KIKI & BUN-BUN

Copyright (c) 2000 Jonathan A. Leistiko

This game is played on a 8x8 square board, with the following setup:

KIKI - KiKi stones move to adjacent forward diagonal empty cells. They can also jump a stone (of either color), landing on the immediate next empty cell. Opposite jumped stones are captured. Jumps are mandatory and can be multiple (maximum capture is not mandatory). BUN BUN - Bun-Bun stones move to adjacent forward diagonal empty cells. They cannot jump. Capture is made by moving into the opponent's cell. Capture is still mandatory but cannot be multiple (only one stone can be captured per turn). PROMOTION - When reaching last row, pieces are promoted. They can also move/capture backwards. GOAL - A player who captures all opponent stones  wins.

An example If Green (KiKi) moves a2 to cell [1], Black must capture it with c4:b3. Then White wins the game by capturing the 3 remaining stones.

This game is based on the Pete Abrams' Sluggy Freelance cartoon. Check his webpage to read more. Some excerpts:

I stumbled across Sluggy Freelance while reading the home page for Plan 9 Publishing (the outlet for another online strip, Kevin and Kell, a strip drawn by one of my favorite cartoonists, Bill Holbrook). I devoured the Sluggy archives from start to the present strip in about five days during my spare time at work and days off. The strip features a homicidal, ass-kicking, switchblade-wielding mini-lop bunny named Bun-Bun. More than a few of the strips feature Bun-Bun beating the pulp out of the other characters. Kiki is a naive, joyful, mildly hyperactive [Editor's note: mildly hyperactive?!], easily-distracted ferret. She provides a kind and childlike presence, a well-used contrast to Bun-Bun's violent, cynical nature.

It's important to understand that Bun-Bun is virtually unbeatable in combat -- there's only one fight that Bun-Bun started and didn't win; that was with a Giger-style Alien, and it ended in a tie. With how easily Kiki can unintentionally annoy anyone, and how defenseless she is, you'd expect Bun-Bun to have ventilated her several times over. He never has. Hasn't even laid a whisker on her. In fact, Bun-Bun frequently uses Kiki as his accomplice for many of his schemes and adventures. This got me to thinking: Here's a bunny with a running vendetta against Santa Claus, for crying out loud. Why hasn't he taken on Kiki? Then it hit me -- perhaps Kiki is one of the few characters who could actually defeat him.

Shortly thereafter, this game was created. From that moment of inspiration to full-fledged completion, I figure it took about 10 minutes.