Fanorona
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Fanorona is a board game indigenous to Madagascar and derived from Alquerque.
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[edit] Equipment
Fanorona is played on a board of 5 rows × 9 columns, with lines connecting the intersections. Black and white stones, twenty-two each, are arranged on all points but the center. The objective of the game is to capture all the opponents pawns by sliding along the lines. Any pawns aligned in front are taken out. The game continues until there is no more pawns or stones left for the opponents. The Fanorona is played by most Malagasy with passion. One legend says that one of the kings of the Island lost his entire village because of his passion of Fanorona.
[edit] Rules of Play
- Players alternate turns moving a piece to an adjacent vacant point on the board.
- Capturing is performed by either approaching or withdrawing from enemy pieces.
- When a piece is moved next to an enemy piece, all adjacent enemy pieces in that line of motion are captured (i.e. only those forming a straight unbroken line).
- Conversely, when a piece is moved away from an enemy piece, that enemy piece and all those lined behind it are captured.
- A player's first capture ends their turn but, in all later turns, a capturing piece is allowed to continue making successive captures, provided that: i) each capture does so along a different line than other captures that turn, and ii) no point is visited twice during the move.
[edit] See also
Fanorona can be played by email, using Richard Rognlie's Play-By-eMail Server.
