Description

Socker is a two player breakthrough abstract board game that simulates a soccer or rugby-like game where socking opposing pieces is a means to the end zone.

Socker is played on a 9x11 field, 9 columns and 11 rows. Each player has five man tokens (for example meeples), called sockers, and there is a ball token.

To set up the game, the ball is placed in the center space of the board. Players toss a coin to see who plays first. Starting with the toss winner, each player places all his or her sockers upright on any empty spaces that are in their nearest half of the field, but not adjacent (vertically, horizontally or diagonally) to the ball and not in the center row.

Players continue alternating turns and do the following.

On a turn, a player must perform one to three actions listed below using any of his or her upright (referred to as active) sockers.

Kick. If an active socker is adjacent to the ball, the ball may be kicked directly away one space provided the destination space is empty.

Sock. If an active socker is adjacent to an opponent’s socker, then the opponent’s socker may be pushed directly away one space provided the destination space is empty. The pushed socker is then put on its side to indicate that it is inactive and will not be able to perform any actions for one turn.

Any action or active socker may be used multiple times. Player may use any combination of actions and active sockers, and in any order they like.

When a player completes his or her actions all that player’s inactive sockers are put upright and become active again. This ends the player’s turn.

The goal of the game is to kick the ball over your goal line, into your farthest 1x9 row. Players can choose either of the following winning conditions: first to score a set number of goals (usually one), or most goals after a set number of turns followed by sudden death if necessary. After a goal, players should use the setup procedures with the non-scoring player going first. For sudden death, only two sockers per player are used, and a coin toss is used to determine who plays first.

Special Rules

Out of Bounds: The first and last columns of the playing field excluding the goal spaces are out of bounds. If the ball is pushed out of bounds, the ball is immediately moved to the center space of the same row. If the center space is occupied, the owner of the occupying socker can choose any empty space adjacent to the center space.

Repeat Positions: When a position is repeated, the player that plays next gets one extra action (total of four instead of three) to break the deadlock.

Static Positions: The maximum number of sockers on the edge is three. This prevents unmovable defensive positions behind the goal line or along the sides of the board. That is, positions where the offensive player can not push the ball or an opponent's socker.