Overview |
Talpa is a two-player abstract board game invented by Arty Sandler in 2010. This game is a member of the connection game family, including such games as Hex, Crossway or Chain Lightning . |
Board |
Talpa is played on a 8x8 board. A smaller board (6x6) can also be used by beginners or for quick games and a larger board (10x10) can be used by more experienced players for deeper games. The left and right edges are colored blue while the top and bottom edges are colored red. Initially the board is filled with red and blue pieces arranged in the checkerboard pattern. |
Object of the Game |
The goal of Talpa is to open a path of horizontally or vertically (but not diagonally) connected empty spaces linking the opposite edges of the board marked by your color without opening a similar path between your opponent's edges. A player loses the game immediately if he makes a move that opens the path of empty spaces between the opponent's edges even if this move opens the path between his own edges the same time. A corner is considered to be part of both adjoining edges. No draws are possible in Talpa. |
Play |
The game begins with all the pieces on the board arranged in a checkerboard pattern. Players move alternately, starting with the player controlling the red pieces. A player moves by picking up one of his pieces and capturing an opponent's piece on an horizontally or vertically (but not diagonally) adjacent square. The captured piece is removed from the board and the capturing piece moves to its square leaving an empty space behind. The capture is mandatory if possible. When capturing becomes impossible, players remove one of their stones per turn. |
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