• Board
• Objective
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Surakarta is played on a special board with the grid of 6x6 holes. Some of the edge holes are connected with special circular "circuits" used for capturing opponent's stones (see below).

There are two players using stones of two different colors.

The initial position of the stones is shown in the following picture:

The objective of Surakarta is to capture all opponent's stones.

Players move alternately, starting from the player controlling the red stones (according to the original rules the first player is chosen randomly.)

Each turn a player may either move one of his stones or capture an opponent's stone.

A stone can move to an orthogonally or diagonally adjacent empty hole.

A capturing move is special to Surakarta, which seems to be unique. In order to capture an opponent's stone, the player's stone may move any number of empty holes (including zero) along an horizontal or a vertical line, then it must "travel" along a circular "circuit" and then it may move any number of empty holes (including zero) until it reaches the hole with the opponent's stone and takes its place. The captured opponent's stone is permanently removed from the board. The capturing stone may "travel" along several circular "circuits" until it meets the opponent's piece. Only empty holes may be traveled over, i.e. jumping over stones is not permitted. Capturing moves are not mandatory.

The red stone on C4 can capture
the black stone on D6 by moving
to the right over three empty holes
and then "travelling" along the top
right circular "circuit".

• Surakarta rules and history on Wikipedia.