Megiddo

The game commences with the board vacant of counters.

Alternate Names

Megiddo®. The game takes its name from a mountain in the Middle East reputed to have been the legendary site of many battles and is the root of the word “Armageddon”.

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

A Megiddo board and about fifteen each of black and white counters, here called stones, are required for play.

History

Megiddo was copyrighted by Global Games, Inc. in 1985.

Objective

A player may win by assembling one of three formations comprised of six of their own stones. In this method, the six stones are formed along a radial, circular, or spiral path; and any of these formations are called a megiddo. Spiral megiddos may be clockwise or counter-clockwise.

Radial Megiddo

Circular Megiddo

Spiral Megiddo

An alternate method of winning is by capturing six or more of your opponent’s stones. This is called an arbatta. The first player to achieve either megiddo or arbatta wins the game. Occasionally, a draw may occur if the board becomes full of stones and neither player has achieved megiddo or arbatta. Such a situation is called patara.

Play

Play begins with the board empty of stones. Alternate turns entail the placement of a single counter of one’s own color at any vacant intersection on the board. On a player’s turn, they may capture two opposing stones which are adjacent to each other by custodianship. Single opposing stones may not be captured. The two captured stones are then replaced by friendly stones in the same positions. The two opposing stones are adjacent to each other along a radial, circle, or spiral. Further, captures may be multiple and enchained and a player may capture several stones in one turn. Captured enemy stones must be removed once bracketed. A player may safely place a stone into a surrounded position, however, without fear of them being captured by their opponent. In other words, a player must make his or her own captures.

Here, a normal capture: it is black’s turn and he places a stone at the indicated position, thereby capturing the two white stones and replacing them with two of his own.

Here, an enchained capture: it is black’s turn and he places a stone at the indicated position, thereby capturing and replacing the two white stones along the radial. After this, the two white stones along the spiral are also surrounded and they are also captured and replaced.

Here, a multiple capture: it is black’s turn and he places a stone at the indicated position, thereby capturing and replacing all four of the white stones that have been surrounded on the circle. After replacing the four white stones with four of his own, black has achieved a circular megiddo and won the game.

Variations

The original rules published with this game mention three different variations: Master Megiddo, Cleopatra, and Megiddo for three players.

In Master Megiddo, an extra capturing method is utilized which allows for capture of enemy stones in which one of them is placed on the inner or outer circle by utilizing the opposite edge of its radial as a surrounding point, as shown below:

On black’s turn, she places a counter at the position indicated surrounding the two white stones.

After her move, black has captured and replaced the two white stones.

Edge captures may also work to capture two opposing counters at opposite ends of a radial. Here, black places a stone at the position indicated and surrounds the two white stones.

After her move, black has captured and replaced the two white stones.

An easy way to visualize edge captures is to think of the radial lines as wrapping around to join the inner and outer points of the line into an imaginary circle.

The Cleopatra Variation allows for a form of intervention capture in addition to the regular methods of capture. In the basic rules it is safe for a player to place a stone adjacent to a friendly stone so that the pair are now in a surrounded position as such a pair of stones cannot be captured. Using the Cleopatra variation, however, such a move actually captures the opposing player’s two surrounding stones. These are called reverse captures and reverse captures may be along a radial, circular, or spiral line. Further, a reverse capture and a normal capture may occur in a single move and multiple and enchained captures may also ensue. As captures are much easier in this variation, a player must capture twelve opposing stones to win by Arbatta.

Megiddo for three players is much the same as normal Megiddo. Each player has stones of a distinctive color. Here, however, any pair of opposing stones may be captured by custodianship and the two opposing stones need not be of the same color. A player wins by Arbatta if they capture six enemy stones of any combination of colors.

Sources