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VikingGame
Rules (.exe 383 Kb)
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Hnefatafl,
the Viking Game, was popular in Europe before chess came along (around
1100 AD). There are many variants. We describe the rules of the
best known variant here, the norse variant with an 11 by 11 board
and no dice.
The game
itself is simpler that chess in its rules, but strategically at
least as difficult.
- Download
a free playable version of Hnefatafl here.
- These
rules are available at the website or in pdf-format .
Board setup
- Size
The Hnefatafl board is divided in 11x11 squares.
The four corner squares and the middle square are marked to indicate
they are the king's fields.
- Throne
At the start of the game, the king occupies the
throne. This is the middle square.
- White pieces
The white pieces belong to the side of the king.
They are twelve in number and are placed in a rotated square around
the throne.
- Black pieces
The black pieces occupy the sides of the board
at the start of the game. Each of the four sides has six black
pieces: five in the middle five cells of the board side, one in
the middle of the second rank.
Movement
Piece capturing
- Custodial capture
Pieces can capture opponent's pieces by "sandwiching"
them between either
- two
pieces of the same color
- one piece and a corner square
More
than one piece can be captured at the same time.
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Before white captures black piece
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After white captures black piece
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Before white captures two black pieces
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After white has captured two black pieces
(one by sandwiching between two white pieces, one by sandwiching
between a white piece and a corner square)
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- King capture
The king can only be captured by sandwiching him
along both ortogonal axes.
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Before black captures the king by sandwiching
him along both axes with black pieces.
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After black captures the king.
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When the
king is next to the border, only one black piece on the other
side is needed to sandwich him on that axis. Furthermore, the
king can be sandwiched between a black piece and a corner square.
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Before black captures the king by sandwiching
him between a black piece and the throne on one axis,
and between the border and a black piece on the other
axis.
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After black captures the king.
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- Moving in between
opposite pieces
When there is an emptu square between two opponent's
pieces, a piece can safely move in.
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Before black moves in between white pieces.
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After black moves in between white pieces,
black is not captured.
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Goal
- White winning
White wins if the king can escape to one of the
corner squares.
If white
moves so that his king has a clear escape route to one of the
corner squares, he must announce "Raichi". If he has two escape
routes open, he must announce "Tuichi".
These
announcements are not necessary if black opens these routes
inadvertently himself.
White
also wins if there is only one black piece left.
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Before the king escapes ("raichi")
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After the king escapes: white wins the
game.
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- Black winning
Black wins if he can capture the king. When black
threatens to capture the king on the next round, he must announce
"watch your king".
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Before black wins by sandwiching the
white king.
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After black wins.
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- Switching sides
If one wishes, one can play two games, switching
sides, and count the number of captured pieces to determine the
winner.
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