Dragon-draughts
Dragon-draughts is a boardgame on the Blessed Isle, far less complex than Gateway, though far older, dating from at least the Shogunate period. The simplicity of its pieces allow even citizens and poor patricians to amuse themselves with the game.
On an 8x8 board, 16 pieces are lined up on each side, in two rows, skipping the furthest back. One set of pieces are white, the other set black, though a few ancient copies have gold and bronze pieces while more modern variants provide five sets of pieces (white, black, red, blue, green) with players selecting according to aspect or inclination. The pieces are flat and circular, and this has meant they are frequently decorated with mon symbols.
Pieces can move forward or sideways one square, capturing by means of a jump. When a piece reaches the back row, he is promoted to a Daimyo at the end of the move. Daimyos may move any number of squares forwards or sideways, capturing by jumping over any piece and landing in any square within permissible path beyond said piece.
Pieces are removed immediately upon capture. If a capture is possible, it must be done. If several ways of capturing are possible, the one that captures the most pieces must be chosen. No difference between Daimyo and regular pieces is made in capture, they count as one piece each. If there is more than one way to capture the maximally possible number of pieces, then the player may choose which to take. Because enemy pieces are removed immediately upon capture, as pieces are captured and removed from the board, it is possible to cross the same square (previously occupied by a captured piece) more than once (empty the 2nd time and afterwards) in the same capturing sequence.
After each captured piece is removed from the board before the captor continues jumping; its removal may open up additional captures previously impossible. Within a multicapture turning 180 degrees between two captures is illegal.
The game ends when a player has no legal moves left, either because all his pieces are captured or he is completely blocked. Then, his opponent has won the game.
