Section 4: Gameplay
Turn Sequence
Players take one turn at a time in clockwise order. On a turn, the active player selects one of their pieces and makes exactly one of the following types of move:
- Single step: Move the piece to one empty position directly adjacent to it along a printed or implied board line.
- One or more jumps: Jump over an adjacent occupied position and land in the empty position immediately beyond it on the same straight line. After landing, the same piece may make another legal jump.
A player may not combine a step and a jump in the same turn. A piece that takes a single step stops immediately. A piece making jumps may stop after any completed jump, even when another jump is available.
Jump Rules
- The jumped piece may belong to the active player or to any opponent.
- Exactly one adjacent occupied position is crossed in each jump.
- The landing position must be empty when the jump is made.
- The jumped piece is not captured, removed, displaced, or exchanged.
- A jump must cross the occupied position symmetrically: the starting position, jumped position, and landing position must be consecutive positions on one straight board line.
- During a jump chain, the moving piece may change direction after each landing.
- Only the originally selected piece may move during the chain.
- A player may not land on the same position more than once during a single turn. This prevents circular jump sequences that make no progress.
Movement Across the Board
Pieces may normally move forward, sideways, or backward. They may pass through the central field and may use other pieces as stepping stones. No position belongs permanently to a particular player after setup, although special restrictions can apply to the outer triangles.
Under the simplest casual rule, a piece may enter any empty outer triangle and leave it later. A widely used restriction instead permits a player to occupy only their own home triangle, their destination triangle, and the central hexagon. Players should choose one interpretation before play because triangle access can change available jump routes.
Destination Conduct
Once a player's piece reaches its destination triangle, it may still move within that triangle to arrange the final formation. For a friendlier and faster game, players may agree that a piece which has entered its destination may not leave it. If that rule is used, movement within the destination remains legal.
A player should not deliberately leave an opposing piece trapped in that opponent's destination solely to prevent completion. The common anti-blocking rule requires a player to move their own piece out of another player's destination whenever a legal move out is available and the piece is preventing that opponent from filling the triangle.
Illegal Moves
An illegal move includes landing on an occupied position, jumping over an empty position, jumping across more than one adjacent piece at once, moving between unconnected positions, moving two different pieces in one turn, or combining a step with a jump chain. In casual play, return the piece to its last legal position and let the player complete a legal move. If later turns have already begun, restore the board only when all players can agree on the previous position; otherwise leave the current position and continue.
No Legal Move
If a player has no legal step or jump with any piece, that player passes. The other players continue normally. A temporary lack of moves does not eliminate the blocked player, who takes a normal turn again when play returns to them.