The Shire of Dregate Book of Games

The Shire of Dregate

Book Of

Greetings.

In this booklet you will find an assortment of games for your enjoyment. All of these are games that can be found at various Dregate events and are considered some of our favorites. The rules laid out here are in most cases just variants. I have seen many different rules for every game in here and the correct one just depends on who you are playing with at what time.

For most of these games you can play them using the book as a board. If you want a better experience you will need to make a board and collect pieces but that can be quite fun in itself. I hope you enjoy these games and that they inspire you to go out and find more on your own.

Good Gaming I found almost all of these rules at various websites other then my own. If you are the original author and would like it removed please contact me at dregate@yahoo.com.

Contents Nyout (Horses) Merels Brandubh Byzantine Chess Tafl Shut the Box Fox and Geese Game of the Goose Tablero de Jesus Wari Gluckhaus An-Tir Darts Alquerque

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26

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Nyout (Horses)

by Dagonell the Juggler

Nyout is a Korean game dating back to the 3rd century. The Spanish Conquistadors recorded a virtually identical game being played by the Mayans when they arrived in the New World. The existence of the same game in two widely separated areas has been offered as part of the evidence for a theory that there was an Asiatic visit to the Western hemisphere back in the 8th century. The theory remains unproven.

The game may be played by two, three, or four players. Two players would have four markers or horses each. Three players would have three horses. Four players would have two horses each and pair up as teams alternating turns. A player may move his partner's horse on his turn. The game board is a race track of twenty spaces arranged in a circle. An additional nine spaces form a cross in the center of the board.

Players throw four lots to determine their move. Think of it as flipping four coins. One to four "heads" allows one horse to move the same number of spots. Four "tails" entitles the player to move his horse five spaces. Additionally, on a move of four or five, the player is allowed an extra throw. If two or more of a player's (or team's) horses finish a turn on the same space, they may be

"hitched" together and move as a single horse for the remainder of their journey around the board. If a horse finishes his turn on a space occupied by an opponent's horse, the opponent's horse must start over. Hitched horses must re-enter as single pieces.

Horses enter at the space marked S and proceed counterclockwise around the board and leave at the space marked F. If a horse ends a turn on one of the three spots where the circle intersects the cross, marked A, B & C in the diagram, on his next turn he must proceed down the arm of the cross to the center, marked X and from there to finish. From A & B, this is a shortcut. From C, it's a longer route.

The first player or team to get all of their horses around the track is the winner.

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Nyout (Horses)

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Merels Merels (or 9 man morris) is played on a square board made up of three concentric squares connected by intersecting lines in the center of each of the square's sides. (dotted lines are for 12 man morris) Each player starts with nine pieces or men, off the board. The two sets of men must be different colors.

The players decide who starts first. Then they take turns placing one man at a time on any unoccupied point on the board. There are 24 points (marked with dots in the illustration) that men may be placed on.

Once both players have placed all of their men on the board, they take turns in moving their men (one at a time) already on the board. Men can only be moved to adjacent points along the marked lines. Only one man may be placed on any point. If a man is already on a point, another cannot be moved there.

The object is to form mills. A mill consists of a straight row of three of the player's own men along a straight marked/connecting line. If a player succeeds in making a mill, they may capture an opponent's man. This is done by removing an opponent's man from the board. Once captured, men cannot be

brought back into play.

Whenever possible the captured man should NOT be taken from an opponent's existing line of three (mill).

Two intervening moves must be made before a piece may be moved back into the same mill. No such restriction applies if a mill is being formed along a different line, or using different pieces.

Players must move a man if they can (even if it would be to their disadvantage). A player who cannot move a man loses the game.

Once a player has been reduced to two men, and therefore is unable to form a mill which lets them capture their opponent's men, they lose the game.

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Merels

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Brandubh (pronounced bran-DOO) is a Celtic board game played on a 7x7 board with 13 pieces. It is based on playing pieces and boards found in ruins in Ireland and Wales. It is a tactical game at least 10 centuries old.

