Splinter Quad

Object of the Game

Knock out your opponents’ kings, 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), 2 bishops (crosses) and 4 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, with all players alternating turns.

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 the immediately-preceding 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.

In the illustration above, the two white pieces on the right are connected to the rest of the group by a single piece – the blue king.

In the illustration above, the blue king has moved down, causing the white king and bishop to become disconnected (or splintered) from the main group.

Causing a Splinter

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. 

 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.

Causing a Knockout; Winning the Game

A knockout occurs each time a player runs out of any type of piece (king, rook, bishop or pawn).  Upon reaching two knockouts, a player is eliminated from the game, and that player’s pieces are removed from the board.  The last surviving player wins the game. 

Note:  A single move may cause multiple players to reach two or more knockouts at the same time.  If this happens to all of the remaining players, the game ends and the one that has suffered the fewest knockouts is the winner.  If two or more of the remaining players are tied for the fewest knockouts, the one with the most total pieces remaining is the winner.  If two or more of the remaining players are tied for the most total pieces remaining, the game ends in a tie.