Counting Battle! 🏆

A real-time multiplayer Go territory counting game where players compete to correctly identify which side controls more territory in various Go positions.

🎮 Play Now at counting-battle.ajiweaver.com

🎮 Game Overview

Counting Battle! is based on Anton Tobi's Count! but adds multiplayer functionality with rooms, a real-time leaderboard, room history, and a hard mode where you can train exact counting.

How to Play

1. Create a room
2. Set game options inside the room, only the host can change these settings.
3. Choose difficulty: In normal mode you only have to choose which color wins, while hard mode
4. Invite friends by sharing the room link - click the 🔗 button to copy the direct join link.
5. Play!

Notes:

• If your timer runs out, you lose.
• If you answer correctly all boards before anybody else, you win.
• 1 correct answer is 1 point
• Every time you make a mistake, you will be forced to wait for 1 second.
• If you resign, the game will continue while there's at least 1 more player playing.
• If you open the "Leaderboard" dialog while playing, you can see everyone's scores changing in real time.

🚀 Features

• Real-time multiplayer with Socket.IO
• Two game modes: Normal (Black/White winner) and Hard (exact territory counting)
• Customizable game settings (timer, board count)
• Live leaderboards during gameplay with status icons (🎮 playing, ✅ finished)
• Persistent room history and total scores
• Visual feedback (green for correct, red for incorrect, gold for winners)
• Trophy/medal system for winners and ties (🏆 single winner, 🥇 ties)
• Development mode indicators (🔧 wrench icon for dev mode players)
• Host controls for game management
• Mobile-responsive design

🛠️ Technical Stack

• Frontend: Vanilla JavaScript, p5.js for game rendering
• Territory Scoring: lightvector/goscorer library for accurate scoring
• Backend: Node.js, Express, Socket.IO
• Deployment: Railway (server), Netlify (client)
• Real-time Communication: WebSocket connections via Socket.IO

📋 Setup & Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm

Local Development

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/ajiweaver/counting
   cd counting

2. Install dependencies

   npm run install-server

3. Serve the files

    # cd to repository's root
    python3 -m http.server 8000

4. Start the server

   npm start

5. Open the game At localhost:8000

Environment Configuration

The game auto-detects the environment:

• Local: Uses http://localhost:3000 for the server, http://localhost:8000 for the client
• Production: The client is deployed at https://count.ajiweaver.com

🎯 Game Mechanics

Scoring Rules

• Each Go position shows equal stones for Black and White
• No komi, no prisoners, no sekis
• Area scoring and territory scoring give identical results
• Normal Mode: Just decide who won, black or white
• Hard Mode: Choose the winning color by clicking on the first stone on the bottom of the screen and then choose by how much.

Game Flow

1. Lobby Phase: Players join and wait for game start
2. Playing Phase: Real-time competition on the same board sequence
3. Finished Phase: Results shown with winner highlighting
4. Auto-finish: Game ends when first player completes all boards

Controls

• Mouse/Touch: Click Black/White buttons
• Keyboard: Left/Right arrows (Black/White), Escape (resign)

🏗️ Project Structure

counting/
├── index.html          # Main game interface
├── about.html          # Game instructions
├── board-editor.html   # Visual board editor (localhost only)
├── multiplayer.js      # Client-side multiplayer logic
├── board-editor.js     # Board editor functionality
├── boards.js          # Normal mode Go board positions
├── boards_hard.js      # Hard mode Go board positions
├── deadstones.js       # Normal mode dead stone data
├── deadstones_hard.js  # Hard mode dead stone data
├── goscorer.js         # Go territory scoring library
├── name-generator.js   # Random player name generation
├── style.css          # Game styling
├── server/
│   ├── server.js      # Express + Socket.IO server
│   └── package.json   # Server dependencies
└── package.json       # Root package configuration

🔧 Development Features

When running on localhost, additional features become available:

Visual Board Editor

• Access: Board Editor button appears on main menu (localhost only)
• Features: Visual stone placement, dead stone marking, territory scoring
• Export: Generate updated boards.js and deadstones.js files
• Keyboard Shortcuts: Navigation, tool selection, undo/redo support

Development Mode

• Toggle: Development Mode checkbox (localhost only)
• Features: Shows correct answers during gameplay
• Visual Indicator: Players in dev mode get wrench icon 🔧 in UI

Debug Console Functions

// Mock data testing
showMockData()          // Enable mock data for testing
hideMockData()          // Disable mock data
setRealBoardId(1)       // Test with board id

// Data querying
queryLeaderboard()      // View all leaderboard data
debugLeaderboard()      // Debug leaderboard display
debugRoomHistory()      // Debug room history display

// Board testing
showMockBoards()        // View available test boards
setTestBoardId(0)       // Load specific board for testing

📊 Room Management

• Persistent Rooms: Rooms stay active until all players leave
• Host Privileges: Room creators can start games and return to lobby
• Auto-reconnection: Hosts automatically reconnect to their existing rooms
• Room History: Track all completed games with detailed results

🎨 Visual Design

• Responsive UI with mobile-first approach
• Real-time feedback with background color changes
• Trophy system with emoji indicators (🏆 for single winner, 🥇 for ties)
• Status indicators (🎮 playing, ✅ finished, 🔧 dev mode)
• Smooth animations for interactions and state changes
• Tooltips for enhanced user experience

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE.md for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Original concept by Anton Tobi
• Built with love for the Go/Weiqi/Baduk community

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Ready to battle? Create a room and challenge your friends to see who's the best at counting territory! 🥊