Garland issue not self contained line

Garland can be won with a non self contained line?

Below is the gist of what I just won with
[image: i.imgur.com]

Why does this one not complete then?
[image: i.imgur.com]

Because (3,4)'s top part does not connect to anything.

Neither does op's example

Maybe I should of marked the circles as being the two points that need to be connected

Makes sense. The pieces that fit to the edge are technically ok, except that the 4-way connector in row 2 is not attached to anything. In OP's example connecting to the edge does not leave anything unconnected. (Ah...I'm repeating what Sectory said. NVM.)

That doesn't make sense though this game isn't new to torn and never works that way.

I don't know how it used to work and you may be right historically, but if you think of the edges as connector pieces it makes sense.

as long as a piece is not touching an open side it will count as connected, the borders of the game do not count as open sides, but if it is a piece not on a border square it must connect to something, in OP's example it was a border piece connecting to the outside edge, so long as that is the case it will count as correct

Although I understand that this works logically, it does call into question the overall design of the puzzle. Since every edge piece is potentially an I/O connector, why bother with the I/O graphics? It would be better, I think, if the I/O graphics were a logical component, and not just decoration.

The OP image works because it is an outline of Duke's dumping event. see the complete picture below
[image: profileimages.torn.com]