Dec 1, 2010
Nov 30, 2010
CHICKEN HEXY
8 hex-hex board initially empty.
Players may drop only isolated non-edge X's in the preliminary phase; 1, 2 or 3 at his own choice.
On any turn, either player may take X and pass.
Normal alternation follows, and X wins by connecting three non-adjacent sides.
If X fails, O wins.
Sample Game:
0: h2 g5 c7, g7, j4 j6, 2nd player takes
: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy _OO___XX_
| . . . . . . . 1. r8 p10
| . x . . . . . . 2. l8 k9
| . . . . . . . . . 3. n10 j11
| . . . x . . o . . . 4. n12 l12
| . . x . . . . . . . . 5. p4 p6
| . . . . x . o x . . . . 6. n6 m7
| . x . x . . x o . . . . . 7. o7 p8
| . . . . . o x . o 4 . . 8. u11 t10
| . . . x . . . . 2 3 . 9. OO resigns
| . . . . o x . x 1 . 10.
| . . x . . . . o . 11.
| . . x o . . . . 12.
| . . . . . . . 13.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy
By João Neto at 08:38 Labels: new games 0 comments
Jun 8, 2010
GO-6-MOKU
Rules of 9x9 Go, except that there is no passing and the winner is
whoever gets a 6-in-a-row. Suicide is illegal, except that a 6-row
may be completed in an otherwise liberty-less position. No swap.
Neither dagger move may be used to capture, nor to make a winning
6-line, and they must finish in different groups.
Sample Game:
_XX____OO_ O has dagger
1. e5 d4
2. d5 c5
3. c6 b6
4. e3 e4
5. f4 c4
6. g5 h5
7. c7 g3
8. h6 d2
9. h4 e2,f3 X has dagger
10. i5: resign
a b c d e f g h i
. . . . . . . . . 1
. . . o o . . . . 2
. . . . x o o . . 3
. . o o o x . x . 4
. . o x x . x : X 5
. o x . . . . x . 6
. . x . . . . . . 7
. . . . . . . . . 8
. . . . . . . . . 9
By João Neto at 07:14 Labels: new games 0 comments
Jun 3, 2010
TROMAZONS
On a 8x8, each one starts with 4 stones. A move consists of moving one piece along to a rookwise adjacent empty cell, then placing a wall adjacent to it. 12* moves. A player unable to complete a move loses.
Initial Position
: a b c d e f g h
| +-------------------------------+
| 8 | B J |
| | + + + + + + + |
| 7 | |
| | + + + + + + + |
| 6 | J B |
| | + + + + + + + |
| 5 | |
| | + + + + + + + |
| 4 | |
| | + + + + + + + |
| 3 | B J |
| | + + + + + + + |
| 2 | |
| | + + + + + + + |
| 1 | J B |
| +-------------------------------+
: a b c d e f g h
Sample Game:
B J
=====================
1. --- b3S c2W g3S
2. c3S e1W f7N f3S
3. h5N e2N d2E e3E
4. d3E g5N e4S f6N
5. f5N f2S e6E b6W
6. d4E f4W d3N d6S
7. f5S c4N c3N e5S
8. b4S c7S d7W b3E
9. c8E a4E a3N b5W
10. resign
: a b c d e f g h
| +-------------------------------+
| 8 | B | |
| | + + + + +---+ + |
| 7 | | J |
| | + +---+ + +---+ + |
| 6 | | | |
| | + + +---+ +---+---+---|
| 5 | | J J B |
| | + +---+ +---+---+ + |
| 4 | B | | | |
| |---+---+---+---+---+ + + |
| 3 | J | | | |
| | +---+---+ +---+---+---+ |
| 2 | | | B |
| | + + + + +---+ + |
| 1 | | |
| +-------------------------------+
: a b c d e f g h
By João Neto at 06:59 Labels: new games 0 comments
Jun 1, 2010
SESQUY
On each turn, each player drops a friendly stone on an empty cell and then
(optionally) moves another friendly stone to an adjacent empty cell.
