Hold And Notation Designator (HAND) Specification
- Version: 1.0.0
- Author: Sashité
- Published: June 17, 2025
- License: MIT License
Overview
Hold And Notation Designator (HAND) provides a standardized notation for piece reserve locations in board games where pieces can be held off-board and potentially placed. HAND represents the off-board location component, enabling universal representation of reserve mechanics across diverse game systems.
HAND complements Coordinate Encoding for Layered Locations (CELL) when both board positions and reserve areas are needed, providing complete location coverage for any board game system.
Terminology
For complete definitions of terms used in this document, see the Glossary.
Format Specification
Structure
*
Grammar (BNF)
<hand> ::= "*"
Regular Expression
\A\*\z
Location Attribute Mapping
HAND encodes the reserve location attribute using a single ASCII character:
| Location Attribute | HAND Encoding | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Asterisk character | * = Any off-board reserve area |
Canonical principle: All reserve locations share the same identifier regardless of game context.
System Constraints
Location Type
HAND represents exactly one location type: off-board reserve areas. The specific nature of the reserve (captured pieces, initial supply, hand, etc.) is determined by game context.
Character Encoding
- ASCII compatibility: Uses standard asterisk character (U+002A)
- Universal availability: Present on all standard keyboards
- Visual distinction: High contrast with CELL coordinates
Design Properties
- Simplicity: Single character representation minimizes complexity
- Rule-agnostic: Independent of specific reserve mechanics
- Universal applicability: Works with any off-board piece management system
- CELL complementarity: Can be combined with CELL for complete location coverage
- Context independence: Game rules determine reserve semantics
Usage Examples
Movement Notation
* → e4 # Place piece from reserve to board
e4 → * # Move piece from board to reserve
e2 → e4 # Standard board-to-board movement (CELL coordinates)
Game Context Examples
Shōgi: Reserve represents captured pieces available for dropping
- Reserve location:
* - Board locations:
a1toi9(CELL coordinates)
Crazyhouse: Reserve represents captured pieces available for dropping
- Reserve location:
* - Board locations:
a1toh8(CELL coordinates)
Go: Reserve represents stone supply before placement
- Reserve location:
* - Board locations: Various intersections (CELL coordinates)
Implementation
Ruby Reference
- HAND.rb – Reference implementation with validation and integration support.