FAROOK

Copyright (c) 1993 Stewart Lamie

This game is played on an 4x4 square board. There are 6 black, 6 white and 2 wild stones.

 

TURN - On each turn, each player may do one of the following actions: Drop a friendly or wild stone into an empty cell. Move a friendly or wild stone into an adjacent (orthogonal or diagonal) empty cell. KO - If a player used a wild stone, the adversary cannot move it again to repeat the previous board position. Jump a friendly stone over another stone to an empty square.  Wild stones cannot jump. A player cannot move/jump the same stone (friendly or wild) twice in a row. GOAL - Wins the player that makes (i) a (orthogonal or diagonal) 4 in-a-row, or (ii) a 2x2 square or (iii) occupy all 4 corners; with friendly stones and (eventually) with wild stones. Wild stones can be used only after one of the players dropped all his stones.  If no player wins after 50 moves, the game is declared a draw.

 

An example If it's White's turn he can win by moving to a2-a1. If it's Black's turn he can win by moving to c4 (he may use several stones to do that)

This game has been selected as a Mensa Mind Game and been on the Games 100 list.

FAROOK™, © Stewart Lamie, 1993, Patent Pending (as of then, don't know what's happened since I bought the game), bills itself as "The ULTIMATE Tic-tac-toe". It is an impressive abstract strategy game, having been selected as a Mensa Mind Game and been on the Games 100 list.

FAROOK is for two players. The game is contained in a small felt pouch. The pouch, when opened, reveals the playing board, a grid of 4 by 4 squares, with decorative spots around it for the playing pieces. The playing pieces are 14 small polished stones: 6 dark, 6 light, and 2 smaller wild stones, which are neutral. The object of the game is to get 4 of your stones into a winning pattern. A winning pattern can be made up of stones entirely of your color, OR it can include wild stones. But the catch here is that a wild stone can also be used by your opponent at the same time.

Players begin by taking turns each placing one of their stones, or a wild stone, onto the playing board. Eventually all 14 stones will be played. At this point, each player in turn must move a stone into one of the empty squares. A stone may be moved to an adjacent empty square, or there are rules for jumping over another stone to an empty square. A player may also move a wild stone in some instances. The rules state that you have only 1 minute in which to make your move. To win, you must get 4 of your/wild stones into a row, square or corners. If no player wins after 50 moves, the game is declared a draw.

While it is not discussed in the instructions, I believe it is possible to create a situation where one player moves a wild stone in a way that creates a winning combination for each player. I assume this would also be considered a tie.

I brought FAROOK to and played it at one RG several years ago. My first opponent beat me in less than 5 minutes. My second opponent and I played to a draw and declared ourselves brain dead afterwards. I have not played FAROOK since, though my enjoyment of the game has not diminished.

As you might expect, there is a computer version of FAROOK. I have never seen it sold commercially, but I do remember seeing it advertised in shareware catalogs several years ago. The original FAROOK computer game had 7 levels of mastery. One company in New York City, AMUSE INC., offered a $1000 prize to anyone who could beat their computer playing FAROOK at the Champion level. I wonder if they ever had to pay the money? [ref]

Thanks to Herbert Acree for rule information.

Check the traditional game Dao which is similar and might have inspired Farook.