Maze

Maze Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

1 Game Board
2 sets of pieces (black and white), 18 pieces each: 9 piece types, 2 of each type per colour
Rules

Terminology

The rules assume the board is viewed from the side, with White's home half on the left and Black's on the right. "Forward" for a piece means horizontally, in the direction from its own side towards the partner's side. "Sideways" means vertically, up or down. Verticals are numbered from left to right, so White's home fields are on the 1st vertical and Black's on the 10th.

Translator's note: the board diagram referred to in the source is an image in the PDF and is not reproduced here.

Goal of the Game

Over the course of the game, both players must bring their Travelers to the opposite end of the board, moving the pieces so that the Travelers can pass. Along the way the players must help each other and use their wits to reach shared goals. The players in this game act as partners.

Pieces

There are 9 piece types, two of each colour.

General movement rules (unless a piece's description says otherwise): a piece may move only onto empty fields, vertically, horizontally, and diagonally. During a move it may change direction. A move must end on an empty field.

There are no captures, cutting down, or pushing pieces off the board in this game. All pieces stay on the board until the end of the game, creating a constantly changing maze through which the players must find their way.

Traveler (Mate)

Symbol: П (M)
Moves like a bishop in chess: diagonally, without changing direction, any number of fields.

Shadow (Shadow)

Symbol: Т (Sh)
May move to any field, under the normal rules, that is adjacent to a Traveler of its own colour, vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. It follows the Traveler like a shadow.

Lightning (Lighting)

Symbol: М (L)
Moves one field along any diagonal. Symbolises Energy.

Translator's note: the English name is printed as "Lighting" in the source; "Lightning" is the intended name, matching the Russian "Молния".

Rabbit (Rabbit)

Symbol: К (R)
Jumps over any pieces, similar to a capture in draughts, but may jump diagonally, horizontally, and vertically. It never captures the piece it jumps over. It cannot move without jumping.

Translator's note: the rules do not say whether multiple jumps in one move are allowed. The translator's reading is that they are not.

Tree (Tree)

Symbol: Д (T)
May move only once in the whole game, onto any field of its own colour.

Translator's note: the translator reads this as black Trees going onto black fields and white Trees onto white fields.

After that move the piece is laid on its side and is not used again, as if a seed had been planted, sprouted, and taken root.

Stone (Stone)

Symbol: В (S)
Moves one field forward or backward, then one field sideways.

Time Pawns (Time Pawns)

Symbols: 1, 2, 3 (translator's suggestion: C1, C2, C3 may be clearer in notation, so they are not confused with field numbers; see below)
Three pieces distinguished by the number of notches on them. Each moves either forward or sideways, in a straight line without changing direction, exactly the number of fields shown by its notches: 1, 2, or 3. Like time, they move faster or slower, but never move backwards.

Setup

White places its Travelers on fields 1 and 2, and Black places its Travelers on fields 47 and 48.

Translator's note: the translator could not find a field-numbering scheme for the printed board, and newer editions have no numbers. The numbering is the translator's own, judging by the layout: fields are numbered from top to bottom, left to right. Fields 1 and 10 are the two outer verticals on opposite sides of the board. At the end of the game the Travelers must swap places.

The player playing White shuffles the remaining white pieces, and without looking places them in random order on the verticals directly in front of their Travelers. Black does the same. So White fills verticals 1 to 4 and Black fills verticals 7 to 9.

To adapt the game for different ages or experience levels, the number of pieces placed on the board at the start can be changed. For younger players 10 pieces may be enough, filling the two vertical rows in front of the Travelers (verticals 2, 3, and 8, 9). In the standard game 16 pieces are used, filling three verticals each.

Territories

The two halves of the board are divided by a border. Each player is responsible for their own half, and only their own half. White may move only pieces located on White's side, regardless of the colour of the piece; Black may move only pieces located on Black's side. Of course, the players may ask each other for advice and ask for help.

Once a piece crosses the border between the territories, interaction and communication become very important. This is the unique feature of the game: each player becomes responsible for the other player's Travelers as soon as they are on that player's side. It is impossible to win without helping each other.

