
| coopercheer | 8 | |
| awshuckyducky | 7.2 | |
| bwarren | 5 | |
| howardb73 | 8 | |
| Geeken | N/A | 3KS 2018 |
| MENAREUS2000 | 8 | I was fortunate enough to get the deluxe wooden version of the game, which is quite beautiful. So just for looks, I've give it a 10. What fascinates me about this game is the fact that I've played at least a couple of dozens of time and I'm not sure why I haven't lost yet. Maybe I'll figure it out. |
| LastGentlemanScholar | 6 | |
| hojoh | N/A | F |
| RoGoMa | 10 | |
| mjf71 | N/A | 2 20m |
| brown02134 | 5 | |
| GameBabe95 | 9 | |
| Orangemoose | 7 | |
| Wentu | 5 | incredibly and annoyingly prone to stalemate. the idea itself is somehow interesting but the games i tried on BSN got stuck in positions where it is noone interest to leave the stalemate. Maybe it's just me but i don't like, in abstract, the rule "The game ends in a draw, by agreement, if neither side can force a win" |
| tckoppang | 6 | Stac is a lightweight and enjoyable abstract. It's tactical with exceptional clarity -- both good things for a game with a quick playtime. At first blush, I thought the game was too predicable and drawish. You may too, but give it a few plays before passing judgment. With a bit of forethought during the opening, the endgame becomes much more of a cat and mouse game of maneuver. The depth isn't overly impressive, but that is perhaps by design. All in all, this an abstract that knows what it wants to do, and does it well. Recommended for people looking for a quick game that nonetheless requires attention and planning, or for players looking to introduce kids to the wider world of abstracts. The fact that you can carry it around so easily is a nice bonus. I like it! |
| birdsong703 | 6 | Interesting abstract with pick-up-and-deliver as the core mechanic. |
| roberthahn | 8 | Stac is an excellent warmup game that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. I have found that players need a couple of games under their belt before appreciating some of the nuances and strategic depth Stac offers. I love it’s portable format- makes it really easy to pack for traveling. You can’t NOT have room to bring it on games night. Highly recommend. |
| arcplayer | 9 | |
| gaelicgamer | 8 | |
| AbstractStrategy | 4 | |
| redscythe | 8.5 | |
| CDRodeffer | 5 | Fairly straightforward. |
| portsmouthmom | 8 | |
| BigDon | 8 | |
| xhaereticusx | 8 | |
| scih | 6 | |
| pulla | 3 | Pointless. |
| disom | N/A | Game's Designer |
| uberisom | 9 | A compelling and subtly deep game with new strategies ever time I've played it. Easy to bring anywhere and setup for a few quick games. |
| LaVieve | 8 | |
| zeder | 5 | |
| goatfarmer03 | 5.5 | Print and play game I put together. Has really easy but deep movement mechanics. Quite enjoyable take on abstract |
| lilipapa | 9 | |
| g2summit | N/A | Complete -KC |
| David Miller | 10 | |
| David Ells | 8 | Kickstarter! |
| Kaffedrake | 3 | The problem with this stacking game is that it appears inconclusive: if one player gets ahead, the other can typically stall until the leading player either agrees to a draw or allows the other player to catch up. A player can potentially opt for this parasitic dance at any scoring opportunity, and even if it might sometimes be possible to force a point, I don't see it happening enough times in one game to force a win. |
| LPGpower | 9 | |
| Germflinger | 4 | The packaging for this game is great because it is very portable. There is a strategy deep in the mechanics of the game that I have not quite grasped yet. The gameplay is quick and that makes this game able to be easily played multiple times in one sitting. |
| Josquin | 9 | |
| FiveStars | 3.5 | Played Stac yesterday. Appears to be very tactical, not much strategy due to the small board. Ended in a draw since nobody could make the last decisive stack. Disappointing. |
| AndrePOR | N/A | Print & Play Edition |
| infomage27 | N/A | never played yet |
| AI | Strong Wins | Draws | Strong Losses | #Games | Strong Win% | p1 Win% | Game Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Random | |||||||
| Grand Unified UCT(U1-T,rSel=s, secs=0.01) | 36 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 100.00 | 55.56 | 32.44 |
| Grand Unified UCT(U1-T,rSel=s, secs=0.03) | 35 | 2 | 4 | 41 | 87.80 | 56.10 | 44.93 |
| Grand Unified UCT(U1-T,rSel=s, secs=0.07) | 33 | 6 | 5 | 44 | 81.82 | 50.00 | 55.80 |
| Grand Unified UCT(U1-T,rSel=s, secs=0.20) | 33 | 7 | 10 | 50 | 73.00 | 49.00 | 53.72 |
| Grand Unified UCT(U1-T,rSel=s, secs=0.55) | 35 | 2 | 4 | 41 | 87.80 | 48.78 | 48.61 |
Level of Play: Strong beats Weak 60% of the time (lower bound with 90% confidence).
Draw%, p1 win% and game length may give some indication of trends as AI strength increases; but be aware that the AI can introduce bias due to horizon effects, poor heuristics, etc.
| Size (bytes) | 25395 |
|---|---|
| Reference Size | 10577 |
| Ratio | 2.40 |
Ai Ai calculates the size of the implementation, and compares it to the Ai Ai implementation of the simplest possible game (which just fills the board). Note that this estimate may include some graphics and heuristics code as well as the game logic. See the wikipedia entry for more details.
| Playouts per second | 41426.39 (24.14µs/playout) |
|---|---|
| Reference Size | 360711.32 (2.77µs/playout) |
| Ratio (low is good) | 8.71 |
Tavener complexity: the heat generated by playing every possible instance of a game with a perfectly efficient programme. Since this is not possible to calculate, Ai Ai calculates the number of random playouts per second and compares it to the fastest non-trivial Ai Ai game (Connect 4). This ratio gives a practical indication of how complex the game is. Combine this with the computational state space, and you can get an idea of how strong the default (MCTS-based) AI will be.
| 1: White win % | 52.00±2.19 | Includes draws = 50% |
|---|---|---|
| 2: Black win % | 48.00±2.18 | Includes draws = 50% |
| Draw % | 16.27 | Percentage of games where all players draw. |
| Decisive % | 83.73 | Percentage of games with a single winner. |
| Samples | 2004 | Quantity of logged games played |
Note: that win/loss statistics may vary depending on thinking time (horizon effect, etc.), bad heuristics, bugs, and other factors, so should be taken with a pinch of salt. (Given perfect play, any game of pure skill will always end in the same result.)
Note: Ai Ai differentiates between states where all players draw or win or lose; this is mostly to support cooperative games.
Rotation (Half turn) lost each game as expected.
Reflection (X axis) lost each game as expected.
Reflection (Y axis) lost each game as expected.
Copy last move lost each game as expected.
Mirroring strategies attempt to copy the previous move. On first move, they will attempt to play in the centre. If neither of these are possible, they will pick a random move. Each entry represents a different form of copying; direct copy, reflection in either the X or Y axis, half-turn rotation.
| Game length | 53.60 | |
|---|---|---|
| Branching factor | 10.91 | |
| Complexity | 10^54.11 | Based on game length and branching factor |
| Samples | 2004 | Quantity of logged games played |
| Distinct actions | 400 | Number of distinct moves (e.g. "e4") regardless of position in game tree |
|---|---|---|
| Good moves | 223 | A good move is selected by the AI more than the average |
| Bad moves | 177 | A bad move is selected by the AI less than the average |
| Samples | 2004 | Quantity of logged games played |
This chart shows the best move value with respect to the active player; the orange line represents the value of doing nothing (null move).
The lead changed on 44% of the game turns. Ai Ai found 11 critical turns (turns with only one good option).
Overall, this playout was 77.00% hot.
This chart shows the relative temperature of all moves each turn. Colour range: black (worst), red, orange(even), yellow, white(best).
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | 268 | 2624 | 19202 | 27005 | 430216 | 988821 | 3082915 | 3159793 | 28271367 |
Note: most games do not take board rotation and reflection into consideration.
Multi-part turns could be treated as the same or different depth depending on the implementation.
Counts to depth N include all moves reachable at lower depths.
Inaccuracies may also exist due to hash collisions, but Ai Ai uses 64-bit hashes so these will be a very small fraction of a percentage point.
No solutions found to depth 10.
| Moves | Animation |
|---|---|
| Move a1-b1,Move e5-a5,Move b1-d1,Move a5-b5,Move d1-c1,Move b5-c5,Move c1-b1,Move c5-b5,Move b1-d1,Move b5-a5,Move d1-d4 |  |
| Move a1-c1,Move e5-a5,Move c1-d1,Move a5-b5,Move d1-c1,Move b5-c5,Move c1-b1,Move c5-b5,Move b1-d1,Move b5-a5,Move d1-d4 |  |
| Move a1-d1,Move e5-b5,Move d1-c1,Move b5-a5,Move c1-d1,Move a5-c5,Move d1-b1,Move c5-b5,Move b1-d1,Move b5-a5,Move d1-d4 |  |
| Move a1-e1,Move e5-b5,Move e1-c1,Move b5-a5,Move c1-d1,Move a5-c5,Move d1-b1,Move c5-b5,Move b1-d1,Move b5-a5,Move d1-d4 |  |
| Move a1-e1,Move e5-a5,Move e1-d1,Move a5-b5,Move d1-c1,Move b5-c5,Move c1-b1,Move c5-b5,Move b1-d1,Move b5-a5,Move d1-d4 |  |
| Move a1-b1,Move e5-b5,Move b1-d1,Move b5-c5,Move d1-b1,Move c5-a5,Move b1-d1,Move a5-b5,Move d1-c1,Move b5-c5,Move c1-a1 |  |
| Move a1-b1,Move e5-a5,Move b1-d1,Move a5-b5,Move d1-c1,Move b5-c5,Move c1-b1,Move c5-b5,Move b1-d1,Move b5-c5,Move d1-d2 |  |
| Move a1-b1,Move e5-a5,Move b1-d1,Move a5-b5,Move d1-c1,Move b5-c5,Move c1-b1,Move c5-b5,Move b1-d1,Move b5-c5,Move d1-a1 |  |
| Move a1-c1,Move e5-b5,Move c1-d1,Move b5-c5,Move d1-b1,Move c5-a5,Move b1-d1,Move a5-b5,Move d1-c1,Move b5-c5,Move c1-a1 |  |
| Move a1-c1,Move e5-a5,Move c1-d1,Move a5-b5,Move d1-c1,Move b5-c5,Move c1-b1,Move c5-b5,Move b1-d1,Move b5-c5,Move d1-d2 |  |
| Move a1-c1,Move e5-a5,Move c1-d1,Move a5-b5,Move d1-c1,Move b5-c5,Move c1-b1,Move c5-b5,Move b1-d1,Move b5-c5,Move d1-a1 |  |
| Move a1-e1,Move e5-b5,Move e1-d1,Move b5-c5,Move d1-b1,Move c5-a5,Move b1-d1,Move a5-b5,Move d1-c1,Move b5-c5,Move c1-a1 |  |