Le Manipulateur

Le Manipulateur is a 1983 game by Jacques Fradkine, that appeared at Jeux et Stratègie #25.

The game is played on a 17x17 board, and each player's army consists of 145 pieces plus one tower (le manipulateur, the manipulator).

The rules:

• Initially, the manipulators are placed at q9 and i17
• On her turn, the player can either:
• Move the manipulator: a manipulator slides horizontally over a number of empty squares, then turns and slides vertically over a number of empty squares (or vice-versa). At the turning square, the player places a friendly piece
• Capture a piece: a regular piece may orthogonally jump over one enemy regular piece landing in the next square (that must be empty); jumps are multiple, mandatory, and the player must choose the option that maximizes the number of captures
• note: The player can choose which friendly piece will capture; the maximization criteria applies only when the chosen piece starts capturing
• Wins the player that orthogonally connects their opposite sides of the board (one player owns left-right, the other owns top-bottom), or blocks the opponent's manipulator.
  

The game was Pion d’or 1983, a contest organized by the Centre Ludique de Boulogne-Billancourt and supported by Jeux et Stratègie at that time: