Description

Splinter is an abstract strategy game for two players. The object of the game is to knock out your opponent’s king, rooks, bishops and pawns while protecting your own pieces from enemy attack.

Each player starts the game with 4 types of pieces – 1 king (star), 2 rooks (squares), 3 bishops (crosses) and 9 pawns (circles). Play begins with the pieces arranged in a checkerboard pattern at the center of the board.

Choose a player to go first, then continue playing, alternating turns with your opponent.

On your turn, you may slide any one of your pieces one square in any direction (horizontally, vertically or diagonally). Any pieces that lie in the way (regardless of number, color or type) get pushed along, including off the board. If a piece is pushed off the board, it is eliminated and is out of play for the remainder of the game.

To avoid an infinite loop, you may not move any piece to a square that it vacated on your opponent’s last turn.

A splinter occurs when one or more pieces become disconnected from the original group so that there are empty squares between those pieces and the original group.

Following a splinter, the largest group remains on the board and all other groups are removed. If the groups are of equal size, the player who caused the splinter decides which group is removed. If a piece is removed as a result of a splinter, it is eliminated and is out of play for the remainder of the game.

Each time a player runs out of any type of piece (king, rook, bishop or pawn), the other player scores a knockout. The first player to reach two knockouts wins the game.

Click here for official rules and diagrams: https://splinterboardgame.blogspot.com/2021/06/splinter-is-two-player-abstractstrategy.html

—description from the designer