One player has eight pieces called BARONS. These are represented by the dark pieces on the board. The other player has four PRINCES and a KING, represented by the lighter pieces, the king being marked by a "K". The barons make the first move. Each player may move one piece per turn. Pieces may move one space in any direction. Barons and princes (but not the king) may move two spaces on a straight diagonal line if they are on light spaces and providing no other piece, friend or foe, lies in their path. You may not capture a piece with this move.

A piece is captured by moving onto the space it is occupying and removing it from the board. By the divine right of kings, the king may never be captured.

He is immortal. ("it's good to be the king!")

The center piece, where there king begins play, is called the TARA. No piece but the king may ever move onto or over the TARA. The four corners are also important. If a prince (but not a baron) remains on one of these four

spaces for three consecutive turns, he is considered "lost in thewoods" and is removed from the board.

The barons win when all the princes are removed from the board.

The king/princes win when all of the barons have been removed from the board.

The barons have the advantage of numbers and should try to press the princes, not giving them a chance to move their king. The barons can often afford to sacrifice a piece to take a piece. The princes should try to stay out of danger and let the king do the dirty work.

For tournament play, have each player play each side one time. If this results in a 1-1 tie, the player who won by the largest margin (had the most pieces remaining on the board) may choose sides for the tie breaker.

Based on Irish and Welsh artifacts dating back at least 1000 years.

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Brandubh

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Byzantine Chess Byzantine chess, also called round chess, is a variant of the game of Shatranj.

It was popular in the 10th century after Christ in Byzantium (the city now called Istanbul), and hence is called Byzantine chess.

Rules The game is played on a round board, which is shown in the following diagram, together with the opening setup.

The variant we use follows all the rules of standard chess except pawns do not have a double first

step, pawns cannot promote, and when two pawns of a player going in different directions meet on opposing squares, thus blocking both of them, the opponent can remove both of them - this does not count as a move.

A player wins the game by mating the opponent, by stalemating the opponent, or by `bare king': by taking the last non-king piece of the opponent. However, in the last case, the opponent can make the game a draw by baring the other king too in its next move.

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Byzantine Chess

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Tafl An Ancient Viking Siege Game dating back to before 400 AD It was played throughout Scandinavia, Iceland, Germany, England, Wales and Ireland. The game was also sometimes called hnefatafl, meaning king's table. Historical tafl boards could have anywhere from 49 (7X7) to 324 (18X18) cells or squares.

The following rules have been played a lot and seem to work pretty well. However, tafl is an ancient game that had many variations, so feel free to make any changes you feel might make the game fairer or more interesting.

The king is placed in the center.

His men (the 8 dark pieces) are arranged around him in a cross (or a square if you prefer). The opposing men (the 16 light pieces) are arranged in four 'T' shapes in the middle of each of the four edges of the board.

All pieces move like the rook in chess - in straight vertical or horizontal lines. Pieces cannot jump each other, or take over another's space. Only the King may occupy the center square and the four outside corners, although others may pass through the center.

A piece is captured and removed when it is surrounded by two opposing men on opposite adjacent squares. This must be done by the opponent - moving

a man between two opposing pieces does not result in a capture. The king may participate in captures, but can only be captured when he is surrounded on four sides.

The king's side wins if the king reaches any one of the corner squares (some rules say any edge square, but most people find this too easy). The opposing side wins if it captures the king by surrounding him on four sides, or on three sides against the edge, rendering him unable to move.

Optional rules: 1) Pieces may be captured by a single man against the board edge.

2) The corner squares of the board may be treated as brown (king's) pieces, and like the center square, no one would be allowed to occupy them except the king.

An opposing piece could also be captured against a corner by a single man.

