Diabalex 

Copyright (c) 2004 Bill Taylor, Joćo Pedro Neto

Diabalex is played on a 4x4 hexagonal board with the following setup:

 
  • TURN - On each turn, each player can do the following (in any order, and either is optional):
    • Orthogonally move a friendly piece into an adjacent empty cell.
      • This move may be done twice over, with the same piece if desired..
      • Only one of these is allowed by the first player on the first move.
    • Swap the King with a soldier provided that they are in the same line (diagonal or horizontal but not vertical) and separated only by empty cells or friendly pieces.
      • The King cannot move by any other means.
  • Any or all three moves above (the two moves and the swap) are optional.
  • A player may not (unless unavoidable) leave the board in a state where any opponent piece is blocked away from its target.
  • GOAL - Win by getting one's king into the last row.

An example

White to move.

He wins by playing the white stone at the right of his King to [1] and then to [2], and finally swapping it with its King.

Some matches played by the authors (^coord means swap the King with soldier at a given coordinate):

abcdefghijklm       Joaox            Billo      
   o . . .    1.   ..  h7-f5      j1-i2  h1-j3
  . . o . x   2. d7-e6 f7-h5^     i2-k4  f1-j5^
 . . . . . .  3. e6-g4 g6-k2 f5^  k4-i6^ j3-h3
. . . . x . . 4. g4-i4 j7-h7 h5^  j5-k6  h3-j5
 . . x J o .  5. resigns 0-1
  . . . B o   6.
   . . x .    7.
abcdefghijklm


abcdefghijklm    Bilx               Joao
   . . x .    1. ..    f7-h5       h1-i2 d1-k3
  . . . o .   2. h5-g4 j7-h1       j1-f5 j3-i4^
 . . . o . .  3. g4-k4 d7-f7 ^k4   f1-j5 g4-h5 ^j5
. . . . . B . 4. h7-j7 g6-h7       g2-h3 i4-g6 ^h5
 . . . o . .  5. f7-d7 j7-f7       j5-i6 i6-j7^  0-1
  . . o . .   6.
   x x x J    7.
abcdefghijklm


abcdefghijklm      Joao                Bilx
   x . . .    1.   h7-i6            f1-h3-h4^
  . . x x o   2.   d7-f5 j7-j3      j1-j5-k6^
 . . . J o .  3.   f7-h5 i6-j5 f5^  h1-i2 i4-k4
. . . . . . . 4.   j5-h3 g6-k2 h3^  k4-l5-j7^  0-1
 . . o o . .  5.
  . . . . x   6.
   . . . B    7.
abcdefghijklm