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Splinter

Splinter is an abstract strategy game for two players.  The object of the game is to knock out your opponent’s king, rooks, bishops and pawns while protecting your own pieces from enemy attack.

Playing the Game

Each player starts the game with 4 types of pieces – 1 king (star), 2 rooks (squares), 3 bishops (crosses) and 9 pawns (circles).  Play begins with the pieces arranged in a checkerboard pattern at the center of the board, as illustrated below.

Choose a player to go first, then continue playing, alternating turns with your opponent.  

On your turn, you may slide any one of your pieces one square in any direction (horizontally, vertically or diagonally).  Any pieces that lie in the way (regardless of number, color or type) get pushed along, including off the board.  If a piece is pushed off the board, it is eliminated and is out of play for the remainder of the game.  

To avoid an infinite loop, you may not move any piece to a square that it vacated on your opponent’s last turn.

Note: All pieces move in exactly the same way regardless of type, but each type of piece has a unique scarcity value, which will vary throughout the game as pieces are removed from the board.

Causing a Splinter

In the illustration below, the four bottom-most pieces are connected to the rest of the group by a single piece – the white rook. 

A splinter occurs when one or more pieces become disconnected from the original group so that there are empty squares between those pieces and the original group. 

In the illustration below, the white rook has moved up, causing the four pieces below it to become disconnected (or splintered) from the main group.

Following a splinter, the largest group remains on the board and all other groups are removed.  If the groups are of equal size, the player who caused the splinter decides which group is removed.  If a piece is removed as a result of a splinter, it is eliminated and is out of play for the remainder of the game.

Scoring a Knockout; Winning the Game

Each time a player runs out of any type of piece (king, rook, bishop or pawn), the other player scores a knockout.  The first player to reach two knockouts wins the game.

Note:  A single move may cause both players to reach two or more knockouts at the same time.  If this happens, the game ends and the player that has scored the most knockouts is the winner.  If both players have scored the same number of knockouts, the player with the most total pieces remaining is the winner.  If both players have the same number of pieces remaining, the game ends in a tie.

Enjoy the game!

– Ed Nadel