deleted variants

how come some variants get deleted? There are lots of people saying that a variant they liked has been removed, and I would like to clear things up for them. Fairyland, Rock Paper Scissors, and a few others have been removed. Please clear this up for them

CGA's have removed them due to a lack of ppl playing them

I think

yes they deleted partner trust

Variants can be deleted if they:

1. are unequal

2. are unpopular

3. have too much teaming tendency (for FFA)

4. have long games with dry, positional, shuffling

5. are too similar to another, more popular variant

These are the main reasons, though there are others.

Hi there,

You are correct; The CGA team, in conjunction with the admin team will periodically remove positions from being listed as a playable, rated position. Occasionally, you may find that the position you created, or one that you enjoyed playing has been removed. For that, we apologise, but we'd also like to explain. There are several reasons that may motivate us to remove a position:

Firstly, and most importantly, the positions that you all play on 4PC need to be fair (if playing rated). Occasionally, we will approve a position for listing, and through the course of play, it is brought to our attention that from the opening, one player or team may be at a significant advantage over the other(s), or vice versa. After thoroughly vetting these claims, we will remove the position if the winning lines cannot be refuted. We don't do this lightly, and in some cases, have used the 4PC engines to validate our assumptions. We also consider the cases in FFA/Solo where two players (whether opposite or adjacent) may be able to checkmate another player through pre-arranged teamwork. It's very much against the rules of 4PC to play in this manner, but nonetheless, it happens, and we don't want to encourage it by allowing positions to be abused in this manner.

Secondly, and more commonly, we will periodically remove positions from the list that are vastly less popular than others in their category. We collect statistics from which positions are being played most often, and which aren't. If a variant isn't receiving much play time, it may be decided that the position should be removed from the list to make space for another, more exciting game. I know the response to this point is that the limit we've placed on how many positions can be listed is self-imposed, and you're right. We've decided that it is in the best interest of 4PC to keep the list at a manageable size. We don't want you to have to sort through 50+ positions in a single category to find the one you're after, nor do we want a first-time player looking at the list trying to figure out what it all means. Another reason behind our limit is that there just aren't that many unique arrangements of 160 empty squares, pieces, or walls (okay, statistically speaking there are 7.5 x 10^343 ways to arrange the 141 piece options on the 160 squares, but please don't comment that). We don't need 3 copies of the same variant, unless each has something unique to offer.

So you're right, there are a few variants which have been recently removed. As mentioned, we don't make the decision all willy-nilly, but rather take our time, discuss among the team, and in most cases, put it to a vote. Rather than being upset, I suggest taking the opportunity to create something new! Make a custom position with the same ideas as the one you're trying to replace, and see if you can make it better than it was originally. We're always eager to see what y'all can come up with!

It's still there

phew, i liked partner trust

lol same

we did delete partner trust due to quick, forced mates, but it was brought back as casual only due to its popularity

There are not deleted, they are just not featured

hmmm partner trust was weird... i got checlmated without knowing.. its hard to think your kings on the other side and cant move

did they delete all the variants that are not 4 player?