Rimau-rimau - Rules and Gameplay

Rules and Gameplay

There are two versions to this game.

Version A:

1. In the beginning the two tigers are placed at the vertex of the two mountains that connects to the Alquerque board. Nine men are initially placed on the nine intersection points of the central square of the Alquerque board. Throughout the game, pieces are always situated on the intersection points, and move along the marked lines between them.

2. The tiger player moves first and removes any 3 men from the board. Then, the tiger player may also pick up one of his tigers, and reallocate it on any empty point on the board, or the tigers can simply remain where they are already.

3. The man player moves next, and must drop his or her remaining 15 pieces on any vacant intersection point on the board one piece per turn before he or she can begin to move any of them. This will take 15 turns. Players alternate their turns. The tigers can move and capture from the beginning.

4. After the 15 men have been dropped, the men can begin to move. Only one man may be moved in a turn. A man moves (in any available direction) along a marked line onto a vacant adjacent intersection point.

5. Similarly, only one tiger may be moved in a turn. A tiger moves (in any available direction) along a marked line onto a vacant adjacent intersection point. Alternatively, a tiger can capture. Men, however, cannot capture.

6. Tigers can capture an odd number of men (e.g. 1, 3, 5, or 7). The tiger must be adjacent to the man or line of men, and leap over them onto a vacant intersection point immediately beyond. Jumped pieces are removed from the board. The tiger must leap over them in a straight line that follows the pattern on the board. If more than one man is captured in the leap, the men must be lined up right next to each other with no vacant points in between them. Once a man or a line of men are leaped over and captured, the tiger can no longer capture further or move. Captures are not compulsory.

The ability of the two tigers to capture more than one man might give an advantage and perhaps even a tremendous advantage to the tigers, and therefore, it is preferable that the tigers be allowed to capture one man only per turn.

7. If the men are reduced to 10 or 11 pieces, the men will usually resign as there is not enough of them to effectively immobilize the two tigers.

Version B:

Similar to Version A except that there are only 22 men, and 8 of which must surround the central point of the board at the beginning. The central intersection point is empty in the beginning. The tiger player also only removes one man in the beginning (as oppose to 3 men in Version A). The man player must drop his or her remaining 14 pieces before he or she can begin to move any of them. Play is exactly the same from here on.