CATHEDRAL

CATHEDRAL RULES

Goal
The goal of Cathedral is to reduce every opposing congregation below 4 stones of their color. A congregation of fewer than four falls silent — its remaining stones stay on the board, but it has lost.

Preparation
A cross of five 5×5 fields forms the board. Each player begins with 15 stones set in the outer rows of their own arm.
In a two-player game, White and Black face each other across the crossing.
In a four-player game, Blue and Red fill the side arms.

Gameplay
White begins and makes a procession. Afterwards the next player continues.

1. Procession:
   A stone moves in a straight line along the engraved lines — straight lines everywhere, diagonals only through the larger strong nodes.
   A stone may move up to as many empty fields as the longest unbroken line of friendly stones standing directly beside it.
   A lone stone always moves at least one field.
   Long processions are fast, but they convert whole.

2. Conversion (never forced):
   Approach: end your move directly in front of an unbroken enemy line in your direction of travel — the whole line converts to your color.
   Withdraw (optional setting, off by default): move directly away from an enemy line touching your starting field — that line converts. Enable via Convert: Attack + Withdraw in the menu.
   Conversion stops where the line's color changes, at an empty field, or at your own stone.
   If a move is both an approach and a withdrawal, you choose one.

3. Chain:
   After converting, the same stone may keep converting.
   It may never re-enter a field it has already touched this turn.
   You may rest (stop) at any time.

4. Passage:
   Exterior walkways circle the crossing, joining the flank midpoints of neighboring arms.
   A passage is a doorway, not a line: crossing it is always a single step, and nothing converts through it.

End
The game ends when only one congregation remains above four stones.
In four players, converted stones fight on under their new color, and a player who falls below four is out with their remnant frozen where it stands.
The last faith standing is declared the winner.

Game Design: Simon Allmer