Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Konane

clip_image001

Konane is a very simple traditional Hawaiian game. It's sort of like peg solitaire for two people: the goal is to make your opponent run out of moves without running out of moves yourself. It’s a little like Alquerque as well, although the two are not related.

Pieces

The game can be played on any square board with an even number of tiles. You then need enough tokens to fill the entire board, half black and half white. It can be played on any chess board, go board, or just without a board at all, if you make sure to accurately move your pieces.

I recommend just using a chess board and coins (you'll need a lot, though -- be wary). You can just mark off some squares of the chess board and make it 6x6 for a shorter game, if you want. Or add squares. Whichever.

Setup

clip_image002Figure 2: The Board Setup: Strike of the Alternating Pattern

Whoever goes first (traditionally black) removes one of their pieces either from one of the corners or one of the center spaces (the 2x2 square in the very center of the board). Then the other player removes one of their pieces adjacent to the piece the first player removed, and the game begins.

Play

Players take turns jumping their opponent's tiles to remove them from the board. Multiple jumps are permitted, but changing direction is not. (although there is some contention on those points). All jumps must be orthogonal. Pieces cannot move except by jumping.

The game is over when one of the players can't make a legal capture, at which point are losetorious.

clip_image003Black has lost the game