Alquerque
Rules
How each code is actually played, written out in full.
The rules of {game}
The board
Twenty-five points in a five-by-five grid. Lines join every point to its orthogonal neighbours, and diagonals run through every second point, so the corners, the centre and the midpoints of the edges have eight neighbours while the rest have four.
Each player has twelve pieces. They fill the two rows nearest them plus the two points of the middle row on their right, leaving only the centre empty.
Moving and capturing
A piece moves one step along a line to an adjacent empty point. In the standard game it may move forwards or sideways but not backwards.
It captures by jumping an adjacent enemy piece and landing on the empty point directly beyond, along the same line. A jump that lands where another jump is available continues with the same piece, in any direction the lines allow.
Capture is compulsory in the standard, backward-moves and promotion variants. As in draughts, a piece may not be jumped twice in one sequence.
Winning
You win by capturing all your opponent's pieces, or by leaving them unable to move. Threefold repetition and fifty moves without a capture are draws.
Because pieces cannot move backwards in the standard game, positions lock up quickly and being blocked is a real danger throughout, not just at the end.
Notation
Points are named like chess squares, a1 to e5. A move is written from-to, and a capture uses x, chaining through every point the piece lands on: b2xd4xd2. A huff, in the historic variant, is written as huff followed by the point.
{variant} — the rules
Alquerque de doce
The reconstructed medieval game: forward and sideways moves, compulsory jumps.
- Pieces move and capture forwards and sideways only.
- Capture is compulsory, and any available sequence may be chosen so long as it is completed.
Backward moves
The same game with the backward restriction lifted.
- Pieces may move and jump in every direction the lattice allows, including backwards.
- Positions lock up far less often, and the game lasts noticeably longer.
Promotion
A piece that reaches the far row is promoted and may then move in any direction.
- Movement is forwards and sideways as standard until a piece reaches the far row.
- A promoted piece moves and captures one step in any lattice direction. It does not fly; this is not a draughts king.
Huffing (historic)
The medieval penalty instead of compulsory capture. Historic, and unrated.
- Capture is not compulsory. You may make a quiet move while a capture is available.
- If you do, your opponent may huff: remove the piece that failed to capture, before making their own move. The huff does not use up their turn.
- Unrated, because it is played for historical interest rather than as a competitive code.