Dao®

Dao Opening Position

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

A 4x4 square grid and four each of black and white counters are required for play (shown here in black and red).

History

The game was invented by Jeff Pickering and Ben van Buskirk about 1999.

Objective

A player wins in one of three ways:

1. Forming a horizontal or vertical row with all four of your counters.

2. Occupying all four corners with your counters

3. Occupying all four cells of any 2x2 square

A player loses the game if they entrap an enemy counter positioned at any corner with three of their own counters. All five of the games shown below are completed with black as winner.

Shown are five different game endings with black winning in all of them.

Play

The game commences with the counters positioned as above. Alternate turns entail the movement of one friendly counter orthogonally or diagonally in any direction. The counter must move as far as it is able along its vector until the perimeter of the board or another counter is encountered. There is no jumping or capturing.

Sources