Mar 16, 2007

SCALA

Scala is a little-known abstract game published in 1986 by Skill Games.
It has features reminiscent of Halma, Camelot, and Lines of Action.

RULES. The game is played with the following setup:

14           [o]
13          . . .
12       . . . . .
11      . . . . . . .
10    . . . X X X . . .
09  . . X X X X X X X . .
08  . . X X       X X . .
07  . . O O       O O . .
06  . . O O O O O O O . .
05    . . . O O O . . .
04      . . . . . . .
03        . . . . .
02          . . .
01           [x]
   a b c d e f g h i j k


* GROUP - A set of connected (orthogonally or diagonally) stones.
* TURN - On each turn, each player moves or jumps one stone.
  + MOVE - A stone may move to any adjacent (orthogonal
           and diagonal) empty cell.
  + JUMP - A stone may also jump over any stone (friend or foe)
           landing on the opposite empty cell (it must be empty).
           A player may make on the same turn, multiple jumps with
           the same stone, and may change direction after each jump.
  + It is not valid to move or jump to its own first cell.
* CONNECTION - After each move or jump, any stones not connected
              (orthogonally or diagonally) to another stone of the
               group is captured.
* CAPTURE - If, after a move or jump, the group is divided, the
            larger of the remaining groups containing pieces of both
            colors survives.
           The smaller group, or the group containing pieces of a
            single color are removed from the board.
           There is only one connected group on the board, after
           each move.
           Some other restrictions:  It's not valid
           to produce two groups with the same number of stones,
           if both groups have stones of both colors.
           It's not valid to separate the two colors completely.
* GOAL - Wins the player who advances one stone into the opponent's
        first cell (the cell marked in the first diagram with a
         color dot).

More information at http://www.di.fc.ul.pt/~jpn/gv/scala.htm

Game Sample

      Final Position
14          [O]             1. f5-h5-j7       d9-b7-d5-f5
13         . O .            2. d7-d9-f11      f9-d9-d7-d5
12       . O X . .          3. d6-b8-d10      f10-h10-j8-j6
11     . . . O . . .        4. h6-j8-h10-f10  d8-b6-d6-f4
10   . . . X O . . . .      5. f6-d6-b6-d8    c9-c8
09 . . . . X . O X . . .    6. c7-c9-e11      g10-h10
08 . . . .       O O . O    7. f10-g10        h10-f10-f12
07 . . . .       . O O .    8. d8-f10(:bc8)   g9-h10
06 . . . . . . . O X . .    9. g5-h6          h10-j8
05   . . . O . X X . .     10. i7-g9          i9-i7-g5
04     . . . X . . .       11. g6-i8          f5-h5
03       . . X X .         12. h6-i7          j8-h6
02         . X .           13. e6-e4-g4-g6    d5-f5-f3(:c6)
01          [o]            14. g10-e12        h6-h4
  a b c d e f g h i j k    15. d10-d11        h4-h3
                           16. i6-k8          j6-i6
                           17. g6-h6          h8-j6
                           18. h7-h8          j6-i5
                           19. e11-e13        i5-h4
                           20. d11-f13        h4-h2
                           21. e13-f14        resigns, 1-0

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