For 2 to 4 players, ages 8 and up


Equipment
A chess/checkers board
24 pennies
24 nickles
12 dimes
4 quarters
1 pawn for each player


Preparation

1. The coins are randomly placed on the board, one coin per square. (For a suggestion of how to decide which coin goes on which square, click here.)

2. Each player selects a pawn.

3. The order in which the players will begin the game is determined randomly.

4. The player who will begin the game last selects a side of the board to start from.

5. To determine which side of the board the other player(s) will start from:
5a. For a two-player game: The first player starts on the side of the board opposite the side selected by the last player.
5b. For a three-player game: The second player starts on the side of the board opposite the side selected by the last player. The first player then selects one of the two remaining sides of the board.
5c. For a four-player game: The second player starts on the side of the board opposite the side selected by the last player. The third player then selects one of the two remaining sides of the board. And finally, the first player gets the remaining side.
 

Definitions

A square is empty if it has no coins or pawns on it.

A square is adjacent to another square if it shares a side with that square. (Squares that are connected diagonally don't count.)

The source square is the square that a player's pawn is standing on at the beginning of that player's turn. The pawns do not begin the game on the board, so on a player's first turn of the game, there is no source square.

On a player's turn, a path is any sequence of squares that has all of the following characteristics:
1. For a player's first turn, the path begins with a square on the first row of that player's side of the board (including the corners). For any other turn, the path begins with a square adjacent to the source square.
2. Each of the other squares on the path is adjacent to the square preceding it.
3. All of the squares on the path have the same type of coin on them. (An empty square cannot be on a path.)
4. No square on the path has a player's pawn on it (including the pawn of the player who is selecting the path).
5. No square can be on a path more than once.

The target square of a path is the last square on that path.

When a player passes, that player's turn ends immediately.


Play

On a player's turn, these steps must be followed in order:
1. The player selects a path and points it out to the other player(s).
1a. If there are any legal paths, the player may not pass.
1b. If there is no legal path, the player must pass. (That player's pawn remains on the board, and if, on a later turn, that player can form a path, he/she may not pass.)
2. The player takes and keeps one coin from the target square. It will contribute to that player's final score.
3. The player collects one coin from each square on the path other than the target square and piles all of them up on the target square (on top of any coins that are already on the target square).
4. The player moves his/her pawn to the top of the pile of coins on the target square. (The pawn should not be moved until after the coins are moved as specified by the preceding steps.)


Note

The locations of the coins are not secret. Players must answer honestly if another player asks what coins they have, and a player may count the coins on any square at any time.


Winning

The game is over when all players pass consecutively. At that time, the player who has the most money is the winner. (The coins are worth their standard monetary values.) Ties are broken in favor of the player who was the last to take a coin.


Example

An example game can be found here.


Variants

Diagonal Variant
The definition of adjacent is extended to include squares that share a corner (as well as squares that share a side).

Renegade Variant
A player may choose to become a renegade at any time. Once a player becomes a renegade, that player must be a renegade for the rest of the game. When a player is a renegade, the rules of the game are modified  in the following ways for that player. (Players who are not renegade still follow the standard rules.)
1. The definition of path for that player is extended to include a sequence in which all of the squares are empty. (Creating a path where each square has the same type of coin is still allowed.)
2. A renegade player may not take any coins or move any coins. (So, a renegade player may only move his/her pawn.)

Transplant Variant
When a player collects one coin from each square on the path other than the target square, instead of piling these coins up on the target square, the player places each coin on an empty square. It is okay to place a coin on an empty square that wasn't empty before the coins were collected. Once a coin is placed on an empty square, that square is no longer empty. So, no more than one coin may be placed on a single empty square. (Since the coins are moved before the pawn is moved, a coin can be put on the target square, but not the source square.)

Transplant Variant Variant
This is just like the transplant variant, except the pawn is moved before the coins on the path are moved. (So a coin can be moved to the source square, but not the target square.)

Mixed Change Variant
This variant allows different types of coins to be on the same square. The rules are modified in the following ways:
1. In addition to moving coins from squares on the path to the target square, a player also moves half of the coins on the source square, rounded down, to the target square.
2. The definition of path remains the same: All of the squares on the path have (at least one of) the same type of coin on them.
3. The coin taken from the target square must be a coin of the type that the player used to create the path.
4. The coin moved from a square on the path to the target square must be a coin of the type that the player used to create the path.

Standing Still Variant
If the source square has any coins on it, the player may, instead of forming a path, leave his/her pawn on the source square, taking and keeping one of the coins from that square.

Many Pennies Variant
Instead of 24 pennies, 24 nickles, 12 dimes, and 4 quarters, the coins used are 27 pennies, 22 nickles, 11 dimes, and 4 quarters.

Many Many Pennies Variant
The coins used are 30 pennies, 20 nickles, 10 dimes, and 4 quarters.

Greedy Variant
Instead of taking just one coin from the target square, the player takes and keeps all of the coins on the target square.

Semi-Greedy Variant
Instead of taking one coin from the target square, the player may choose to take any number of coins from the target square (including zero coins).

Cleanup Variant
Instead of moving one coin from each square on the path to the target square, all of the coins on the path are moved to the target square.

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