SPLAY

Copyright (c) 2000 Joseph Kisenwether

This game is played on an 8x8 square board with the following setup.

TURN - On each turn, each player must one of the following things: A Step consists of moving an entire stack of stones with the player's color on top and moving it to an (orthogonal or diagonal) adjacent cell.  If this moves the stack to an occupied cell, then the stack being moved is placed on top of the the other (thus creating a larger stack). A Splay consists of taking an entire stack with the player's color on top and spreading it out in a straight line in any direction. The top piece is placed in the first cell, the one stone that was below that goes into the next cell and so on. Any stone that is to be played into an occupied cell is placed on top of the stack that is already there. A Splay which would carry stones off the edge of the board is illegal.  Any move which causes a stack to be on a cell where that stack could not Splay is illegal. If, on a players turn, it is legal for him to Splay a stack which is at its size limit (i.e., a Splay will place the last stone on the board edge), he must do so! If there are multiple stacks at this situation, he may choose whichever he likes. A player may not pass unless he has no legal moves. CAPTURE - At the end of each move, if there are any white pieces in any of the stacks on row 1 or any black pieces in any of the stacks in row 8, these are removed from the stacks and captured by the opponent.  GOAL - The first player that captures 9 enemy stones wins.

An example If the black stack on b3 splay to the top right, it would place its stones on the dotted cells (the black stones at c4 and d5; the white stone at e6). However, that move is illegal, because it would create a stack of size 5 at e6, which cannot be splayed on any direction. Black can splay the stack at f3 to the bottom right and manage to do two things: capture a white stone by placing it at h1, and make a new stack at g2, which can splay and capture another white stone on next turn.