Pentalpha

Pentalpha begins with the board empty of counters.

Alternate Names

A game mentioned in ancient literature as Pente Grammai may be the same as this game. The name Christmas Star was also used for this game in Victorian literature as it was to be played at Christmas time. The names Lam Turki (Bengal) or Solitarioa a stella have been used to describe similar games that are usually played in reverse.

No. of Players

One

Equipment

The board is a simple star pentagon design (variously known as a pentagram, pentalpha, pentangle or five-pointed star). This and nine counters are required for play.

History

There were several game boards incised into the stone roofing slabs of the Temple of Kurna at the ancient city of Thebes on the Nile River in Egypt. This temple is believed to be constructed around 1350 BCE, during the reigns of Rameses I and Seti I. Of these boards, there is one that in other contexts would be called a pentagram. What game was played on this figure is unknown, if any. It is known, however, that the ancient Greeks borrowed many board games from the Egyptians and it seems likely that the Cretan game of Pentalpha also originates in Egypt. The Greek poet Sophocles (497 or 495-406 BCE) mentions a game called Pente Grammai, which was likely the same or similar to these games described here.

Objective

The goal is to place all of the counters on the board by legal moves.

Play

The traditional rules are as follows: the player places a single counter at any unoccupied intersection point on the board and then calls “one”. The counter is then moved through a second point which can be occupied or unoccupied and the player then calls “two”. Then the player moves the counter to a third necessarily empty point calling “three”. These three points must be in a straight line. The player repeats this one-two-three move for each of the counters and attempts to place all nine counters at intersections on the board.

Strategy

The solution to Pentalpha can be found for any starting point using the following formula:

  1. Choose an intersection X

  2. Travel two intersections in a straight line to intersection Y

  3. From intersection Y, place a counter at intersection X.

  4. Let intersection be the new intersection X.

Repeat steps 2-4 until the puzzle is solved.

Variations

Heptalpha is a related, but more complex, game. It should be noted that a variety of games could be played using the star pentagon figure and it may be one of these for which the board at Kurna was used.

Mu Torere or Horseshoe is a similar game with a different objective of blockading one's opponent. Theoretically, it could be played using the star pentagon figure as a board.

A simple game of the Mill family could be devised using the star pentagon board. Here, two players alternate placing counters on any of the ten intersections of the pentagram. When all counters have been placed, each in turn moves one to an adjacent vacant point attempting to be the first one to place three or four in a row or block their opponent from making another move.

The hunting game of Vultures & Crows is played on a pentagram.

A solitaire game of removal with an objective of only leaving one counter on the board is known as Lam Turki in the Bengal region. It is effectively Pentalpha played in reverse.

Sources

  1. Pentagames. Compiled by Pentagram. 1990. Fireside, Simon & Schuster Inc. ISBN 0-671-72529-7.