BLOCKDANCE

Copyright (c) 2004 Bill Taylor

The game is played on a 8 sided hexagonal board, with the initial setup:

 

TURN - On each turn, a player: (a) selects a group of connected friendly stones, (b) name one as pivot, and (c) rotate the group any multiple of 60 degrees around the pivot, provided all the landing places are either empty, with opponent stones, or one of his own cells that the move is just vacating. Any opponent stones landed on are captured. Passing is legal, and compulsory if no moves are legal. GOAL - Winner is whoever captures all opponent's stones.

 

An initial move Black started. He selected a pivot (the marked stone) and rotate four stones (here seen as blue) a total of 120 degrees clockwise from their initial position (the blue dots).

Blockdance does not have great clarity, i.e., it is very hard to predict what is the exact outcome of a sequence of moves. However, part of this difficulty vanishes once a player gets used to these pivot moves, and even if there is not much strategy, the game is highly tactical and fun.