MAUSOLEUM

MAUSOLEUM RULES

Goal

Reduce your opponent to fewer than four stones. The first player to do so wins. Stones are removed two ways: by encircling them, or by pushing them into a pit.

Preparation

Each player selects nine stones of their chosen color.

Players place all nine stones on the two shortest rows on their respective sides of the board.

The starting player is determined randomly.

Gameplay

On their turn, a player moves one stone — either by gliding or by pushing.

Glide

A stone moves in a straight line, continuing in that direction until it reaches either:

• the edge of the board, or

• an occupied space or a pit (in which case it stops on the space immediately before it).

No two stones may occupy the same space.

Push

Instead of gliding, a stone may shove the adjacent stone one space further along the straight line between them. The pushing stone then advances into the space the pushed stone vacated.

The space beyond the pushed stone must be either:

• free — the pushed stone slides into it, or

• a pit — the pushed stone falls in and is removed from the game.

A stone cannot be pushed if the space beyond it is occupied by another stone or lies off the board.

A stone that was just pushed cannot be immediately shoved straight back on the following turn.

Circle

A stone is fully encircled when it has no adjacent empty spaces.

A fully encircled stone is removed from the board if it is surrounded by a greater number of opponent stones than friendly stones.

If two encirclements are formed in a single turn, both are resolved simultaneously, after their effects have been calculated.

Fewer stones are required to complete an encirclement along the edge of the board.

Collapse

Whenever a stone is removed — whether encircled or pushed in — its field collapses into a permanent pit.

A pit can never be entered or crossed, and it counts as a wall: stones can be encircled against it, and enemies can be pushed into it. Fewer stones are therefore needed to encircle a stone trapped against a pit.

Trap

A stone with only one free adjacent space — or none — is trapped: it can neither glide nor push.

A trapped stone can only be freed if a neighboring space opens up again.

End

The game ends immediately when one player is reduced to fewer than four stones. Their opponent is declared the winner.

A player who has no legal move on their turn is entombed and loses.

If both players have fewer than four stones at the end of the same turn, the game ends in a draw.

Game Design: Simon Allmer