CAN THE SARDINES

Copyright (c) 2006 Fred Horn

This game is played on a 9x9 square board with the following setup:

 

The central 3x5 area is called the 'can'.

TURN - A player must move one of his stones sliding it orthogonally or diagonally over a line of empty cells. Stones inside the can cannot move. GOAL - Wins the player that moves all his stones into the can. If it is no longer possible to move the remaining stones into the can, wins the player with more stones there.

 

An example Notice that, while moving, a stone may cross cells inside the can. However, when the move stops inside the central area (ending the player's turn), then it cannot be moved again. The board shows an initial legal move for Black.

Fred Horn designed this game at the 9th Board Games Studies Colloquium, in Brazil, as a kind of challenge to professor José Carlos Quadrado to show that it was possible to quickly design a good abstract game. And here it is!