Che
Che Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Tiles
Two players, White and Blue, share a common pool of 64 Che tiles (duotone Truchet tiles). Each tile has inverted colours on the front and back and may be oriented either left or right.
The two tiles on the left of the page's front-and-back figure are described as "White dominant" and the two on the right as "Blue dominant".
Play
White places a tile of their choice on the playing area. Players then take turns placing two tiles of their choice squarely adjacent to at least one existing tile such that all neighbouring edge colours match (the two tiles need not be themselves adjacent).
Aim
A player wins by completing a closed region of their colour, which may be any size or shape. If a move achieves this for both players then the mover loses.
The page's example figure shows a game won by Blue.
Tiebreaker
If the tiles run out before a region is closed then the owner of the largest region wins. A region's size is given by the number of dominant tiles that it contains.
The page's example figure shows White with the largest region (size 5). For example, White has the largest region (size 5) in the game shown in that figure. White would win this game if the tiles ran out at this point.
Tactics and Strategy
Double tile placements mean that the current player can generally create an immediate threat that the opponent must respond to every turn, making Che a very attacking game. The mover's two tiles are generally used as follows:
- Negate the opponent's last threat.
- Create an immediate threat of your own.
Any tile that achieves both of these functions is a strong play that will give the mover an advantage.
If a player is unable to make a threat on their turn they lose the initiative, and the opponent can then use both tiles to make multiple threats on subsequent turns. This is not immediately fatal but yields control of the game to the opponent, and it's unlikely that a player will recover from such a disadvantage.
Ears
Exposed ears allow their owner to create a double threat with two tiles, as shown in the page's fork figure. There will generally be at least one exposed ear on the board except under certain circumstances.
The page's figure: an exposed ear allows a double threat with two tiles.
Ear Pairs
Ear pairs (in the page's figure, left) constitute a more dangerous pattern that allows their owner to create a double threat with a single tile (move a, middle) or a triple threat with two tiles (moves a and b, right). It can be seen that position x' is an immediate threat as playing there would itself create a further double threat y.
The page's figure: an ear pair allows a double threat with one tile (middle) and a triple threat with two tiles (right).
Playing both tiles on an ear pair creates a triple threat that will win the game in most circumstances. Players should therefore strive to set up ear pairs wherever possible.
It is generally best to play tiles of the opponent's dominant colour as this maximises the number of friendly ears.
Notes
The following figure shows the sixteen possible tile pair combinations.
The figure is not reproduced here: it shows the sixteen possible tile pair combinations.
History
The name "Che" is derived from the letters TRUCHET.