Ugolki

Opening Position

Alternate Names

The name Ugolki is Russian for "Corners".

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

An 8x8 square grid and sixteen each of black and white counters are required for play.

History

Very little seems to be known concerning the history of this game, but most internet sites that mention it typically state that it was invented in Europe in the late 18th century.

Objective

Both player's objective is to move all of their counters from their original starting locations to all of the cells occupied by their opponent at the start of the game. If, during the course of the game, no legal moves are available for either player the game ends and both players count the number of their own counters within the square formation that is the cells occupied by their opponent at the start of the game. The player with the most friendly counters there wins the game.

Play

The game commences with the board set up as above. Alternate turns entail a player moving a single counter of their own color to an orthogonally adjacent cell (no diagonal movements are allowed in this game) or jumping over a counter, of either team, in an orthogonally adjacent cell to a necessarily vacant cell just beyond in a straight line. Consecutive enchained jumps in one turn are allowed and direction may be changed after each jump. There is no capturing or removal of counters in this game.

Variations

The size of the board and number of counters per played used in this game could vary to almost any initial setup.

Sources

  1. Ugolki at Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugolki

  2. Ugolki at Board Game Geek. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/136493/ugolki