About Dandelions
This game was invented by Math With Bad Drawings:
How to Play
Full rules here. (Taken from Math With Bad Drawings.)
There are two players: Dandelions and Wind. The goal for Dandelions is to fill the grid with dandelions and seeds. The goal for Wind is to keep at least one square empty.
Dandelions go first. On her turn, Dandelions can plant a dandelion anywhere on the grid, even on a square that already has a seed on it.
On Wind's turn, she picks a direction to blow. She can't pick the same direction twice. In that direction, dandelions on the grid blow their seeds in a line, filling those squares.
Play alternates for seven turns, i.e. until there's one wind direction left that hasn't been played. If the grid is full of dandelions and seeds, then Dandelions wins. If not, Wind wins.
Notes on Optimal Play
I have strongly solved Dandelions for a 5x5 grid. With optimal play, Dandelions can force a win. It doesn't matter what the first move is, they all lead to a forced win.
For a 6x6 grid, Wind can win very easily... the Math With Bad Drawings guy suggests that to give Dandelions help, she take two turns at the beginning, and Wind can take two turns at the end (still leaving one direction). But I haven't coded it up like this yet.
(Lastly, I am aware that the pictures used in the game are not dandelions... I just picked the closest available emoji and I thought they were cute.)