Sample game:
XX OO (swapped)
: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy ================================
| . 1. l6 ---- m11 ----
| . . 2. j10 l6 m7 k9 m11 l10
| . . . 3. j8 j10 i9 h10 k9 j10
| . . . . 4. o9 j8 l8 o11 l10 m11
| . . . . . 5. r10 l8 m9 r12 j10 k11
| . . . x . . 6. u11 i9 j10 t12 h10 i11
| . . . . . . x 7. v12 o9 p10 t10 t12 s11
| . . . . . o O o 8. p12 r10 q11 o9 o11 n10
| . . . . x o . x , 9. s9 p10r10 p8 t10 u9
| . . . x . o . x . . 10. s7 m7n6 r8 u9 t8
| . . . o o o . x o x . 11. X resigns
| . . . . . . . x o . x . 12.
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.
: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy 14.
By João Neto at 09:19 Labels: new games 0 comments
May 18, 2010
OCTATOL
Move sequence 36* with group restriction
(i.e., no two stones dropped in the same group/turn)
TO WIN: join 2 opposite groups, OR make a Y that prevents this.
Initial setup:
| abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABC
| X X X O O O
| O . . . . . . . X 1
| O . . . . . . . . X 2
| O . . . . . . . . . X 3
| X . . . . . . . . . O 4
| X . . . . . . . . . . . O 5
| X . . . . . . . . . . . . O 6
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
| O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X 8
| O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X 9
| O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X 10
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
| X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 12
| X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 13
| X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 14
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
| O . . . . . . . . . . . . X 16
| O . . . . . . . . . . . X 17
| O . . . . . . . . . . X 18
| X . . . . . . . . . O 19
| X . . . . . . . . O 20
| X . . . . . . . O 21
| O O O X X X
| abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABC
Game sample:
| abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABC OO starts
| X X X O O O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| O x . . . o . . X 1. .. .. .. o9 l12 r12
| O . . . . . . . . X 2. j10 t10 m11 q11 o13 o15
| O . x . . . o . . . X 3. o7 p10 s11 r14 n12 i13
| X . . . . . o . . . O 4. u9 j12 p12 s13 j14 n16
| X . x . . . o . . . . . O 5. o5 r10 k13 n14 f12 f14
| X . . . o . . . . . . . . O 6. f8 n8 o11 l14 q15 t16
| . x . . . . o o . . . . . . . 7. j8 g9 p8 g13 p14 u15
| O . x x x o . x o . . . . . . X 8. h8 f10 c11 i11 q13 s15
| O . o x o o . o o . . x . . . X 9. j6 i9 g11 l10 l16 t14
| O . x x o x o . o o x . . . . X 10. d10 k11 d14 g15 m15 w17
| x x . o x x x x x o . . . . . 11. m7 h10 w13 f16 i15 i17
| X . x o . x o o x o . . . . . O 12. d8 a11 e15 g17 m17 l20
| X . o o o o o o x x x . o . . . O 13. q3 m9 h14 i19 i21 k17
| X x x o o x x o o o o . . . . O 14. k15 h16 j18 x18 m19 h20
| . o x x o x x x x x o . . . . 15. m13 f18 j20 l18 u17 u19
| O . o x x o x . . x o . . X 16. c7 d12 j16 q17 t18 q19
| O . x o o x . x * o x . X 17. c9 c13 c15 n18 r18 v16
| O o o x o o x o x x x X 18. e9 p18 v18 k19 v20 s21
| X . o x x . x o o x O 19. q1 p4 h18 p20 s19 u21
| X x o x . o x * x O 20. i1 i3 g5 c14 w19 r20
| X o . . . . x o O 21. OO resigns (x forces at one of the *s)
| O O O X X X
| abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABC
This game is based on Atoll, a game from Mark Steere
By João Neto at 21:09 Labels: new games 0 comments
May 11, 2010
The Siege of Paris
and a better view of the board (from BoardGameGeek):
Also, at Oxford Digital Library, here the scan of the original rules (click to zoom):
At BoardGameGeek there's also the rules in text format:
The Siege of Paris
The positions of the Men are as follows :- The General on the right, the Colonel on the left, the Captains next,and the Lieutenants in the centre ; the placing of the Men in the Garrison is optional.
