Salta

Salta Opening Position

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

A Continental Checkerboard (10x10 square grid) and fifteen each of red and black counters, which will need to be numbered 1 through 15 for each player, are required for play. Purists will want to note that the original game had stars on pieces numbered one through five, moons on pieces six through ten, and suns on pieces eleven through fifteen; although this is irrelevant to the play of the game.

History

This game was invented in about 1900 by a musician named Konrad Büttgenbach (1870-1939) from Düsseldorf, Germany and takes its name from a Latin word meaning “jump”.

Objective

The game is won by the first player to move all their counters to the squares originally occupied by their opponent. For the winning player, each counter will be in a position at the end as if it had slid seven ranks forward. That is, reading from left to right, the goal position is one through five (eighth rank), six through ten (ninth rank), and eleven through fifteen (tenth rank).

Play

All counters move as in the king checkers, either one space diagonally forwards or backwards or by jumping in a straight line over a counter of the opposing color to a vacant square just beyond. A counter may not jump over a counter of its own color. Jumps may be forwards or backwards but do not capture the jumped counter. There are no multiple jumps in one turn. A player may force his opponent to make a jump move which is always compulsory when available, but that player may choose which jump move to make if more than one is available. Blockading all of the opposing counters is prohibited, although some may be temporarily blocked as long as the opponent still has a legal move. A player may not pass on his or her turn.

Variations

An optional rule is the 120-move rule. Utilizing this rule, play automatically ends after 120 moves. Each of the players then adds all of the moves it would require for them to achieve the objective. The winner is the player nearest to the objective when play ends. Tournament scoring may also be tallied in this way with the winning player being awarded the difference between the two totals.

Sources