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Tafl

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Shut the Box Shut the Box can be played by any number of players although it is most enjoyable with two, three or four. Some people even play the game solo as a pastime akin to patience. As played traditionally in English pubs, Shut the Box is a gambling pastime with each of the players paying an agreed amount into the "pool" at the beginning and the winner collecting the pool at the end of each round. However, it isn't necessary to gamble in order to play the game.

A round of the game consists of each player taking one turn. A player takes a turn by repeatedly throwing the dice until the player cannot continue.

Each throw of the dice is taken as follows: If 7, 8 and 9 are all covered, the player decides whether to throw one die or two. If any of these 3 numbers are still uncovered, the player must use both dice. The player throws the die or dice into the box and adds up the pips. The player must then cover up a set of unique uncovered numbers that add up to the sum thrown. So for instance, if the total pips is 8, the player may choose one of the following sets of numbers as long as all of the numbers in the set are available to be covered:

• • • • • •

8 7&1 6&2 5&3 5&2&1 4&3&1

The player then does exactly the same thing with a second throw and so on.

Once a number is covered up, it stays covered so, eventually, the player will throw a total for which it is not possible to find a set of uncovered numbers. When this happens, the player scores the sum of the numbers that are still uncovered. So if the numbers 1, 5 and 9 are uncovered and the player throws a 4, with options 4 or 3 & 1, the turn finishes and the player's score is 15.

If anyone succeeds in shutting the box i.e. closing all the numbers, that player wins outright immediately and receives double the stake from all players. Otherwise, after each player has taken one turn, the winner of the round is the player with the lowest score.

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Shut the Box

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Fox and Geese Fox and Geese belongs to the group of games known collectively as Tafl in which there are battles fought out by two forces of unequal power.

Tafl games appear to have originated in Northern Europe. Mention is made of one as far back as AD 1300 in the Icelandic 'Grettis Saga'. Most likely they date back to BC. One player elects to be the fox and the other the geese. The geese (the thirteen counters of one color) should be placed so as to fill up all the points on one side of the board, as shown in the diagram.

The fox (the one counter of the other color) can be placed on any vacant point remaining. The fox moves first. On their turn, each side may move one counter. Both fox and geese can move along a line, forwards, backwards, or sideways, to the next contiguous point.

The fox may move along a line or jump over a goose to an empty point, capturing the goose and removing it from the

board. Two or more geese may be captured by the fox in one turn, providing that he is able to jump to an empty point after each one. The fox wins if he depletes the gaggle of geese to a number that makes it impossible for them to trap him.

The geese cannot jump over the fox or capture the fox. They must try to mob him and hem him into a corner making it impossible for him to move.

The geese win if they succeed in immobilizing the fox.

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Fox and Geese

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The Game of the Goose The game is an easy game to learn, yet is immensely fun for all ages.

Certain special-marked spaces add either a bonus or a penalty to a player's move. Any number of players can play. Each player needs a uniquely marked, colored or shaped playing piece.

Each player places their single playing piece on the starting area. Play is commenced by each player, in turn, advancing his piece by the throw of two 6-sided dice to space number 63, where it was borne off. The first player borne off, wins.

To bear (or be borne) off, the playing piece has to land on 63 exactly. If the number thrown is higher than necessary, the surplus is counted backwards from the number 63 space. (If the backward move happens to land the piece on a specialmarked point that "advanced" movement, the piece continues moving on backwards, instead. At the player's next turn, he could resume his forward movement.)

Most of the special-marked points have a goose on them, hence the name

of the game. Landing on a goose allows the player to move his piece the same amount of the roll again, and continue doing such until he no longer landed on a goose. (i.e.. If you rolled a 6 and by moving 6 spaces, you landed on a goose, you move 6 more spaces.) Because there is a goose on every multiple of nine, a throw of nine on the first roll would allow a player to advance immediately to space 63 and win, a special rule was made. If a nine is rolled on the first throw, the player advances his piece to space 26 if the numbers on the dice were 6 & 3. If the numbers on the dice were 4 & 5, the piece advanced to space number 53. From these spaces, the player would continue the game.