RULES OF THE GAME
1.-The Besieging party have 36 Men,viz., two Generals two Colonels, four Captains, four Lieutenants. to be equally divided, and to be in two colors, half to move on the Black Squares, and half on the White.
2.-The Besiegers cannot move backwards, Officers or Men.
THE MOVES OF THE BESIEGING PARTY
3.-The Generals move on White or Black Squares-one, two or three Squares at a time. straight, sideways and diagonally.
4.-The Colonel moves on White and Black Squares-one or two squares at a time, straight or sideways.
5.-The Captain moves on White or Black Squares-one square at a time, straight or sideways.
6.-The Lieutenants move diagonally-one or two Squares at a time.
7.-The Men move only diagonally whichever Square they are placed on.
8.-The Besieging party win the game by placing one Officer and three Men in the Garrison, and cannot be taken when inside.
RULES FOR THE GARRISON MEN
9.-The Garrison is occupied by eight Men, viz., one General, one Colonel and six Men, and win the game by taking 24 Men and six Officers.
10.-The Officers and Men of the Garrison cannot be taken, but the Men can be blocked in by the Besieging party, until they are relieved by their Officers.
11.-You are not compelled to take any Man; when any of the Besieging party are taken they must be unsupported, and place your man on the same Square.
12.-The Officers and Men of the Garrison to be Red.
MOVES OF THE GARRISON MEN
13.-The General can move any way-backwards or forwards, straight, sideways or diagonally, and take the same way one or two Squares at a time, either on Black orWhite Squares;
the Colonel moves on Black or White Squares, backwards or forwards, either sideways or straight, and takes the same way;
the Men move diagonally only, three on the white Squares and three on the Black, either backwards or forwards when outside the Garrison
Entered at Stationers' Hall
R.C.Bell provided a patch for solving some problems with the original rules (from BoardGameGeek):
Necessary additional rules and definitions for Siege of Paris. V1.0 May 2009
Win conditions
Garrison player: Capture 6 Besieging Officers and all Besieging Men.
Besieging Player: Having 1 Officer and 3 Men inside the Garrison. (Besieging pieces can not be taken once inside the Garrison.)
Or by blocking with Besieging pieces all legal moves by the Garrison forces. (Supported Besieging pieces can not be captured.)
Alternative win condition for Besieging Player: 1 Officer and 2 Men inside the Garrison.
Draw condition
When less than the pieces required for the chosen win condition remain on the board, then if 1 Besieging piece, or more, are inside the Garrison the game is a draw.
Starting position of Garrison pieces: These pieces may be arranged on the nodes inside the Garrison however the Garrison player wishes.
Turn order: Garrison, White, Garrison, Black, Garrison, White, ...
Alternative forced taking rule: The Besieging player can, if such a move is legal, command the Garrison player to take a Besieging piece.
Fort Gate: Entry to the fort is from the 2 squares (1 black square and 1 white) adjacent to the gates on each side of the fort.
Support: Besieging piece "A" is "supported" when another Besieging piece could legally move onto the square occupied by "A" but for the presence of "A". (Supported Besieging pieces can not be captured.)
Capture: As in chess, by moving the capturing Garrison piece onto the square occupied by the Besieging piece. (Garrison pieces can not be captured.)
---
More information at Jeux Strategie.
By João Neto at 10:00 Labels: old games 0 comments
May 10, 2010
Hard Lines
Here is an abstract game from c.1861 (more information at GARD). A kind of pattern game with captures and (re)drops. Check the board and the rules:
By João Neto at 14:21 Labels: old games 0 comments
May 6, 2010
Three old Knight games
At Michel Boutin presentation in the BGS, he mentioned a lot of 19th century board games that were patented in France, UK, Germany and in the US (and most already forgotten). Here are three related games using the Chess Knight, grouped together in a package called Rampant Knights.
These are the board (click to augment)
I found the rules at a Hoyle games edition. Here are the relevant pages:
He also mentioned a board game called "Jeu du Congo" (Game of the Congo) with a hexagonal board:
which was re-edited by Moulin in the French book Jeux de pions d’aujourd'hui. The rules can be found at issue 8 (Winter 2001) of the Abstract Games Magazine.
