Anda

Introduction: Anda (from Proto-Germanic: anþą, which means "breath") is a drawless annihilation game for two players: Black and White. It is played on the hexes (cells) of an initially empty hexagonal board. The recommended size is 7 cells per side, but boards of 5 or 9 are also valid. There is also a place outside the board called the prison. Each player has access to a sufficient supply of stones of their own color. Definitions: A group is a maximal set of connected stones of the same color. A single stone is also a group. A breath of a group is an empty cell adjacent to the group, along with all other empty cells connected to it by a free path to that group that may include zero or more empty cells. A group is smothered if each of its breaths is adjacent to exactly one enemy group. Turns: Black plays first, then turns alternate. On your turn, remove an enemy stone from the prison or perform the following actions in order: Place a stone of your color on an empty cell so that it is not the only one of its color smothered at the end of your turn. If it is your first turn, simultaneously place two stones of your color on empty cells separated by at least two intermediate cells. Remove from the board all smothered enemy groups, then remove all smothered friendly groups. If the prison contains stones of both colors, remove pairs of opposing-color stones until only stones of one color or none remain. End of the game: You win if the last enemy group is eliminated from the board. To balance the game, before starting, the first player places several black stones in the prison, and then the second player chooses a side. In handicap games, the weaker player chooses Black and begins by placing a number of stones in the prison proportional to the difference in skill between the players. This balancing method is called the komi pie rule. Notes: Special thanks to Luis Bolaños Mures for a material contribution to the game's rules. —description from the designer