Help for Congo

(Copyright (c) Demian Freeling)

Introduction

Welcome to the network Congo server. The Rules of Congo are below. The commands are the same for all pbmserv games.

Congo Rules

THE OBJECT OF CONGO is to capture the opponent's Lion. The Lion may move into check, it is simply captured and the game is over. Stalemate does not occur. The player whose Lion is captured loses and the other player wins.

IF ALL NON-LION PIECES HAVE BEEN CAPTURED and the board contains only the two Lions, the game is a draw unless the Lions can capture each other, in which case the player to move should make the winning move.

THE INITIAL POSITION OF THE CONGO BOARD is as follows, where the lowercase letters signify white pieces and the UPPERCASE letters signify BLACK pieces. There is a horizontal river in the middle of the board.

      A B C D E F G

   7  G M E L E C Z  7
   6  P P P P P P P  6
   5      . . .      5
   4  - - - - - - -  4
   3      . . .      3
   2  p p p p p p p  2
   1  g m e l e c z  1

      A B C D E F G

EACH PLAYER HAS a Lion, a Giraffe, two Elephants, a Crocodile, a Zebra, a Monkey and seven Pawns, which are represented with the letters LGECZMP respectively. Each Pawn can promote to a Superpawn, which will be represented with the letter S.

THE RIVER in rank 4 is important. Most of the pieces will drown in it, except:

• The Crocodile will not drown.
• The Lion cannot enter the river.

All other pieces are subject to the following rule:

• Any piece that enters the river must LEAVE IT NEXT TURN or DROWN.

The piece may not have moved at all, or it may have moved within the river. In the latter case, any captures it has made is legal!

The Monkey consitutes a special case:

• If the Monkey starts a multiple capture while in the river, and this move leads the Monkey out of the river and back in again, the Monkey does NOT drown.

Of course, the Monkey will then remain in the same predicament.

The Pieces

In the following descriptions:
c = can only capture at this square
l = can only capture the Lion (not other pieces) at this square
m = can only move to this square
x = can move to and can capture at this square

The Lion (L)

The Lion moves and captures like a chess King within its 3x3 domain. It can capture the enemy Lion with a chess Queen's move.

From D2:

    7        l
    6        l
    5        l
    4
    3      x x x
    2      x L x
    1      x x x

           C D E

From E3:

    7          l
    6          l
    5      l   l
    4
    3        x L
    2        x x

           C D E

The Lion may not jump. So, for a Lion at E3 to be able to capture the other Lion at E7, the squares E4, E5 and E6 must be empty.

The Giraffe (G)

The Giraffe moves one or two squares straight or diagonally, but it only captures when moving two squares.

The move or capture to the second square is a jump.

    x   x   x
      m m m
    x m G m x
      m m m
    x   x   x

The Elephants (E)

An Elephant moves or captures one or two squares straight (rookwise). The move or capture to the second square is a jump.

        x
        x
    x x E x x
        x
        x

The Crocodile (C)

The Crocodile moves differently depending on where it starts its move.

From the river, the Crocodile can move or capture like a chess Rook that moves within the river or a chess King.

From C4:

    5    x x x
    4  x x C x x x x
    3    x x x

       A B C D E F G

From outside the river, the Crocodile can move or capture like a chess Rook that moves toward the river (no farther) or a chess King.

From A3 and F1:

    4  x x       x
    3  C x       x
    2  x x     x x x
    1          x C x

       A B C D E F G

The Crocodile cannot jump and will not drown.

The Zebra (Z)

The Zebra moves or captures by jumping like a chess Knight.

      x   x
    x       x
        Z
    x       x
      x   x

The Monkey (M)

The Monkey moves like a chess king and captures by jumping over the captured piece. It can capture several pieces at once and it may change its direction between captures.

The Monkey may not capture a piece twice.

Capturing the Lion terminates the move as well as the game. The Monkey may not continue capturing after capturing the Lion.

    c   c   c
      m m m
    c m M m c
      m m m
    c   c   c

Consider the following cases:

• B1xD3 captures a piece at C2, and D3 must be empty for this capture to happen.
• B1xD3xD1xB1xB3xB5xD7xD5xF3 moves the Monkey over many vacant squares (D3, D1, B1, B3, B5, D7 and D5) and finally puts the Monkey at the vacant square F3. The enemy pieces at C2, D2, C1, B2, B4, C6, D6 and E4 are captured. The Monkey may not jump over empty squares.
• The Monkey is never forced to capture. To capture or not to capture is up to the Monkey. For example, in the above case the Monkey might have moved just B1xD1xD3, only B1xB3, B1-A2 (not capturing), or another piece might have been moved. This is unlike checkers or dame, where capturing is mandatory.
• Although the Monkey may change directions during a multiple capture (eg. B1xD3xD1), this is also not mandatory, so B1xB3xB5 is allowed.
• Since the Monkey cannot capture a piece twice, B1xB3xB1xD1 is not a valid move, because the piece at B2 is captured twice.
• If the Monkey starts a multiple capture while in the river, and this move leads the Monkey out of the river and back in again, the Monkey does NOT drown (eg. B4xD4xD2xF4). However, if the monkey does a multiple capture within the river without leaving it (eg. A4xC4xE4), it WILL drown, even though the captures are legal. There can be at most two enemy pieces in the river at any time, when one of which is the Crocodile.

The Superpawns (S)

A Superpawn moves like a chess king, or it can take two steps backward like a chess queen. It captures only forward, diagonally forward or sideways, but it cannot capture or jump when it is moving backward.

      x x x
      x S x
      m m m
    m   m   m

The Pawns (P)

A Pawn moves differently depending on whether it starts its move before or after passing the river. If after passing the river it moves back to the river or behind the river, it is considered as NOT having passed the river. Thus, only white Pawns at ranks 5 and 6 and black Pawns at ranks 3 and 2 are considered as having passed the river.

A Pawn that has not passed the river moves and captures one square forward or diagonally forward only.

A Pawn that has passed the river moves and captures one square forward or diagonally forward only. Additionally, it can move straight back one or two squares without jumping or capturing.

White Pawns from B4 and E5:

    6        x x x
    5  x x x   P
    4    P     m
    3          m

       A B C D E F

A Pawn that moves to the final rank (rank 7 for white Pawns, rank 1 for black Pawns) is promoted to a Superpawn.

References: http://www.mindsports.nl/Arena/
This is a slightly modified version of that game.