Pie Rule

I just read the rules for a new (to me) game on Yucata: ConHex. The game itself looks to be an interesting 2-player abstract game but what really caught my eye was the rule they use to start the game. They call it the pie rule because it's how you get siblings to split a piece of cake and I guess cake and pie are synonymous.

The first player makes whatever move he wants. (Typically in an abstract game going first is a big advantage. Think tic-tac-toe and the middle square if that game wasn't a guaranteed draw.) Then the second player can either take a normal turn or he can remove the first player's piece and replace it with his own.

There may still be an advantage to going first (or to going second) so there's still some 'luck of the draw' going on but assuming both players know what they're doing that advantage is going to be minimized. The guy going first can't risk taking the 'best' spot since he'll just end up giving it to his opponent. It depends on the specific game but it's entirely possible that he can't risk taking the 'worst' spot either since it may be a negative EV play and his opponent will just let him keep it. So ideally he's going to find a move as close to even as possible...

If the game has a full spectrum of plays from good to bad then it also adds in predicting how likely your opponent is to swap. If you think he'll swap more often than he should then you can pick a worse starting spot expecting him to switch in. If you think he'll swap less often than he should then you can carve out a better starting position for yourself.

Even if it doesn't, and any opening move is good, there's still going to be a worst spot and you can force your opponent to swap into it. This at least helps deal with an unbalanced starting position!