Carrera de Caballos

Opening Position

Alternate Names

Carrera de Caballos is Spanish and translates as “horse race”.

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

A Carrera de Caballos board and eight each of black and white counters are required for play.

History

This game was invented by Héctor Canteros.

Objective

The winner of the game is the first to have their counters occupy the points originally occupied by their opponent.

Play

Counters are played at the intersections. There are no captures. Alternate turns entail a move of one counter like the Knights in Orthochess to an unoccupied intersection. Specifically, counters move two intersections in any straight line except the diagonal, and then one intersection at a right angle to the first half of the move; or one intersection in any straight line, and then two at a right angle to the first half of the move. During this L-shaped move, the counter is allowed to jump over intervening counters of either color but does not capture them.

Strategy

Although somewhat simple in principle, the winner of this game is often the one who can better plan ahead at “parking” their counters at the opposite end in a minimal number of moves.

Sources