Azacru Rules
Azacru Rules copyright Mike Wellman 2005
Each player is represented by one colour: and they use the pieces and tiles of that colour.
The order of play between the different colours is a matter of choice. You can decide which player is using which colour, and the order of play, by any reasonable means.
Make sure the board has only the two shades of neutral tiles on it arranged in diagonal lines across the board. If there are three or four players in the game, then each player has three pieces to start: for the two player game each has four.
Take it in turns to move one piece at a time. You cannot pass on a turn unless you cannot move. You can move any of your pieces one space straight ahead, or at a 45 degree angle to the direction it is pointing. After a move, leave the piece pointing in the direction you've moved it. This is the only way that pieces move from tile to tile.
Each time you move a piece you replace the tile you are arriving on with your own colour tile.
When you move a piece across a border, you can set it down as normal after the move (leaving the piece pointing in the direction you've moved it) or choose to twist the piece forty five degrees to the the left or to the right as part of your turn.
You may not move onto a tile that is another player's colour. You may not move onto a tile where another piece is sitting. Except for a connection jump you may not jump over any piece.
POWER OF MOVEMENT: Count the tiles of your colour in the borderland and that number is the power of movement of the piece. If there are no tiles, the power of movement
is one. You can move that particular piece any number of tiles between one and
its power of movement.
LONG MOVE: When you move your piece more than one tile (a
long move), you cannot change direction in the middle of the move. You must move in a straight line (directly ahead, or ahead at 45 degrees). At the
end of the move leave the piece pointing in the direction you have moved it, unless you have crossed a border in which case you can twist it as usual.
CONNECTION CHANGE: When you make a long move from one tile
of your colour to another tile of your colour (a connection), and you are not
jumping any pieces, you must change all the intervening tiles to your
colour. If your connection change involves changing one or more tiles belonging to another
player, then your piece is taken off the board as soon as the move is made.
CONNECTION JUMP: When you move from one tile of your colour
to another tile of your colour, you are allowed to jump any intervening
pieces. However when you make a connection jump, you do not make a connection change and so no intervening tiles are changed.
Eventually one player in the game will not be able to make a move on their turn: either all their pieces have left the board, or none of the their remaining pieces can move. After this has happened all the other players (or those that can) continue for just one turn each. The winner of the game is the player with most tiles on the board at the end of the game (this may be the player who was first unable to move). It is possible to use the number of tiles on the board of each player as a score and then play several games as a set, totalling the score from each game.
