Editing Teeko (section)

==Standard Teeko==
Standard Teeko is also known as '''Teeko 44 Positions''' and is a game for two players.<ref name=encyc-73/>{{rp|513}}

===Equipment===
The Teeko board consists of twenty-five spaces arranged in a five-by-five grid. There are eight markers, four black and four red; in the final edition of the game (1964),<ref name=Eskin/> the markers are marked with one to four spots similar to the standard pips on [[dice]].<ref name=encyc-73/>{{rp|513}}

One player, "Black" plays the black markers, and the other, "Red", plays the red.<ref name=encyc-73>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/scarnesencyclope0000scar/ |title=Scarne's encyclopedia of games |first=John |last=Scarne |author-link=John Scarne |date=1973 |chapter=25: Chess, Checkers, and Teeko |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/scarnesencyclope0000scar/page/498/mode/2up |publisher=Harper & Row |sbn=06-013813-0 |lccn=72-79691 |pages=498–521 |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|513}}

===Gameplay===
One player conceals two pawns in their closed hands, one of each color. The other player selects one hand and plays the color that is revealed.<ref name=encyc-73/>{{rp|515}}
[[File:Teeko board with pieces (var).svg|thumb|right|Teeko game, won by Black for placing four in a square]]
# Black moves first and places one marker on any space on the board, with the exception of the central spot on the board.<ref name=encyc-73/>{{rp|515}}
# Red then places a marker on any unoccupied space.
# Players continue to take turns placing markers on empty spaces until all eight markers are on the board.
# Once all eight pieces are on the board, if neither player has won after this initial "drop" placement phase, then they move their pieces one at a time, with Black playing first.
# A piece may be moved only to an empty space adjacent to its starting space, meaning adjacent horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, as indicated by the connecting lines on the board.

===Objective===
The object of the game is for either player to win by having all four of their markers in a straight line (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal) or on a square of four adjacent spaces.<ref name=encyc-73/>{{rp|514}} Adjacency is horizontal, vertical, or diagonal, but does not [[wraparound (video games)|wrap around]] the edges of the board. The ''44 positions'' name comes from the number of ways in which four in a row or the small square can be created.
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:100%;text-align:center;"
|+Winning combinations in ''Standard Teeko'' (black pawns)
!
! Vertical !! Horizontal !! Diagonal !! Square
|-
! Example
| [[File:Teeko board win VL.svg|frameless|upright=0.7]]
| [[File:Teeko board win HL.svg|frameless|upright=0.7]]
| [[File:Teeko board win DG.svg|frameless|upright=0.7]]
| [[File:Teeko board win SQ.svg|frameless|upright=0.7]]
|-
! Ways to form
| 10 || 10 || 8 || 16
|}

If a player wins by completing four-in-a-row or a small square, the score for the game is based on the pip value of the last marker placed or moved to win, and the position of that last marker on the board.<ref name=encyc-73/>{{rp|515}} When the last marker is played onto the center or one of the four corners of the board, the player receives a bonus of four points in addition to the pip value; plays into one of the other 20 spots on the board receive just the pip value with no bonus.<ref name=encyc-73/>{{rp|516}}

===Analysis===
The rules, as summarized above, are very simple, but the strategy is complicated enough to fill a book, ''Scarne on Teeko'' (1955).<ref name="Scarne">{{cite book |last=Scarne |first=John |year=1955 |title=Scarne on Teeko |author-link=John Scarne |location=New York |publisher=Crown Publishers |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/787499415/scarne-on-teeko}}</ref> Nonetheless, [[Guy L. Steele Jr.]] solved the game (i.e., showed what must occur if both players play perfectly) via [[computer]] in 1998 and found neither player can force a win.<ref name="Epstein"/> Steele also showed that the Advanced Teeko variant is a win for Black (again, assuming perfect play), as is one other variant, but the other fourteen variants are draws.<ref name="Epstein">{{cite book |author-link=Richard Arnold Epstein |last=Epstein |first=Richard A. |year=2012 |title=The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic |edition=2 |publisher=Academic Press |page=341}}</ref>