A 2-player game you can play with pieces you probably already have

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  • #619204

    Mixtour (designed by Dieter Stein)

    The object of the game is to create, 3 times, a stack of pieces

    at least five pieces high with one of your pieces on top.

    (Use whatever method you prefer to track your progress.)

    The game is played on a 5-squares-by-5-squares grid.

    On their turn, players can take 1 of 2 actions – either:

    1. Place one of their pieces on an empty square (the game includes

    22 pieces per side, but you probably won’t need half that many).

    2. Move a piece or stack of pieces onto another.

    (Neither needs to have one of the player’s own pieces on top.)

    Which pieces/stacks can be placed on top of a piece/stack depends

    on its height. However many pieces are in a stack, that must be

    the exact distance in a straight line (orthogonal or diagonal) through empty spaces to the stack you want to put on top of it. For example, if a stack is 3 pieces high, any stack that is exactly 3 spaces away in any direction, and with no stacks between it and the destination stack,

    can be put on top of it.

    Players can choose to move only part of a stack, taking as many

    pieces as they want off the top and placing them on the other stack

    (in the same order that they were in, to be perfectly clear).

    As mentioned, when a stack of 5 or more pieces is created,

    the player whose piece is on top scores 1 out of the 3 points

    needed to win. That stack is removed from the board, and play

    continues with whoever’s turn is next. Have fun!

    #1222161

    I suppose I should have mentioned this before:

    For pieces, you can use anything that’s stackable, in 2 colors.

    (Pieces from checkers, backgammon, or Connect Four are well suited.)

    #1222164
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    Randomex, thanks so much for sharing!

    #1222165

    Updated:

    Mixtour (designed by Dieter Stein)

    Number of players: 2

    You will need:

    A 5×5 grid to place pieces on and 22 pieces for each player

    (a different color for each). The pieces must all be able to

    be stacked on top of each other. If playing a “tournament” game,

    4 tokens of some kind are also needed. (Pieces from backgammon,

    checkers, or Connect Four are well suited. Rummikub tiles can also

    be used, with 1 player’s tiles face down. I’m not sure you’ll need the

    full 22 pieces if you’re not playing the “tournament” game.)

    Setup:

    Place each player’s pieces within their reach.

    (The board is empty at the start of the game.)

    Gameplay:

    The object of the game is to create a stack of 5 or more pieces

    with one of your own pieces on top (if the other player creates

    the stack, that also counts).

    The players alternate turns (choose a first player by any method).

    On their turn, players must take 1 of the following 2 actions:

    1. Place one of their own pieces on an empty space of the board.

    2. Move at least one piece from one occupied space to another occupied space, stacking the moved piece(s) on top of the piece(s) already there.

    The rules of movement are as follows:

    Either player can move any piece. If there are multiple pieces

    stacked on a space, the player can move as many of them as they

    desire from the top down (without changing their order).

    Example – a space has the following combination of pieces

    stacked on it:

    P1(A)

    P2(B)

    P2(C)

    P1(D)

    Either player can move A, A+B, A+B+C, or A+B+C+D, but they

    cannot change the vertical order of those pieces, or move any piece

    without moving the pieces above it.

    The movements that can be made with a piece or stack do not

    depend on the piece(s) being moved, but rather on the piece(s)

    that are being moved onto. However many pieces are in the

    destination stack, that is the exact distance from which pieces

    can be moved onto it – for example, if a stack has 3 pieces in it,

    any stack that is exactly 3 spaces away in any direction,

    orthogonal or diagonal, can be moved onto it.

    However, the spaces between the two stacks must be empty –

    pieces cannot be moved past occupied spaces.

    Visual aids (#=destination stack, X=legal move, O=illegal move):

    O O O O O

    O X X X O

    O X 1 X O

    O X X X O

    O O O O O

    The space in the center has a 1-piece stack on it, so any

    stack that is 1 space away from it can be moved onto it.

    X O X O X

    O O O O O

    X O 2 O X

    O O O O O

    X O X O X

    The space in the center has a 2-piece stack on it, so any

    stack that is 2 spaces away from it can be moved onto it,

    (assuming that the space between them is empty).

    O O O O O

    O O O O O

    O O 3 O O

    O O O O O

    O O O O O

    The space in the center has a 3-piece stack on it, so any stack

    that is 3 spaces away from it would be able to be moved onto it,

    except that no spaces are a distance of 3 from the center space,

    so no pieces can be moved onto the center space (rather, the stack

    in the center would have to be moved to make use of its pieces).

    Winning:

    When a stack of 5 pieces is created, the player

    whose piece is on top of the stack wins the game.

    “Tournament” variant – for a longer, more strategic game, play as follows:

    When a stack of 5 pieces is created, it is removed from the board

    (and its pieces returned to their owners) – all other pieces on

    the board remain in place. The player whose piece was on top of

    the stack takes a token. When a player takes their third token,

    they win the game.

    #1272190

    Here’s another game:

    Lines of Action (designed by Claude Soucie, first published in 1969 in the book A Gamut of Games)

    You will need: A standard checkers set.

    Setup: Place the 12 pieces of one color on the left and right side spaces (except the corners)
    and the 12 pieces of the other color on the front and back sides (except the corners).

    Gameplay:
    The object of the game is to get all of your (remaining) pieces to be connected in a single group,
    orthogonally and/or diagonally. (This includes having only 1 piece remaining.)
    The players alternate turns (choose a first player by any method).

    On their turn, a player moves 1 of their pieces.
    A piece can move in any of the 8 orthogonal or diagonal directions.
    The number of spaces a piece can move is determined by the number of pieces that player has
    along the line of the board it is moving on. For example, if a player wished to move his piece to the left,
    and there were another 2 of his pieces present on that horizontal line, his piece would be able to move
    up to 3 spaces to the left. If he had no other pieces directly above or below a piece, and wanted to move
    it up or down, it could only move 1 space (the total number of his pieces on that line).

    A piece can be moved past (but not onto) a player’s other pieces, but not past the opponent’s pieces.
    Pieces can move onto an opponent’s piece – if one does so, the opponent’s piece is removed from the game. (Be aware that this means the opponent now has fewer pieces that they must connect in order to win.)

    (Note: If a player connects all of their pieces with a move that also reduces their
    opponent to 1 piece, the player with more pieces remaining on the board wins.)

    #1273745

    Mods, could I ask you to delete the first 2 posts in this thread and split off the post before this one?

    #1480173

    A version with a hexagonal board, titled “Alveole,” is now playable for free online.

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