Description

The Star Game is a 3-dimensional occult board game for two players. In addition to being a game, it is also used as occult sorcery with each occult initiate expected to make their own boards and pieces.

There are two versions of the game, the simple and the advanced. The simple game has seven boards placed one above the other in a spiral, with the boards named after particular stars. Each board has nine black and nine white squares, making 126 squares in total over the seven boards. Each player (white and black) starts the game with three sets of nine pieces (27 pieces per player) with each piece allowed to move across a board, and up or down from board to board, in a different way. Only some types of pieces can capture other opposing pieces, and a captured piece is removed from the boards and plays no further part in the game.

The seven boards are named Naos, Deneb, Rigel, Mira, Antares, Arcturus, and Sirius. At the start of the game, each player has six particular pieces on Sirius, three pieces on Arcturus, six pieces on Antares, three on Rigel, six on Deneb, three on Naos, and none on Mira. As in other board games, the players take turns to make their moves.

The basic rule of play is that after a piece has been moved - whether across a board or from one board to a higher or lower board - it is transformed into another piece according to a set sequence and then can be moved according to its new designation. Another rule is that pieces can only stay on the Mira board for three moves.

The basic aim of the simple form of the game is for one player to place three of their pieces on certain squares on Mira, with the type of these pieces and their placing on that board decided by both players beforehand. The first player to do this wins the game. This takes some skill and some time since not only can an opposing player capture pieces on Mira but also pieces are only allowed to stay on Mira for three moves, after which the player must move the piece. Depending on the skill of the player, to win a simple game takes from a few hours to a day or more.

In the advanced Game, each board has six (minor) boards (three at each end), with there being additional pieces (more sets of nine for each player making 81 pieces per player). There are also additional rules regarding movement. In this version of The Star Game, each board is divided into three other levels so that there are four levels to each board, making a total of 308 squares over the seven main boards. Depending on the skill of the player, to win an advanced game can take several days.

In both the simple and the advanced games, the pieces are usually small tetrahedrons (or small squares) marked with the particular abstract symbol (or the particular occult symbol) which is used to designate that type of piece.

Complete game rules are outlined in "NAOS: A Practical Guide to Modern Magick". A free software version is also available.