By João Neto at 10:14 Labels: art and history, old games 0 comments
May 5, 2010
The Game
Fred Horn showed me a picture of an old 1970/80's abstract game called "The Game"
He mentioned the rules orally, as he remembered:
The board starts empty and each piece (each player has five) enters in the player's corner.
On each turn, each player enters a piece off board or moves one friendly piece.
A piece moves [up to?] five cells in orthogonal directions with, at most, two changes of direction [no jumps allowed, it seems].
One piece may land in top of another. The pieces not in the top of a stack become blocked.
A stack can have, at most, three pieces. When a stack of size three is made, the piece in minority is captured.
When all the player's five pieces are on the board, the player cannot stop a friendly piece in his own corner (but it can move the piece thru it during the move sequence).
Wins the player that moves one of his pieces to the enemy's corner.
Any extra information about this game is appreciated.
By João Neto at 19:09 Labels: art and history 0 comments
Games @ BGS 2010
In the Board Games Colloquium (BGS) it is always easy to find new abstract boards and ideas about games. Let me give a sample of this year, in Paris:
Herein you can see a game from Fred Horn, which basically can be seen as a Mancala kit.
These squares can be placed in any order the players like and every mancala board can be built this way. Of course, this game material can be used into many other types of games.
Here you can see Fred Horn (in the left) playing Fianco, another of his games:
A very interesting game is Nonaga, a 2008 invention by Víktor Bautista i Roca:
Visually, this reminds Zèrtz, but in this case, we have a pattern game and the board only changes shape (it does not decrease in size as in Zèrtz).
More info in Manqala.org, Juegos de Ingenio, Pseudolog.
By João Neto at 11:43 Labels: art and history, new games 0 comments
May 1, 2010
Ancient Board Games @ The Louvre
Here are some nice examples of race games from Ancient Egypt:
This was the text related to this game:
The obscure Mehen:
And the more known Senet (at least the text said it was Senet, it seems a version, half-way to the game of Ur):
And finally some old, old dice:
(photos taken in April 2010)
By João Neto at 17:07 Labels: art and history, old games 0 comments
Apr 27, 2010
MOKU-GO
Play and capture as at Go. Passing is forbidden.
The winner is whoever makes a 5-in-a-row.Sample Game:
abcdefghijklmnopq _xx___oo_
. . . . . 1: e3 h4
. . . . . . 2: c5 g5
. x . O . . . 3: e7 d4
. o . o o x . . 4: d6 f8
. x . o o o x . . 5: g7 h8
. x . . x . . . 6: i7 k7
. x x x o . . 7: j8 i5
. o o x . . 8: j6 j4
. . . . . 9: l4 k5
abcdefghijklmnopq 10: m5 i3 & xx resigns
By João Neto at 07:26 Labels: new games 0 comments
Apr 23, 2010
Feb 25, 2010
Searching
Anybody have this little book from the 1970s? I found that Frank Tapson also wrote two other books about abstract games:
- Take two!: 32 board games for 2 players (1977)
- Pick a pair!: 30 board games for 2 players (1980)
By João Neto at 17:09 Labels: texts 0 comments
Feb 10, 2010
Penguins
This is an adaptation of a 2003 commercial game called "Hey! That's My Fish!" designed by Alvydas Jakeliunas and Günter Cornett (*). This new rule set simplifies the game and makes it more interesting.
Rules: 12* move series on a hex-hex board of size 6. The first 3 moves on each side are to place a penguin on an empty cell. After that, the penguins move queenwise, and are not allowed to land on or pass over any other penguin or blank cell. The two moves in a series must be with different penguins. When a penguin moves it leaves the cell behind blank (eaten). If a player cannot complete a legal move, his opponent wins.Game Sample:
ooo xxx
1. -- l7 j5 o4
2. m2 h5 f7 o4m6
3. k4 i4 r5 n7
4. m8 l3 p3 c4
5. o6 e4 n1 p9
6. q6 l9 d5 n11
7. j7 l11 m10 e6
8. p1 lk10 q10 h1
9. u6 kg6 t7 f3
10. s6 c8 r7 i8
11. RESIGN
Final Position:
: abcdefghijklmnopqrstu
: . . . 1
: . . . . . . 2
: . x . . . . 3
: o . . . . 4
: . . . . . . 5
: . . o . . o 6
: . . . . x 7
: . . x . . . . 8
: . . . . . . 9
: . . . . 10
: . . . . 11
: abcdefghijklmnopqrstu
(*) the original rules are: There is a hex board where each cell (fish) valuse 1, 2 or 3 points. Then (1) initially, take turns placing your penguins on tiles with a single fish. (2) move a penguin in a straight line of tiles and pick up the tile you just vacated, (3) if a penguin cannot move, remove it. Check Boardgeek for more information
By João Neto at 14:03 Labels: new games 0 comments
Jan 4, 2010
12* TRICOLEUR HEXXAGON
Like Hexxagon, except there are 3 colors (a,b,c) which capture each other (a takes b, b takes c, c takes a).
Win by annihilating opponent; or having most pieces in a blocked position.
Players must leave opponent with a non-pass move, if possible. Sample Game
| abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy
| A . . . . . c 1
| . . . . . . . . 2
| . . . . B . . . . 3
| . . . . . . . . . . 4
| . . c . . . . . a . . 5
| . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
| b . . . . . . . . . . . B 7
| . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
| . . A . . . . . C . . 9
| . . . . . . . . . . 10
| . . . . b . . . . 11
| . . . . . . . . 12
| C . . . . . a 13
| abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy
___ABC___ _____abc____
01. .... e9 r4 o11
02. e9b8 m3j4 o11q9 g5e7
03. j4g5 g9i11 c7 p4
04. k11 g5d6 q9o7 t6
05. n10 g1i3 t6w7 s9s7
06. n10n8 i13 s5q7 Bs6
07. m8r8 i13m13 w7t8 Br6
08. n10 m13q13 q1 s9
09. n10r10 s13s11 q1n2 t8t10
10. u11 m11o9 Bq5 Ao2
11. q9 v10 t6w7 Cm3
12. i3e4 As9 w7u9 An6
13. s9w9 r10 Cl4 Al6
14. x8 o9m7 An6 q5m5
15. u9s7 f6 o5q7 n6k7
16. j10 p8 j7g7 Bn4
17. f4h6 d6f4 e7g5 l4n6
18. c7e9 s11s9 Ah6 Co7
19. Bf10 s9q7 n6p8 Ai7
20. j10h8 e9h10 Ag7 q9s11
21. g13g11 h10l10 Cr12 t10v8
22. Be11 l10p10 s11u9 r4r6
23. t10 q11 r6r8 Bl6
24. Ch10 Aj10 As9 Bj6
25. Cg9 p10n8 As11 s9o9
26. j10m9 g9i7 j6f6 Ao9
27: i7i5 f10f8 Ao11 Bg7
28: d10 g11j12 h6h4 o11l10
29: Ck11 Ag11 l6n8 r10u11
30: Aj10 l10p10 n8q9 g7i9
31: j10n10 Aj10 s11o11 An8
32: i9g7 p12 q9s11 f4h6
33: k11m9 Ak11 q11o9 Bq11
34: j10n10 k11n12 t10p10 v8s9
35: p12t12 Ao11 w9u11 s9q8
36: Bf10 Ao11 t12p12 Ag7
37: j12f12 f10j10 g7i9 Cn10
38: f12h10 e11h12 Cl10 n10j10
39. resign
Final Position
| abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy
| . . . . . . c 1
| . . . . c . . . 2
| . . . . c . . . . 3
| . . b . . b a . . . 4
| . . b b . b . . . . . 5
| . . . a . . . . . . . . 6
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
| . . . . . . c c . a . c 8
| . . . : . c c . . a . 9
| B . : c c . . . . a 10
| . A c . . c c c c 11
| . B . . c c c . 12
| . . . . . . . 13
| abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy 14
By João Neto at 13:02 Labels: new games 0 comments