Help For the Game Of Tzaar

Introduction

Welcome to the network Tzaar server. The rules of Tzaar are given below. The Tzaar challenge command is described here. Other commands are the same for all pbmserv games.

tzaar challenge [-random] [-manual] userid1 userid2: Start a new game between userid1 and userid2

Move Notation

normal moves:        a1xa2,b4-c4
                     f5xf4,f4xf3
                     h6-g7

placement phase:     Zb3

Rules

Tzaar is not yet officially released. These rules are based on reports and reviews from those who played the limited edition version from the Essen 2007 game fair.

The board is a hexagon with the center removed. The letters mark columns and the numbers indicate rows going from upper left to lower right. Intersections are denoted by a letter and number (e.g., "a1") and ranges are denoted using a hyphen (e.g., "b1-f4").

Each player starts with 6 tZaars, 9 tzarrAs, and 15 Totts. The default opening position is shown below. The board can be given a random setup with the "-random" option. The pieces can be placed manually by the players with the "-manual" option.

     A5  B6  C7  D8  E8  F8  G7  H6  I5
                  
                     t1 
                 T1      t1 
             T1      a1      t1 
         T1      A1      a1      t1              UPPER Stacks
     T1      A1      z1      a1      T1      tZaars tzarrAs Totts
         A1      Z1      z1      A1          ------ ------- -----
     t1      Z1      t1      Z1      T1         6      9      15
         a1      T1      T1      A1     
     t1      z1              Z1      T1 
         a1      t1      t1      A1 
     t1      z1      T1      z1      T1          lower Stacks
         a1      Z1      z1      a1          tZaars tzarrAs Totts
     t1      A1      Z1      a1      t1      ------ ------- -----
         T1      A1      a1      t1             6      9      15
             T1      A1      t1          
                 T1      t1          
                     T1              
                            
     A1  B1  C1  D1  E1  F1  G1  H1  I1

Each move (except the first) consists of 2 parts. The first player may only do a single capture on his first move. The first part must be a capture of an opponent stack. The second part may be another capture, or you may move a stack onto one of your own stacks to create a higher stack, or you may pass.

All pieces may move in straight lines in any of the six directions. You may not jump over pieces of either side. You may capture stacks which are the same height or lower than your own. When combining your own stacks, the moving stack is placed on top, and the top piece determines the type of stack.

Winning the Game

A player can lose the game in two ways. If he cannot capture a piece on the first move of his turn, he loses. If all of one type of his pieces gets captured he loses.

To win you must keep at least of each type of piece (tZaar, tzarrA, and Tott) on the board, and still have a legal move available.

References and History

Tzaar is a game in Kris Burm's Project Gipf. Chronologically it is seventh game designed, but it takes the place of Tamsk as the second game in the cycle.