Tournament Rules

The board is 9×8. Each player arranges 21 pieces anywhere in the three rows nearest them, which leaves six of those 27 squares empty. Ranks stay hidden from the opponent the whole game.

Setup time. Five minutes to arrange your pieces. You can load a saved formation and adjust it.

Who goes first. At the table it's a coin toss. Online, the first move is picked at random once both players are ready.

Moves. Players take turns moving one piece one square forward, backward, left or right. Diagonal moves are not allowed.

Touch-move. At the table you must move the first piece you touch. Online, a move counts once you put the piece down on its new square. Until then you can pick a different piece.

Time per move. Pick 30 seconds, 1 minute (the default) or 2 minutes. Every move gets a fresh clock. Going over counts as a strike and starts a new one; the third strike loses the game.

Game length. Table tournaments cap a game at about two hours and settle unfinished games by adjudication. Online games have no overall cap: the move clock and the draw rules below keep games moving.

To play a tournament game, make a room with your opponent and pick a “Tournament” time per move from the clock in the room's header before you press Ready.

Moving onto an enemy piece is a challenge. At the table an arbiter checks both pieces in secret. Here the server does the same job: it removes the lower-ranked piece without showing it to the opponent, and removes both if the ranks are equal.

The full rank order, and the Spy and Private exceptions, are on the rules page.

Exposure. At the table, showing your own piece costs a turn and exposing your opponent's loses the game. Online, nobody can see a hidden piece, so this can't happen.

• Capture the Flag. Take the enemy Flag with any piece, including your own Flag.
• Reach the far side. Move your Flag onto your opponent's back row. With no enemy piece beside it, it wins at once. If one is beside it, that piece can still challenge it on the next move; your Flag wins if it survives.
• Resignation or time. Your opponent resigns, takes a third clock strike, or leaves the game.

• 5-move perpetual. A chased piece moves back and forth between the same two squares five times.
• 16-move perpetual. A chased piece keeps running across more than two squares for 16 moves.
• No challenges. 30 moves each without a single challenge.
• Agreement. Either player can offer a draw, up to three times a game. Making a move declines the offer.

A piece counts as chased when the opponent's last move ended right beside it. Both players get a warning a few moves before a draw.