There are no captures in the game. Pieces may pass other pieces. If a piece finishes its move on a space already the occupied by a second piece, the second piece is moved back to the space the first piece began its turn on. (i.e.. If a player who has a piece on space 20, rolls a 4 he moves his piece to space 24. If space 24 has an opponent's piece on it, the opponents piece is moved back to space 20, and the player's piece remains on space 24.)

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The Game of the Goose

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Tablero de Jesus

By Dagonell Tablero is a 15th century Spanish gambling game.

The board is seven rows by seven columns, similar to a chess board, but with one fewer row and column. The board is completely undifferentiated, but may be decorated as lavishly as the owner wishes. Two standard dice are used.

Players roll the die to determine who goes first. High roller places one coin in each of the two right-most columns in his home row. Low roller places one coin in each of the remaining columns in his own home row and goes first. The object of the game is to form rows of coins in the center of the board in order to remove them.

On his turn, each player throws the dice and moves any two coins either forward or backward in their own columns the number of spaces indicated by the dice. Each die must control a separate coin. If, for example, the dice were to come up 6 & 3, you couldn't move one coin five spaces and the other four, nor could you move one coin six spaces forward and three back.

When a player succeeds in getting two or more coins in ADJACENT col-

umns on the same row, other than either home row, he may either remove them from the board and end his turn, or continue to throw the dice hoping to make the row longer and capture more coins.

VARIATION: If a player succeeds in lining up all seven coins, he not only collects those coins, but an eighth coin from his opponent as well.

If a player throws 7, 11 or 12, he must immediately surrender the dice to his opponent without removing any coins from the board. Mathematically, the probability of this occurring is exactly 1 chance in 4. If a player throws a roll which cannot be made, for example, a six with no coins on either home row, he must also surrender the dice.

When a player removes coins from the board, his turn ends and he hands the dice to his opponent. His opponent must fill the empty columns by placing his own coins in those columns in his own home row. If a player is forced to surrender the dice when there is a row of coins on the board, his opponent may take the coins and return the dice without ever making a throw. When a player no longer has enough coins to fill empty columns, he has lost the game.

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Tablero de Jesus

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Wari The game of Wari dates back to ancient times, and was known throughout Egypt, Africa and Asia. Most likely it was brought back to the European area by sailors exploring that area. Many places market it today as Mancala, but this is really incorrect. Mancala is a type of game, a counting game to be exact. Wari is just one type of mancala game. (The same way that 5-card draw is just one type of Poker game.)

The game is played with a game board and 48 markers or playing pieces.

The pieces are usually small colored stones or shells. They may be of any color, or of several colors, as color does not affect play in this game.

The game board for Wari generally consists of a piece of wood that has hollowed-out spaces in it.

The six hollowed-out circular spaces on each side are called cups. The larger oval spaces on the ends are called reservoirs.

Players sit across from each other with a set of cups facing them. The game is set up by placing 4 markers in each of the 12 cups. To play, the players determine who will go first. That player picks up the markers in one of the cups on his side. He then distributes the markers by placing one (and only one) in the other cups, going widdershins (counter-clockwise) in a circle around the board. Markers are NOT placed in the

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Wari reservoirs. (They are for holding captured pieces only.) Should there be enough markers that a complete circle of the board is made, the cup just emptied is skipped over.

If the last marker put down goes into a cup on the opponent's side, and there ends with a total of two or three markers in that cup, then the markers in that cup are captured, and go into the reservoir at the player's right. Also, if the next cup clockwise from the captured cup has only two or three markers in it, that cup is likewise captured and the markers taken. This continues so long as the cup is clockwise to the last captured cup, has only two or three markers in it AND is an opponent's cup.

www.dregate.com However, a player cannot capture all of an opponent's remaining pieces in a move, leaving him nothing to play. In capturing cups, if there is only one opponent cup left with markers in it, you cannot capture it.

