• Tabuleiro
• Objetivo do Jogo
• Como Jogar
• Komi

Alternator é jogado sobre um tabuleiro comum de xadres 8 x 8 :

E portanto, com 68 casas: 32 brancas e 32 pretas.

Cada casa do tabuleiro plano pode ser descrita através de duas coordenadas (Letra, Número), por exempo, a primeira casa no canto esquerdo superior é (A,8) 

O objetivo do Alternator é obter uma pontuação maior que o seu oponente após ambos os jogadoes terem completado uma partida.

A pontuação de cada jogador é a soma dos tamanhos de todas as árvores que ele conquistou.

Há dois jogadores no jogo. O primeiro jogador usa as casas pretas e o segundo jogador as casas brancas.

Os jogadores se movimentam alternadamente, começando com  o jogador que controla as peças pretas.

Um movimento consiste de duas partes.

Primeiro, draw a dot no dentro de uma casa, que ainda não tenha uma dot. Segundo, draw uma linha reta desta dot ao centro de uma casa adjacente que ainda não tenha uma dot.

A linnha conecta duas casas adjacentes tendo cores opostas. A casa contendo o dot é chamada de "PIT". A linha é chamada de "STEM". A casa contendo a extremidade da linha sem dot é chamada de "RAIZ". A "PIT" e a "STEM" juntas formam uma "CHERRY".

Nota importante: o jogador controlando as casas pretas pode colocar a "CHERRY" with its "PIT" on either a casa preta ou uma casa branca. Como também o jogador controlando as casas brancas.

A player drew a dot on a white cell and then drew a line from that dot to the lower black cell. The cell containing the dot is called "PIT". The lower black cell containing the other end of the line is called "ROOT".		A player cannot draw a dashed "CHERRY" because it's forbidden to draw a "ROOT" on the cell which already has a "PIT".

When you move, it is permitted to draw a new "PIT" on the "ROOT" of some "CHERRY" already on the board:

As the game proceeds, "CHERRIES" become connected to other "CHERRIES", by their "STEMS". A connected group of cherries is called a "TREE". For every "TREE", there is exactly one cell, which is not a "PIT", but which forms the "ROOT" of at least one "CHERRY" in that "TREE". This cell is called the "TREE’S ROOT". Note that a single "CHERRY" is just a special case of a "TREE".

The player who owns the cell, which forms the "ROOT" of a "TREE", owns that entire "TREE". However, the addition of a new "CHERRY" may result in the other player owning that "TREE". The owner of each "TREE" is certain only after the game has ended.

The "SIZE" of a "TREE" is the number of cells, which it occupies, including its "ROOT". A "TREE's SIZE" is always one more than the number of "PITS" in that "TREE" (a single "CHERRY" is a "TREE" of size 2). A tree contributes a number of points equal to its "SIZE" to the player who owns that "TREE". Note: An empty cell, which is not the "ROOT" or "PIT" of any "CHERRY", contributes one point to the owner of that cell. It is a "TREE" of size 1.

It is possible to merge two separate "TREES" whose "ROOTS" occupy adjacent squares. This is accomplished by placing the "PIT" of a new "CHERRY" over the "ROOT" of one of these "TREES" and the "ROOT" of that "CHERRY" in the cell containing the "ROOT" of the other "TREE":

If two "TREES" can merge, but one has larger size than the other, then the larger "TREE" must be attached to the smaller "TREE".

In other words the "CHERRY" which merges "TREES"  must have its "PIT" on the "ROOT" of the larger "TREE" and its "ROOT" on the "ROOT" of the smaller "TREE".

The "ROOT" of the resulting "TREE" will be on the cell, which contained the "ROOT" of the smaller of the two original "TREES".

When two "TREES" of equal size merge, it does not matter which "ROOT" becomes the "ROOT" of the resulting "TREE".

A player can merge black and white "TREES" by drawing a "CHERRY" with its "PIT" on the "ROOT" of the larger "TREE" (the black one) and its "ROOT" on the "ROOT" of the smaller "TREE" (the white one).	A player cannot attach the white "TREE" to the black "TREE" because the black tree is larger and it's forbidden to attach smaller "TREE" to the larger one.	A player cannot draw the specified "CHERRY" because it attaches a smaller "TREE" (blank cell is a "TREE" of size 1) to the larger "TREE" (the size of the black tree is 4).

A player may always pass on his turn. The game ends when both players pass on consecutive turns. A player’s score is the sum of the sizes of all the trees which he owns. The player with the higher score wins.

Para compensar uma vantagem do primeiro movimento, o jogador que owns white trees pode obter alguns pontos adicionais, chamados komi.

O valor do komi é acordado entre os dois jogadoes antes de começar o jogo. O autor sugere usar 3.5 como um valor para Komi. Valores não inteiros são usados de modo a evitar draws.