King of the Castle

King of the Castle, aka Montana, is a 1975 game by Mordecai Meirowitz, and published by Hasbro, among others.

The game is played on this board with six concentric circles (the Castle), having eight paths (or stairs) going from the bottom circle to the top circle (the levels):

Rules:

• Initially, players receive eight pieces, and place them in stacks of two, in alternating fashion
• The pieces can move upwards or downwards from one path to the next or sideways to adjacent paths on the same level.
• Pieces of any color can be stacked to form stacks (towers) of any height.
• A tower can only be moved by the player whose piece is on top. Using this "capture tactic," a player can block the opponent’s pieces or move them to a lower level.
• On his turn, a player moves a single piece, or an entire tower with a friendly piece is on top. 
• In the case of a tower, the move consists of as many steps as there are pieces in the tower.
• The entire tower is lifted, and the bottom piece is placed first, followed by the next, and so on until the top piece is placed. For example, in a tower of three pieces, the bottom piece can be moved up one level, the next piece can be moved down, and the top piece can be moved sideways, or any other combination of steps on adjacent paths (notice that a player can move enemy pieces that belong to the moving tower).
• Each move can be made to an occupied place, placing that stone on the top of the other pieces standing there. 
• Only one piece can be placed at the top circle, per turn.
• A piece on a top circle can no longer move.
  
• If a player cannot make a move, he must pass his turn.
• Individual pieces or towers cannot be captured on the bottom or top levels.
• Wins the player that first moves his eight pieces into the center circle (the highest level of the Castle).
• Each player can only occupy four of the eight places in the top circle, and at least two of these must be adjacent.

This is a little game with lots of rules. Some rules are just exceptions, or addendums, that seem to exist to compensate for the lack of overall design. Even so, it would be nice if the rules explicitly stated if pieces can move over stacks of any size. The rules seem to assume so, but I wonder if forcing a size restriction could introduce extra tactical depth to the game.

Here's a review from GAMES #2: