Kensington

The game commences with the board vacant of counters.

No. of Players

Two, Four or Six

Equipment

A Kensington board and fifteen each of red and blue counters are required for play.

History

Kensington was invented by Brian Taylor and Peter Forbes in 1979. The board pattern is based on an ancient Islamic tessellation pattern which the inventors found in a book they purchased in the wealthy district of London called Kensington.

Objective

The first player to take control of all six points of a white hexagon or a hexagon of his own color is the winner.

Play

At the start of play, alternate turns entail players placing their counters at any vacant intersection on the board. Only when all counters are placed may each player commence moving their counters along a line to any neighboring vacant intersection. No intersection may be occupied by more than one counter. If one player takes control of all three intersections of a triangle with counters of their own color, that player may re-position one of their opponent’s counters from the position that it is on to any other vacant intersection. If one player takes control of all four intersections of a square with counters of their own color, that player may re-position two of their opponent’s counters from the position that they are on to any other vacant intersection. If a player simultaneously takes control of a square and a triangle they may only re-position two of their opponent’s counters. If a player is unable to move any counter, his opponent continues moving until the first player is able to move again or until the game is won or drawn. Draws can be reached by agreement.

Variations

An optional rule states that it is not permissible for a player to rebuild a triangle or square until another two moves have passed (this rule seems a bit vague, and is probably best disregarded).

A game of Kensington may also be played by four or six players in which teams are formed and all of the counters of one color are split up accordingly. Turns alternate in sequence; i.e. Player One Red; Player One Blue; Player Two Red; Player Two Blue; Player Three Red; Player Three Blue; Player One Red; Player One Blue; and so forth.

Lotus is played on this board but is a territory game.

Sources

  1. Schmittberger, R. Wayne. New Rules for Classic Games. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, 1992. ISBN 0-471-53621-0

  2. Kensington at Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensington_(game)