Invented by Don Woods (don@genmagic.genmagic.com).
Someone suggested I post the rules for a game that a friend and I invented many years ago. It's a two-player abstract strategy game with a large luck element but still a lot of room for skill. It plays fairly quickly, and uses "existing components" from other common games. (Indeed, that was one of the criteria when we invented it; we had a bunch of other games on hand and wanted to design something new out of them.)
The game is called Domination, partly because the goal is to hem in your opponent, but mostly because the most distinctive component is a set of dominoes.
The dominoes should be small enough that they can be laid flat on a square of the board without overlapping too much into other squares. Laying them at a 45 degree angle helps.
Set up the board as shown below. (Chess-style rank and file notations are included for later reference.)
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8 | O | | | | | | | |
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7 | | | | | | | | |
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6 | | | | | | | | |
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5 | | | | | X | | | |
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4 | | | | X | | | | |
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3 | | | | | | | | |
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2 | | | | | | | | |
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1 | | | | | | | | O |
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a b c d e f g h
The board is considered to "wrap around" at the edges. I.e., a piece that moves off one edge re-enters immediately at the opposite edge. (E.g., if the piece at h1 moves to the right it moves to a1.) Thus the starting position is symmetric between X and O.
Mix the dominoes face down. (Be careful that the double-blank is face down!) Decide who will go first. Play alternates. A turn consists of drawing a domino from the remaining face down pool, moving one's pieces based on the numbers on the domino, and placing the domino on the board in place of the FIRST piece moved. Details follow:
Each turn, a player must move both of his or her pieces. One piece moves a distance equal to one of the numbers on the domino, the other moves a distance equal to the other number. Either number may be used first. A blank may be used to move any distance from 1 to 6 (not zero). A piece is moved in a straight line horizontally or vertically. A piece may NEVER move onto or through another piece of EITHER color, nor onto or through a domino. The new domino is placed on the board after the FIRST piece is moved on a turn, occupying the space from which that piece moved.
If a player is unable to move both pieces, that player loses.
Suppose X goes first and draws 5-2. One possible move is to d4-b4 (placing the domino at d4), then e5-e8 (moving down and wrapping around at the edge):
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8 | O | | | | X | | | |
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7 | | | | | | | | |
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6 | | | | | | | | |
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5 | | | | | | | | |
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4 | | X | |5-2| | | | |
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3 | | | | | | | | |
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2 | | | | | | | | |
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1 | | | | | | | | O |
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a b c d e f g h
(This is perhaps not a very good move, but it's useful as an example.) Suppose O then draws 3-0 and uses the blank as a 1 to move as follows:
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8 | | O | | | X | | | |
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7 | | | | | | | | |
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6 | | | | | | | | |
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5 | | | | | | | | |
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4 | | X | |5-2| | | | O |
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3 | | | | | | | | |
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2 | | | | | | | | |
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1 | | | | | | | |3-0|
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a b c d e f g h
If X now draws a domino both of whose numbers are 4 or larger, he loses, because his piece at b4 will be unable to move. But he draws 3-1 and moves:
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8 | | O | | |3-1| | | X |
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7 | | | | | | | | |
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6 | | | | | | | | |
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5 | | X | | | | | | |
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4 | | | |5-2| | | | O |
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3 | | | | | | | | |
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2 | | | | | | | | |
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1 | | | | | | | |3-0|
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a b c d e f g h
Now O at h4 can move no further than 3, and O at b8 no further than 4, so there are 13 dominos in the pool that would lose for O.
The above shows a game where both players are attempting to restrict each other's moves, but you can see that by doing so they also restrict their own. They might instead move so as to make it difficult for the opponent to interfere with their open lines. This decision between offense and defense is at the heart of the game.
One final point of emphasis: Remember that the domino is placed immediately after the FIRST move of each turn. This means it is never possible to move one piece out of the way in order to let your other piece move past:
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8 | | | X | |3-1| | |3-3|
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7 | | | | | | | | |
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6 | | | O | | | O | | |
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5 | |5-4| | | | | | |
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4 | |6-1|6-4|5-2| | | |4-2|
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3 | | | | | | | | |
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2 | |4-4| | | | | | |
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1 | | X | | | | | |3-0|
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a b c d e f g h
O draws 6-5 and loses. O cannot move f6 vertically to make room for c6 to move, because the domino is immediately placed at f6.