 | Emergo has no 'checkers' aspects like an initial position, forward movement and promotion, making it a pure column checkers game.
Rules
If there's mention of men and pieces, a man is single, while a piece consists of a number of stacked men. If the difference doesn't matter, a man may also be referred to as a piece, for instance 'the number of pieces on the board'.
On the board there are squares and lines. These are always dark squares and oblique lines, like the 'e-line' or the '5-line'. A square is identified as the intersection of two lines. The a- and i-line and the 1- and 9-line each count but one square. The board is initially empty. |
Object
If a player has no piece left he loses the game.
- There are two players, black and white. Each initially has twelve men 'in hand'.
- A 'piece' is a column of one or more men, composed in one of the following ways:
- All white or white with black prisoner(s)
- All black or black with white prisoner(s)
- The top man of a column determines its owner. The top men together are called 'the cap'
- Players move, and must move, in turn. White moves first. A move may be:
- Entering a man (or the 'shadowpiece')
- Moving a piece
- Capturing one or more men
- There are two phases: the entering phase and the
movement phase.
- Capture is obligatory and has precedence in both phases.
- A player captures the top man of an opponent's piece on an adjacent square, by jumping the piece with his own piece, taking the top man along under it, and landing on the square beyond, which must be vacant for the capture to take place.
- Majority capture precedes: if the capturing piece can continue its course in a similar fashion in any direction except a 180 degrees turn, it must do so, taking care beforehand to establish the route that brings the maximum number of captured men. If there are more ways than one to meet this criterion, the player is free to choose.
- In a multiple capture the capturing piece may visit a square more than once as well as jump a piece more than once!
- Inducing a capture by the opponent is called feeding. Feeding a weak piece to eventually liberate its prisoners is a key-concept in Emergo.
The capture of a single man reduces the number of pieces on the board by one. Since there is no mechanism to increase the number of pieces, a game of Emergo is always 'climbing upward', that is, the number of pieces steadily decreases while their size increases.
This sequence is only to illustrate mechanics. It is not a game position (because then white would have to enter a man).
White moves fe4 and black must take the majority capture hd4x after which white, also under the obligation of majority capture, must capture clockwise.
Anti-clockwise capture would end on the square of origin and bring only four men. As it is the move ends on c4: white liberates a piece of two and captures five men under a cap of three. |
Entering
If a player who still has one or more men 'in hand', has no capture to perform, he must enter a man on a vacant square.
He may not enter more than one man, unless his opponent has all twelve men on the board, in which case he must enter his remaining men as one piece. This piece is called 'the shadowpiece'.
- A player may still have several men in hand while his opponent has all men on the board. This is always the result of one player entering while the other must capture. It is not at all unusual: creating a large shadowpiece is a very valid strategic goal, particularly for black.
The crucial restriction on entering
White may not, on his very first move, enter on the central square (e5). Apart from that there's only one condition for entering a man or the shadowpiece alike:
- You may not feed during the entering stage, unless the opponent attacks one of your pieces!
This is the key rule governing the entering phase. As long as my opponent does not attack any of my pieces, I may not force him to make a capture. Only he himself can release me from that condition, by attacking one of my pieces.
In this example black on his seventh move takes a risk by attacking white. In the already crowded position, white - now released from the crucial restriction - takes over the attack.
On the tenth move it's black's turn to have no restrictions on entering (since he now is under attack himself).
Now 10...g6, forcing white to the majority capture 11.h6d4x appears to be black's best option, but after the position has come to rest, black's piece of two and shadowpiece of two are outweighed by white's piece of four.
Admittedly white's weak piece appears to be more isolated and thus more vulnerable than black's, but as a whole the position is favorable for white.
This example shows how explosive the entering stage in a game of Emergo can be if players attack! In 'Strategy' you can read why it is usually black who attacks. |
Movement
If the player to move cannot make a capture and does not have any men in hand, he must move a piece to an adjacent square. There are no restrictions except that the square must be vacant.
Draws
The following situations constitute a draw:
- A player has at least one piece in hand, and cannot legally enter.
- A player has at least one piece left on the board, and cannot move.
- 3-fold repetition of the same position with the same player to move.
- Mutual agreement.
The first situation may occur if every vacant square, if entered upon, would induce a capture, while the opponent does not attack any of the entering player's pieces.
A draw by mutual agreement may occur in endgames that are mutually without perspective. Put two white and two black 3-under-3 pieces in opposite corners and it may be hard to get anywhere.
These were the rules. Now you know how to play Emergo ... more or less.
External links
If and when we find one ...
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On the Evolution of Draughts Variants