ZÈRTZ is the third game in the GIPF Project of six abstract strategy games. The game features a shrinking board and an object that promotes sacrifice combinations. Since neither player owns on-board pieces, maintaining the initiative is of fundamental importance.
Playing pieces are six white, eight gray, and ten black marbles, and (for the standard game) 37 rings, each of which can hold a marble. (Advanced players use up to 61 rings.)
Players pla...
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ZÈRTZ is the third game in the GIPF Project of six abstract strategy games. The game features a shrinking board and an object that promotes sacrifice combinations. Since neither player owns on-board pieces, maintaining the initiative is of fundamental importance.
Playing pieces are six white, eight gray, and ten black marbles, and (for the standard game) 37 rings, each of which can hold a marble. (Advanced players use up to 61 rings.)
Players place the rings on a flat surface and arrange them as a packed hexagon, as regularly as possible. This comprises the "board". With 37 rings, this forms a perfect hexagon with four rings on a side. The marbles go into a shared pool.
The object is to capture four whites, or five grays, or six blacks, or three of each color. (A quicker variant can be played in which the object is to capture three white marbles, or four grays, or five blacks, or two of each color. See below.)
If any two marbles are adjacent on the board, and there is room for one to...
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