Soulkeeper's Nim

The developer of this game is currently studying the python language at school and in an effort to better grasp the intricacies of the programme has developed this small text based game. Soulkeeper's Nim is as the title suggests a Nim based game, for those of you who are unfamiliar Nim is a basic subtraction game. By basic I mean the rules are incredibly simple, from a pool of 20 available units the player and the computer can each take 1 or 2 units. The game comes to an end when one of the player's moves involves them taking the last object, or in this case unit, in the pot. Whilst the rules are simple the game play is not, Nim is a strategy game whose origins can be traced back to Ancient China and was played in Europe as long ago as the 16th century; a game does not survive for centuries and perhaps millennia if it is boring. The possible combinations of move and counter-move are almost endless and the number of ways to lose is almost as high. Winning in this game involves strategy and the ability to be able to think ahead of your opponent. The developer has stated that he has tried to make the computer as smart as possible to create a challenge for the human player and I believe with this game has managed to achieve that with a reasonable degree of competence. For anyone who has played this type of game before it's not too difficult to outwit the computer opponent at least half the time, but it still gives you a feeling of accomplishment when you do.

Your opponent is randomly named, with 13 possible choices taken from the uneven letters of the alphabet, A, C, E etc. which gives you computer opponents like Monica, Ophelia, Agatha and Clarisse. I made a comment on the game page about how going up against Clarisse felt like taking on a nun since the name is an alternative to the Poor Clares, but by some cosmic joke it was indeed Clarisse I seemed to play more than others. Most of the time, she won too.


Damn it Clarisse, why don't you lose already?

Overall I'd say for a little experiment to test the capabilities of a programming language that is new to the developer, Karin's Soulkeeper has achieved his ends and produced a small but somewhat addictive little game where you can while away a good hour or so without even realising.

Oh there is also a little six sided die rolling programme included, I didn't try if because I had no use for it, but if you're out somewhere and need to make a roll but have no dice this might come in handy.