Also, you cannot leave your opponent with all empty cups if you have a move that would put some pieces in one or more of his cups.

When one side side of the board is all empty, play is ended. This must happen by a playing having to move his last markers onto his opponent's side. Play can also end if both players agree to quit. At the end of play each player takes any markers left on his side of the board and adds them to his reservoir.

The winner is the person with the most markers in his reservoir.

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Gluckhaus Gluckhaus (House of Fortune) is a German gambling game played with dice.

the next. The only set squares are 2 (a pig), 7 (a wedding), and 12 (a king).

Gluckhaus is played on a board numbered from 2 to 12 (without the number 4), with two 6sided dice. It is a game for 2 or more players. It was first mentioned (and condemned) in sermons in the 13th or 14th century, it continued to be a common game until outlawed by the Nazi party.

Play begins with each player anteing a coin to the wedding. After all, one must always bring a gift to a wedding. Players then begin to roll dice, passing the dice around the table.

Gluckhaus boards are often highly decorated, with different scenes appearing in the different squares of the board. Most of these illustrations vary from one board to

•

On any roll of 7, the player leaves a coin on the wedding.

Play then passes to the next player.

•

On a roll of 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, or 11 one of two things happens.

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If there is no coin on the space rolled, the player places a coin on that space. Play then passes to the next player.

• If there is a coin on the space rolled, the player takes it.

Play then passes to the next player.

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Gluckhaus •

•

On a roll of 2, the player takes every coin on the board except for the wedding. Play then passes to the next player.

On a roll of 12, the player takes every coin on the board, including the wedding.

Any players interested in starting a new game would now ante a coin onto the wedding.

The game ends when everyone is poor. Players can join and drop out at any time.

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An Tir Dart Rules

by Geoffroi Fitz George, An Tir Kindom Deputy of Darts Rules • A speed round of 10 seconds will be thrown from the 10 foot distance.

• In the speed round you will throw as many darts as possible, one at a time.

• All distances will be measured, not paced.

• The order of throwing will be as follows: first 10 feet; second 15 feet; lastly the 10 foot speed round.

• The person running the dart range will mark the 10 and 15 foot distances in advance.

The speed round will be counted as follows 5-4-3-2-1-throw, 5-4-3-2-1hold. A tape recorder may be used, but the time recorded must be an actual 10 seconds.

Target • Target will be placed 5 feet from the ground to center of the target.

• Four darts will be thrown from 10 feet away from the target.

Four darts will be thrown from 15 feet away from the target.

Target Construction • A 40 cm square (about 16 inches), 5 color face, 10 ring target will be used backed by a 2 in thick

piece of Styrofoam. Target colors are yellow, red, blue, black, and white.

• Center ring will score 10 points.

Each ring going out will decrease in value one point

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An Tir Dart Rules

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Alquerque Alquerque is a board game that is thought to have originated in the Middle East. It is considered to have been the parent of checkers.

The game does not appear in literature until late in the 10th century when the author Abu al-Faraj al -Isfahani mentioned Qirkat in his 24 volume work Kitab al-Aghani ("Book of Songs"). This work, however, made no mention of the rules of the game.

Spanish settlers in New Mexico introduced a four-player variant of Alquerque to the Zuni Indians.

Before starting, each player places their twelve pieces in the two rows closest to them and in the two rightmost spaces in the center row. The game is played in turns, with one player taking white and the other black.

•

•

A piece can move from its point to any adjacent point as long as that point is empty A piece can jump over an opposing piece and remove it from the

•

•

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game, if that opposing piece is adjacent and the point beyond it is empty Multiple capturing jumps are permitted, and indeed compulsory if possible If a capture is possible it must be made, or else the piece is removed The goal of the game is to eliminate the opponent's pieces.

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Alquerque

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Notes

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