Rules
The board is initially set up as shown on the right. To play the game on a different-sized board, just fill the two front and two back rows with pieces; the board need not be square.
Choose a player to go first; then play alternates, with each player moving one piece per turn.
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 | 8 | ||||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h |
A piece may move one space straight or diagonally forward if the target square is empty. In the diagram on the right, the white piece on c5 can move into any of the marked squares.
A piece may move into a square containing an opponent's piece if and only if that square is one step diagonally forward. The opponent's piece is removed and the player's piece replaces it. For example, the black piece can capture either the white piece e2 or the one on g2; it would replace them if it chose to capture. Note that capturing is not compulsory, nor is it "chained" as in checkers.
The first player to reach the opponent's home row — the one farthest from the player — is the winner. If all the pieces of a player are captured, that player loses. A draw is impossible because pieces can only move ahead (or be captured), and any piece has always at least one forward diagonal move available.
Read more about this topic: Breakthrough (board Game)
Famous quotes containing the word rules:
“You’d leave your own mother here, if the rules called for it.”
—Michael Wilson (1914–1978)
“The rules of drinking games are taken more serious than the rules of war.”
—Chinese proverb.
“In really hard times the rules of the game are altered. The inchoate mass begins to stir. It becomes potent, and when it strikes,... it strikes with incredible emphasis. Those are the rare occasions when a national will emerges from the scattered, specialized, or indifferent blocs of voters who ordinarily elect the politicians. Those are for good or evil the great occasions in a nation’s history.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)