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Creating a double-leaner

By: Fantomius

It has been said that creating a double-leaner in Polarity is next to impossible, even for experts. However, I’ve found that with practice, double-leaners can be made rather easily. In fact, I was even able to teach my mother how to make a double-leaner during her very first introduction to Polarity!
With practice, it is not difficult to make a double-leaner (once you know how). Therefore, practice creating double-leaners by following these steps:
1. Clear the playing area of all playing discs: It will be easier to practice the maneuver of creating a double-leaner if no other pieces can interfere with the magnetic fields you will be using.
2. Place a foundation disc near the middle of the playing field: For now, make sure the disc is white-side-up.
3. Place a leaner on the foundation disc: Make sure the leaner is white-side-up (as you would expect). It is best to place the leaner far from the foundation disc, but not as far as possible. In other words, you want the leaner to be a little resilient by giving it some room to wobble—otherwise it will most likely fall flat to the ground when you try to place the second leaner.
4. Place another disc flat on the mat far away from the leaner: Place another disc flat on the mat (white side up, of course) in line with the other two discs, so that the leaner disc (that you placed in the previous step) is the middle disc. Be sure to place this third disc far away from the other discs, so as not to cause any disruption.
5. Tilting it slightly, slide the third disc close to the second disc: Lift up one edge of the third disc, but not by very much. Slowly slide this disc towards the leaner until the leaner starts "sense" the disc you are moving. If the first leaner falls flat to the ground, then you probably placed it too far from the foundation disc.
6. Slowly increase the angle of the third disc: Very slowly, increase the angle (or tilt) of the third disc. The more vertical you make the third disc, the more vertical the second disc (the first leaner) will tend to become. And the more vertical the second and third discs are, the more their attraction will be to each other. Therefore, be sure to stop increasing the angle of the third disc as soon as you see the angle of the second disc increase.
7. Slide the third disc back and at the same time lift it up some more: This is a tricky step: At the same time, you want to both barely tilt the third disc and barely move it away. Increasing the angle of the third disc increases the attraction it has to the second disc (preventing it from falling flat), while moving it away prevents the leaner discs from snapping together. It is important to note, however, that the movements in this step are very small. Any movement more than a millimeter is too large.
8. Gently let go of the third disc: If everything goes according to plan, you should be able to let go of the third disc and have a double-leaner!
You probably won’t succeed on the first try, so try again if you’re not successful. When you do succeed, congratulations! Keep practicing, and pretty soon you’ll be successful in most of your attempts.
You can see a .MOV file of this maneuver at:
http://www.nyx.net/~jlromano/polarity_double_leaner.zip
(It is meant to be a silent video clip, so don’t worry if you don’t hear any sound.)
You may freely distribute this video clip provided that the accompanying HTML file is distributed along with it.
The ideal times to make a double-leaner are:

• after lots of practice
• at the beginning of the game, when there are few discs on the playing area that can interfere with your attempt
• when you want to impress someone with your skill (but be very careful—this can backfire if you make a mistake!)
  What are some of the advantages of creating double-leaners?
  For one thing, double-leaners tend to be rather unstable, much like high-leaners (leaners with a high vertical angle). Therefore, you might want to make one where an almost-vertical leaner disc would be a good idea. Almost-vertical leaner discs usually require stacks of discs to lean against (which are not normally available near the beginning of the game), but double-leaners do not.
  Also, double-leaners are easy to convert to foundation discs with practice (at least, easier to convert than some high-standing vertical leaners). Double-leaners are convenient in case you ever have an urgent need for more foundation discs.
  You can convert the double-leaner into more foundation discs for yourself, and since there is a good chance that your opponent has not played near your double-leaner (otherwise it wouldn’t likely still exist), your new foundation discs will be (for a short time, at least) relatively far away from the magnetic forces of other discs in play.
  In other words, creating a double-leaner early in the game creates a sort of a "keep-away" zone that your opponent would be wise to avoid. This means that, when you finally do convert your double-leaners to foundation discs, that particular area of the board will be mostly free of your opponent’s pieces.
  As with most dexterity games, practice will help you get better at this maneuver. Who knows, with this knowledge of creating double-leaners, you may be able to perfect a method of creating triple-leaners!
  Written by Jean-Luc Romano (Saturday, June 25, 2005)