Frösi-Denkspiel

Frösi-Denkspiel is a 1954 uncredited game, published at Verlag Junge Welt, in the following magazine:

 
Frösi Heft 5 von 1954, published by Verlag Junge Welt 1954

 The game is played in the this octagon-square tiling board: 

[from the original rules] In this game, where you have to think and calculate well in order to leave your opponent as few points as possible, two children can take part.

Each player gets eight pieces (possibly Halma pieces) and 20 game tokens (you can cut these out from the magazine). The task is to close off the spaces with the individual numbers (meaning the rings with the different number of points). A number is considered enclosed when all four spaces around the number are occupied with Halma pieces. Each player must therefore try to encircle as many numbers as possible.

If a player manages to enclose a number — where three spaces are already occupied with pieces, regardless of whether they are his own or the opponent’s — with a fourth piece, then he may place one of his game tokens on that number. Numbers that already have a token on them may not be occupied with a second one. If both players have placed all their tokens, then the moving and jumping begins. A piece may move to an adjacent space or jump over another piece if the space beyond is free.

The game continues until all numbers are occupied with tokens. Here each player must consider how to occupy the highest numbers with his tokens. Once all numbers are occupied with tokens, each player must try to move his pieces as quickly as possible into the chambers located outside the playing field on both sides. Again, a piece may move to an adjacent space or jump over another. Each player must move his pieces into the chambers that match the color of his pieces. As soon as a player has all eight pieces in the chambers, the game ends, even if the opponent has not yet succeeded in bringing all his pieces into the chambers.

Now each player adds up the numbers covered by his tokens. In addition, players receive 3 points for each piece standing in the chambers. Whoever has managed to score the most points in the game is the winner in this “Frösi” game.

the original rules

Give & Take

Give & Take is a 1984 uncredited game, published at Ideal.

The game is played in this board,

This is a misère elimination game:

 

There are some information about the game's background at the game's back:

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:

Vaeva

Vaeva is a 1986 game by Albert Raguenes, published by Novolud.

The game is played on a 20x20 board; there is a 4x2 piece (the boat) that is placed at the center:

Each player has nine pieces

Rules:

• Players, facing each other, initially place their pieces on their first row
  
• Each player, on their turn, can either:
• move one of their pieces diagonally by one square
• jump diagonally over one or more pieces (jumped pieces must form a continuous line)
• slide the boat orthogonally horizontally by as many squares as there are friendly pieces inside the boat
• enter the boat, by sliding vertically or horizontally a piece over a line of empty squares. 
• the number of empty squares of this slide is determined by how many friendly pieces are already inside the boat (so, the first piece to enter the boat must be adjacent to it)
  
• A piece cannot enter the boat via a jump
• The boat cannot move to the position where it was in the previous move (so, a Ko rule) 
• Wins the player that loads five pieces into the boat

The game was reviewed at Jeux et Stratègie #47:

There are some differences between Patrik Carpentier's rules and this J&S review.

• Patrik describes specific places for the game's setup:

• Patrik states the board can move orthogonally, while J&S only mentions horizontal moves

J&S review also includes some comments:

• The concept of movements linked to other elements, such as the number of pieces onboard or aligned, has already been used in other Novolud games. However, in Vaeva, the very simple rules particularly highlight the depth of this principle in its tactical applications.
• Should you move cautiously or rush to board a piece as quickly as possible to take control of the platform?
• Should you be offensive or defensive, focusing on placing blocking pieces to disrupt your opponent's trajectories?
• The symmetrical progression of both players often leads to them having the same number of pieces on the platform, thus [having] the same potential to move the platform. The rule specifying that the platform cannot return to the position it previously occupied creates situations reminiscent of Zugzwang in chess, where being forced to play becomes a disadvantage.

I was unable to find online the official rules, or any other game published by Novolud.

[edit] Luc Forest was able to find the rules and kindly sent them to me. He solved the movement question, that indeed the boat only moves horizontally. The rules, however, do not explain what happens if the boat would move over a neighboring piece (possibly, the boat cannot move in that position).

Wellington

Wellington is a 1985 game by Bruce Aslip, published by Aslip and Co.

The playing surface, called the town grid, has 100 squares. Each player owns 16 buildings: the dark buildings and the light buildings. The size of each building varies, containing from one to six squares. The number of buildings and their sizes are equal for both players. Wellington’s burgundy-colored Parliament is a neutral building that covers four squares. Each player also owns a Duke.

These are the pieces used with the game:

Rules

To begin playing, clear the town grid and separate the dark buildings and light buildings.

The first player places Parliament anywhere in the town grid. The other player then places his or her Duke in the town grid. The Duke may occupy either clear areas or a border, within two squares of an edge.

Each player, in turn, places buildings in the town grid.

Your objectives are:

1. Protect your Duke
2. Capture your opponent’s Duke
3. Capture your opponent’s buildings
4. Conquer territory

The corners are the most important parts of the town grid. You conquer territory by surrounding a corner of the town grid with your buildings. To surround a corner, your buildings must form an unbroken wall that is at least one square in thickness. Once you have conquered a corner, you own that corner for the rest of the game—unless your opponent captures it.

When you conquer a corner, remove your opponent’s captured buildings and Dukes from that corner and replace them with your own. If you capture a Duke in this way, you win the game.

Players alternate placing buildings one at a time in the town grid, following these rules:

• You may not place a building so that it overlaps another building, Duke, or Parliament.
• You may not place a building so that it extends beyond the borders of the grid.
• You may place a building in contact with another of your own buildings, but not with one of your opponent’s buildings.
• Buildings may touch the Parliament on any side.
• You may not move or remove any building once it has been placed.

Each player continues until all buildings have been placed or until one player cannot legally place a building on his or her turn.

If neither player can place another building, the game ends.

Goal. The object of Wellington is to place all of your buildings in the town grid while you block your opponent from doing the same. You win the game by capturing your opponent’s Duke, or by controlling the greatest number of territories.

• If you capture your opponent’s Duke, you automatically win. There is no need to add up the rest.
• If neither Duke has been captured by the end of the game, each player adds the total value of his or her remaining buildings and tallies the number of territories captured.
• Subtract the total of your opponent’s remaining buildings and territories from your own total. The difference is your score.
• The player with the lowest score wins the game of Wellington.

The previous text was taken from the official rules:

 

Wellington is similar to 1979's Cathedral, where an extra royal piece is included.

Queen Bee

Queen Bee is a 1974 game by Keith Budden, published at Clipper.

The game is played on the intersections of this hexagonal board:

Each player has one Queen, four Workers and three Warrior bees.

The rules:

• Initially player position their pieces on opposite board edges: the Queen is placed at one of the six markers, the Workers at the Queen's left and right, and the Warriors at the remaining intersections around the Queen's hexagon:

• On his turn, the player moves one friendly bee
• The Queen moves to an adjacent empty intersection
• The Worker moves exactly two intersections
  
• The Warrior moves exactly three intersections
• A bee cannot move forward and backward passing twice in the same intersection (one consequence is that players cannot pass their turns)
  
• The center of the board (the hive) can only be entered by a Queen; the hive is the only board position that is not an intersection
  
• Bees capture enemies by replacement, and cannot jump over other bees
• Captures can occur in any of the intersections within the bee's move range
  
• Wins the player that moves his Queen into the hive, or by capturing the adversary Queen

The game allows three or four players. In those situations, after a Queen is captured, the remaining bees of that army remain immobile and can be captured by the other players. Since in matches with 3+ players, some enemy bees will start very close together, the rules don't allow captures in the game's first turn.

Here's a review from Games & Puzzles:

The publisher did a rebranding in 1976, changing the game's theme to medieval Japan, and renaming it to Kendo (a Japanese martial art):

Here are the rules of Kendo (in German).

