Kōnane

How to play Kōnane

Kōnane is the jumping game of Hawaiʻi, once played on boards cut into slabs of lava, with stones of black lava and white coral. It is named in the Kumulipo chant, and Captain Cook saw it played on his last voyage.

The rules

• The board. Eight rows of eight squares, every square filled with a stone. Black and white alternate along every row and column like a chequerboard, with black in the corners.
• The opening. Two stones next to each other in the middle of the board, one black and one white, are lifted off, so the game starts with two empty squares side by side. Black moves first.
• Every move is a jump. A stone jumps over an enemy stone right next to it, straight along a row or a column, onto the empty square just beyond. The stone jumped over is taken. There are no diagonal jumps and no plain steps.
• Jumping on. The same stone may jump again and again in the same straight line, as long as there is an enemy stone with an empty square behind it each time. It may never turn. You may stop after any jump: press «Stop here». Only one stone moves in a turn.
• The end. If it is your turn and you have no jump, you have lost. There are no draws.

In this version

• The opening is made for you: the two middle stones are already gone when the game begins, and Black makes the first jump. On a real board, Black would choose a stone to lift — one from the middle or one from a corner — and White would lift one of its own beside the gap.
• The machine looks several moves ahead and plays for room: the jumps open to it against the jumps open to its opponent.

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