Tulaga, a 2-player strategy game

2 Players

One will use Black stones and the other will use White.

Board

This is identical to a Chess Board.

Simple Stones

Use black and white Checkers or Go Stones.

Rank Stones

Use the pawns from a Chess Set.

Clear the Board

The Board starts in an empty state.

Pile the Stones

Each player starts with a pile of 12 Simple Stones and 6 Rank Stones. For a shorter game, play with 4 or 5 Rank Stones instead.

Get all of your Rank Stones on the board.

That's it. That's the goal.

Players alternate turns.

Black goes first.

On each turn,

a Player places a Simple Stone on the Board. Stones are placed on the points/vertices of the Board, NOT in the empty spaces.

Getting a "Tulaga"

If, with a turn's stone placement, the Player is able to:

• place 5 Simple Stones in a ROW (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal), OR
• place 4 Simple Stones anywhere on a point's 8-point PERIMETER

THEN

the Player has achieved a "Tulaga" and may place one of their Rank Stones on the Board.

When placing a Rank Stone,

• In the case of a ROW Tulaga, the Player may place their Rank Stone on any of the 5 points occupied by the Simple Stones.
• In the case of a PERIMETER Tulaga, the Rank Stone is placed on the point in the center of that Perimeter.
• The Simple Stones that made up the Tulaga are removed from the Board and returned to the Player's pile of Simple Stones.

THEN

the Player may Reap the stones in ONE cardinal direction originating from the Rank Stone.

When Reaping stones,

• Any Simple Stone of the Opponent's color are removed from the Board and returned to the Opponent's pile of Simple Stones.
• Any Rank Stones are REPLACED with one of the Player's Rank Stones.

Other rules

If a Player starts their turn without any Simple Stones in their pile, then they have LOST the game.

A Player MAY choose to NOT place a Rank Stone when they have achieved a Tulaga.

If a Player gets more than one Tulaga with a single move, they may select ONE for the placement of their Rank stone. (After placing their Rank Stone and removing the Tulaga's Simple Stones, the other Tulagas will be incomplete.)