Three Stones®

The game commences with the board vacant of counters and all stones are placed in the pouch. One player chooses to be White and the other Black. With alternate turns, each player blindly removes one stone from the pouch and places it at a vacant intersection on the board. Once a stone has been placed, it remains at that position for the remainder of the game. Players are placing not only stones of their own color, but also stones of the opponent's color and neutral stones. The first stone may be placed at any position on the board, but after that, every stone must be placed in the same row or same column as the opponent's last play. The row or column may be interrupted by the central pocket (see diagram). This continues until all stones are placed on the board.

Scoring

Each player receives one point for every orthogonal or diagonal row formed with their color of stone. A stone may be part of more than one scoring row. Note that a line of four stones of the same color thus counts for 2 points as 2 different rows of three can be outlined within it. Further, a row of five counters of the same color counts for three points. For scoring purposes, it does not matter which player placed the stone. A clear stone counts for both players, although a line of three clear stones does not count as a point for either player. the player with the higher score wins and it is possible for the game to end in a draw when both players have the same number of points.

Strategy

Variations

A game may be played without utilizing the pouch. Each player takes half of the white stones, half of the black stones, and half of the clear stones at the start of the game, playing one stone of their choosing at their turn.

Sources

1. 3 Stones Instructions. 2000. Enginuity LLC.