KLINKER

Klinker
by Fred Horn 15/05/2010 

Story or ‘Fairy Tale’ ? Once upon a time in the small Village of  ………in the land of  .………  two Bricklayers are at work, paving the Central Square of their Village. Trees, some Benches and a Stone-Table with a mosaïc surface are already planted or placed and the two craftsmen, KEES &KOOS, are now finishing the place by laying down KLINKERs in beautiful patterns.

 

“Let’s take some rest” KOOS says, while taking a seat on one of the Benches next to the Table.

“Look !”, KEES says, while also taking a seat and pointing at the Table, “our KLINKERs fit perfectly on the Tiles of the Table’s mosaïc !”.

“You’re absolutely right” KOOS replies “and when I place my KLINKERs in one direction and you will do the same in the other, I bet, I can place more KLINKERs onto the Table than you may do”.

“Don’t count on that” was KEES’ answer and they started to play as follows:

 

 

max 40 Kinkers:

The Player knownn as KEES begins and lays down his KLINKERs, according to the grid of Tiles, in the left-right-direction:

The other Player, known as KOOS, plays the 90-degrees-direction

When KEES has played his first KLINKER and KOOS knows for sure this will give KEES too much advantage, KOOS takes this direction and the starting KLINKER, and KEES plays second in the other direction. Otherwise, when KOOS agrees to KEES’ first placement he has second Turn.

In their alternate Turns KEES & KOOS lay down 1 KLINKER per Turn, according to the grid in their direction anywhere (to they) wish on the Table.

Play continues till one of the Players is unable to place a KLINKER, according to the Rules,  in his direction.

This Player has lost the Game and his opponent is declared THE WINNER.

While playing the Game, more and more Inhabitants of the small Village of  ….. gather  round the Players , watching and wondering what:  ‘It’s all about’. Everybody likes the Game so much that KEES & KOOS do leave a pile of KLINKERs next to the Table after finishing their paving-Job. To this day the pile is still there, waiting for some Players to start to play that Game, a Game  the Inhabitants only know as: “the Game of KEES & KOOS’. And, when passing by this remote Village,do not forget to visit it; sit down on a Bench at the Central Square; and start to play.

Game of the South-African War

Fred Horn sent me pictures of a game about the Boer war which seems to be in the family of the Fox and Geese games. There is a mixture of Cyrillic and German text.

There is one Boer piece and three English pieces. The Boer starts in the middle and the Englishmen are placed on any other positions on the board. The Boer goal is to move back into the center or try not to be surrounded by 30 turns (surrounding is only possible in the outer circle). Otherwise, the Englishmen wins.

The german text: "Der schwarze Stein (Bur) wird ins centrum gesetzt, die drei gelben steine (Englander) auf beliebige Felder. Der Bur hat den ersten Zug; die Aufgabe der Englander ist, den Bur nicht wieder das Centrum besetzen zu lassen, sondern ihn in einem der aussersten Felder einzuschliessen. Gelint es dem Bur das Centrum zu besetzen, so hat er die Partie gewonnen; hat er nach dem 30-ten zuge der Englander noch einen Zug frei, so hat er gleichfalls gewonnen."

Thierry Depaulis noticed the similarity with the Gioco dell'orso game from Piedmont

 [link]