Stacks
A Game Rules Guru original board game invented by Steve Wannall.
Number of Players
2
Board
A 13x13 square grid with 3 marked “target” squares in the center row (the center square, and the 2 squares located exactly 5 squares to the left and right of it). The squares on the starting row for each player are also marked to show which pieces start where.
Equipment
28 multi-colored playing pieces (14 per player), half marked with a white dot on the top, and half marked with black. Each player should have: 4 red, 4 yellow, 4 green, and 2 with flags on top (white or black) instead of dots.
Setup
Each player places their pieces on their own starting row according to the corresponding markings (from left to right: red, green , yellow, yellow, green, red, both flags occupying 1 square, red, green, yellow, yellow, green, red).
Play
Either player may move first. On a player’s turn, they may move one of their pieces according to the way it is specifically allowed to move. Pieces move as follows:
- Red – 1 space horizontally (left or right)
- Green – 1 space vertically (forward or backward)
- Yellow – 1 space diagonally
- Flags – cannot move
No jumping of other pieces is allowed, however, it is allowed to move into a space occupied by another piece (or pieces). Moving one of your pieces into a space occupied by an opponent captures their piece(s). Moving one of your pieces into a space occupied by your own piece creates a stack.
There is no limit to how high a stack may be built, and a stack may move in any direction that its pieces would allow. For example, if you had a stack with 1 red piece and 1 green piece, that stack could move 1 space either horizontally, or vertically. If two or more identical pieces are in the same stack, that stack can move in the direction of those pieces a number of spaces up to the number of those pieces in the stack. For example, if you had a stack with 1 green piece, and 2 yellow pieces, that stack could move either one space vertically, or up to two spaces diagonally. A stack containing 3 yellow pieces could move 1, 2, or 3 spaces diagonally, and so on.
A stack may be built up in any way possible, such as moving more pieces onto the stack, or moving the stack onto other pieces. Taking a stack apart works a little differently. A stack may only be dismantled one piece at a time by moving any one piece away from the stack, NOT by moving the whole stack and leaving a piece behind. The reason for this will become apparent later.
Since flags cannot move, they obviously must be stacked with other pieces to get them to where they need to go (which is the target squares). A flag may be picked up by moving a piece or stack into the flags starting space, however, only one flag may be taken off of the starting space at a time, and only one flag may be in any given stack.
Capturing
When a piece is captured, it is removed from the board, but that does not necessarily mean it is out of the game. Any captured piece may be brought back onto the board by placing it on any space in a players starting row where that piece could have legally started the game. For example, a captured red piece may be brought back into play on any of the 4 red spaces in the players starting row. If the piece being returned to play comes in on a space that is already occupied, it will create a stack (or conceivably make a capture). Bringing a piece back in constitutes that players move for the turn.
If a stack gets captured, every piece of the stack is removed from play and may only be returned at a rate of one piece per turn. The exception to this rule is the flag piece. If a stack containing a flag is captured, the flag is placed immediately back on its starting space. Any pieces sitting in the flags starting space when this happens are immediately removed from the board (unless it’s another flag).
Object
The game is won when a player “owns” any two of the three target squares. A target square is owned by a player when it is occupied solely by one of that players flags. Since flags cannot move by themselves, obviously, they may only reach a target square as part of a stack…so…once a stack containing a flag occupies a target square, that stack must be completely dismantled (one piece at a time, leaving the flag) in order to officially own the square. Any stack (or piece) on a target square may be captured, but once a flag occupies a target square by itself, that target square is now owned. A target square that is owned cannot be passed through again, and the flag on it remains there for the rest of the game.