PENTAGONIA

Copyright (c) 1999 Jacob Zunti, Saskatchewan Internet News

This game is played on the following square board:

The board is cylindrical, i.e., the right column is adjacent to the left column. Each player starts with 15 stones off board.

1st PHASE - At each turn, each player drops a stone into an empty cell. This phase ends when all stones are dropped. 2nd PHASE - At each turn, each player slides (orthogonally) one friendly stone any number of empty cells. Any player with less than six stones, may pick any friendly stone and drop it on any empty board cell. CAPTURE - At any phase, if the player makes a 3 in-a-row with friendly pieces, he captures one enemy stone, removing it from the board. GOAL - A player loses if he is stalemated or has less than three stones.

 

An example Black's turn on 2nd phase. He slides the marked stone to the green dot making a 3 in-a-row, choosing to capture the marked white stone (to prevent f1 of making a vertical 3 in-a-row on that column).

This is a modern variant of Nine Men Morris, with additional stones, a different board topology (in the original game, a Pentagon) and an extra rule (the liberty to move with less than six stones) to balance the endgame.