Peralikatuma
Peralikatuma Opening Position
Alternate Names
Perali Kotuma, War Enclosure
No. of Players
Two
Equipment
A Peralikatuma board and twenty-three each of black and white counters; or twenty-four each of black and white counters for the very similar game of Kotu Ellima (see below); are required for play.
History
This game and its close relative, Kotu Ellima, both originate from Sri Lanka.
Objective
The goal is to capture all of the opponent’s counters, the first player to achieve this being the winner. A player may also win by blocking any legal move by his opponent. If it is agreed that a draw seems imminent, the player with more counters may declare victory.
Play
Counters are placed at all the intersections except for three middle ones, as above. Alternate turns between players entail a move to any neighboring vacant intersection in any direction along a line or a jump over an opponent’s counter(s) in a straight line to a vacant intersection immediately beyond. Counters are captured by being jumped over and are then removed from the board. Double or multiple captures in one move are permitted and direction may be changed after each enemy counter has been jumped. On any turn that it is possible to take an opponent’s counter it is compulsory to do so. If a player does not make the compulsory capture on their turn by failing to notice it, their opponent may then remove that counter as a bonus before their next move.
Variations
Kotu Ellima is the same as Peralikatuma, only with one extra counter for each player. The extra counter is placed in the middle row between the player’s side triangle and the middle point, so that only the middle position is vacant at the start of the game.
Sources
Provenzo, Asterie Baker and Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. Play It Again, Historic Board Games You Can Make and Play. Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1981. ISBN 0-13-683367-5
Pentagames. Compiled by Pentagram. 1990. Fireside, Simon & Schuster Inc. ISBN 0-671-72529-7.