Surakarta is a little-known Indonesian abstract strategy game for two players, named after the ancient city of Surakarta in central Java.[1][2] The game features an unusual method of capture which is "possibly unique"[2] and "not known to exist in any other recorded board game."[1]
Surakarta is also among the traditional board games played in rural China and Korea.[3][4][5][6][7][8]
The real name of the game is "Permainan" (meaning the game in Bahasa Indonesia).[9][10] It was first published in France in 1970 as "Surakarta".[10] The game is called "Roundabouts" in Sid Sackson's The Book of Classic Board Games.[11] The Chinese name is 田螺旋棋 (Tian spiral chess) or 旋轉棋 (Spin chess).[12] The Korean name is 자전거고누.
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Traditionially, Indonesian game pieces are shells versus pebbles or stones, and the board shape is inscribed in sand or volcanic ash when the game is played.[1][10] But any easily-distinguished sets of pieces may be used (e.g. red and black counters or checkers, as illustrated). Players begin the game with 12 pieces each.
Players decide who moves first, then play alternates between the players. The object of the game is to capture all 12 of the opponent's pieces (or alternatively, have more pieces remaining on the board than one's opponent when no further captures can be made). Pieces always sit on a point of intersection of the board's grid lines.
On a turn, a player either moves one of his pieces a single step to an unoccupied point in any direction (forwards, backwards, sideways, or diagonally), or makes a capturing move special to Surakarta.
A capturing move consists of traversing along an inner or outer circuit (colored blue or green in the illustration) around at least one of the eight corner loops of the board, followed by landing on an enemy piece, capturing it. Captured pieces are permanently removed from play.
So, corner loop(s) are only used when making a capture. The capturing piece enters (and leaves) the circular loop via a grid line tangent to the circle. Any number of unoccupied points may be traveled over, before or after traversing a corner loop. An unoccupied point may be traveled over more than once during the capturing piece's journey. Only unoccupied points may be traveled over; jumping over pieces is not permitted.
Capturing is always optional (not mandatory).
An individual game is won, when a player captures all 12 of his opponent's pieces. Or if neither side can make headway, the game is ended by agreement and the winner is the player with the greater number of pieces remaining on the board.
A match usually consists of more than one game. Players agree ahead of time how the winner will be determined. A couple methods are typically used: