Cathedral (board Game) - Rules

Rules

Whichever player is using the "light" pieces begins by placing the Cathedral anywhere within the play area, aligned with the squares. Next the "dark" player places one of their game pieces on the board. Play alternates between the two sides until one side is unable to make a move. At this point, the other side attempts to place all of their remaining pieces in areas they have captured.

Players may capture territory within the city by completely enclosing it with their pieces alone, or with the help of the city walls. Boundaries of these areas must be "wall to wall;" that is, if two of the surrounding pieces only touch on their corners, that's not a capture. If the captured territory contains one and only one of the opponent's pieces or the cathedral, that piece may be removed and the opponent may no longer place pieces in that area. An opponent's piece so removed can return to play at a later stage, but the cathedral will remain absent for the remainder of the game. If the territory contains more than one piece (including the Cathedral), it is not captured and remains available for the opponent to use. Strategy: Use the largest pieces first, don't play into your captured space until you have no pieces left that will fit into the uncaptured areas.

The winner is the player who manages to place all of their pieces, while preventing their opponent from doing so. If neither player is able to place all of their pieces, then the player whose remaining pieces would take up the smaller area is declared the winner.

When playing multiple games in a row, players alternate placing the Cathedral and moving first. At the end of each game, each player gets a score based on the number of squares that their opponent's remaining buildings would occupy.