Discon

Discon is a 1969 uncredited game, published by Doppler Games.

The game is played on a 10x10 board, with four starting corners (the game is for two to four players),

 

There are 96 stones of four colors (16 ivory, 24 pink, 24 blue and 32 purple), plus 24 roofs, six of each labelled 1 to 4,

 

This is a scoring game, where players try to build stacks with as many points as possible. The roofs move like knights and collect different color pieces to make stacks (which can optionally travel with the roofs). There is a complex scoring table for players to account for their points, which is not the most elegant solution...

Here are the official rules:

You can read an extensive review of this game at BGG, I am not a number, I am a free man!, written by @srand user.

Gomoku Clones

Commercializing traditional games, which have no copyright, is at the same time less expensive because of the lack of copyright, but also a homage to the public commons and to old cultural traditions.

Gomoku is a traditional game with simple rules, and yet it is deep enough to be quite challenging and highly replayable. It's no wonder that so many games have been marketed based on the moku ludeme.

This post refers to some less known older games that are a plain rebranding of Gomoku.

Peg A Ro 

A 1920s game published in England. It comes with a 16x16 board and four sets of pieces (around 27 pegs per color) so that it can be played between two and four players.

Spoil Five

Published also in the 1920s by Chad Valley Co.

This game comes with a 14x11 board and with four colors. Each player only gets 16 pieces for each color, which is not enough to play the game (even if each player uses two colors). I wonder if even a 4 in-a-row would be easy to do in a match with four players.

Notice that the last suggested game in this ruleset in none other than the Game of NIM (in the misère version), one of the seminal games that started Combinatorial Game Theory.

Peg'ity

Another clone is Peg'ity from 1925, from Parker Brothers,

 

In the 1953 edition, there is the following supplement with three extra games/puzzles:

This last one is again misère NIM.

Quintro

Quintro is a 1935 version of Gomoku from Spear's Games.

Quinio

Quinio is a 1956 uncredited Gomoku game, published by Jumbo:

And a bonus, 1957's Chek-ro which is Pente before Pente:

 

Line-Ups

Line-Ups is a 1979 game by Phil Orbanes, published at GAMES magazine #11.

The rules came with two 12x12 boards to be played in the magazine itself using pencils (it was part of the recurring Pencilwise section).

Line-Ups is thus a pencil and paper game, and a curious mix of moku and scoring ludemes.

Quandary

Quandary is a 1970 uncredited game, published at Spear's Games.

The game is played on a 12x12 multi-colored board:

Each player has four pieces that must be placed in his first row. The game comes with 12 numbered cards (1 to 12) that must be shuffled for each player that draws four of them that determines the piece's initial position.

Rules:

• On his turn, the player moves a friendly stone forward (vertically or diagonally) to an empty square
• However, the move is only valid if the square the player moves into is of the same color to any one of the four squares directly in front of an enemy piece (it does not matter if those squares are occupied or not)
• If there are no valid moves, the player passes
• Wins the player that moves one friendly piece to his last row

Here are the original rules:

I don't see how the use of cards is necessary for the game to work properly, besides forcing matches to start in different initial positions. We could replace the random mechanism by initially making players drop one piece per turn in their first rows.

Making the moves dependent on the board position, and especially of the adversary, hurts clarity a lot. Not sure how it is possible to plan more than one move ahead.

A comment by Clark Rodeffer:

Quandary can sometimes (always?) be played to a stalemate if one or both players intentionally limit color choices. The problem stems from the layout of the colored squares -- the closest any two squares of the same color are on the standard board is a knight's move apart. As a result, moving into colored squares that block your opponent's choices is relatively easy, leading to many mutually blocked games. The game can probably be fixed by making the movement of the pawns a knight's move (with four potential target squares) instead of the current forward one orthogonal or diagonal step (only three potential target squares), but I have yet to try this variant.

Quandary appeared on Jeux et Stratègie #47:

And in Games & Puzzles #15: