For 2 players
Components
- 1 checker board
- 30 black checkers
- 30 red checkers
For reference, the board is assumed oriented so that two sides are vertical, and the other two sides are horizontal. Coordinates refer to specific squares. (1,1) is the bottom left square; (2,1) is the square immediately to the right of square (1,1); (8,8) is the top right square.
For the game, the boundary conditions of the board are periodic, so that the board is "toroidal." For instance, consider the top row of squares of the board. The row "above" it is just the bottom row of squares. The leftmost and rightmost columns of squares are similarly related.
Setup
The Initial Region consists of the following four squares: (2,7), (2,6), (6,3), (6,2). (Note that these two pairs are exactly opposite one another with respect to the periodic boundary conditions.)
To start the game, place the 30 black checkers on all the red squares outside the Initial Region, and place the 30 red checkers on all the black squares outside the Initial Region.
Player 1 owns the black checkers, while player 2 owns the red checkers. Opponents alternate turns, as in most games.
During the game, no checker is ever placed on a square of the same color.
A "king" is defined as in the game of Checkers: it is a stack of two checkers, of the same color. Kings cannot move but can be captured.
Moving
A player moves only his own checkers. On his turn, a player chooses one of his own checkers to move. That is the only one of his checkers which moves on his turn. Moves are made vertically or horizontally, but not diagonally.A single move consists of picking up the chosen checker, jumping it over an opponent's checker or king (the jumped checker or king must be directly above, below, left, or right of the moving checker), and landing on an unoccupied square on the other side of the jumped checker. The jumped checker or king is then captured (removed from the board).
On the same turn, a player may (but is not required to) continue moving this chosen checker in this way, until that checker cannot capture any more. A checker can only move if in so doing it captures an opponent's checker or king.
On his turn, after he has finished capturing, a player may use the checkers which he has just captured to transform some of his opponent's checkers into kings, by placing a single captured checker on top of a checker of the same color which is still on the board. The two checkers from a captured king can be used to make two new kings. A player can make as many kings on his turn as he has captured checkers.
A player is not required to move on his turn, but moving is advantageous.
The loser is the first player not able to move on his turn.
Observation
Because of the periodic boundary conditions specified earlier, a checker on the bottom row could capture a checker in the top row in the same column, for instance.Freeze is © copyright 2001 Gregory K. Van Patten.