Translator's note: "this is chess with role reversal" (the translator's own remark).

Deserts

The board has 12 fields marked with dots (on the 4th and 7th verticals). These are deserts, and they bring death. Any piece that ends its move on a desert field is laid on its side and remains "dead" until the end of the game.

Translator's note: the translator suggests that the publisher, not fearing public outrage, could call these fields "sleepy fields" where everyone falls asleep.

In a normal game, where all pieces are used, some of them already stand on deserts at the start. This does not stop them from moving, because the desert rule applies only to pieces that end their move on those fields. Pieces may start moving from a desert field if they were standing there at the start of the game, and may pass through deserts without "dying", provided their move does not end on a desert field.

Home Fields

The fields on which the Travelers stand at the start of the game may be freely visited by other pieces. They may start and end a move on them, and pass through them. This does not apply to Travelers: once a Traveler has ended a move on any home field, it stays there until the end of the game (because a Traveler may leave home only once).

Turn Order

Players take turns, moving one piece per turn in accordance with the movement rules for that piece. White moves first. Passing is not allowed. If a player cannot move any piece on their turn, the game is lost.

Winning the Game

To win the game, the White Travelers must swap places with the Black Travelers.

Losing the Game

The players lose if they cannot swap the Travelers' places, or if one of the players is unable to make a move on their turn.

Additional Features

Because the pieces are placed at random, each game is different from the others. You will find in it many problems and opportunities to study ways of finishing the game, overcoming typical traps, and so on.

If you are not recording the game, a coin or some other marker can be used to indicate whose turn it is.

Some players record games for later analysis. For this purpose the fields are numbered, and the game box includes score sheets with spaces for the players' names. The starting arrangement is written using the first letters of the piece names. Moves are written as numbers. For example, if a piece on field 3 is moved to field 9, we write "3—9". If a Tree has moved and stays put until the end of the game, or a piece has ended its move in a desert, the move is followed by a "×" sign, meaning the piece's moves are finished, for example "7—14×". To show that a Traveler has reached its home field, circle the entry.

A proposal on move notation by the translator is given under "Translator's Notes" below.

Note by Kerry Handcomb

This note is by Kerry Handcomb and is included in the translation; it is commentary, not an original rule.

The standard rules (when all pieces are used) create a very difficult game. The key factor that can block the movement of pieces is that Lightning, Rabbit, Stone, and Time Pawn 3 move only on fields of one colour, that is, each has access to only half the board.

An imbalance at the start, when too many of these pieces end up on fields of the same colour, usually makes it impossible to win. I recommend distributing these pieces evenly between light and dark fields, making the setup semi-random. For example, set aside one Lightning, one Rabbit, one Stone, and one Time Pawn 2. Add 4 random pieces from the remaining Shadows, Trees, and Time Pawns 1 and 3. Place these pieces arbitrarily on the light fields, then fill the dark fields with the remaining pieces. Use this procedure for both colours. The result is a more balanced setup, in which winning is much easier. In Chess960 (the variant of chess with a random starting arrangement of pieces) there is also a requirement that each player's bishops stand on fields of different colours.

There is a lot to discover in this game. At the start, try to move your Travelers two or three fields away from their starting positions, then use the Shadows to clear the way. Try to free several fields on the edge of the board, away from the main path, so that you can bury Trees and free up even more space. Remember that Lightning and Stone cannot cross a desert without dying; the same may be true of Time Pawn 2 and the Rabbit, depending on their starting positions. Pieces that cannot cross a desert need special handling, since their options are limited.

Translator's Notes

The following two sections are the translator's own notes, not original rules.

Solo variant

The essence of the game is that when playing alone you still have to make moves for both the White and Black sides in turn, since the mechanics depend on alternating the groups of pieces available for the next move: moves must be made in turn from each side of the board.

Proposal for move notation

In real play it would probably be more convenient to record moves using coordinates, as in chess, rather than the continuous field numbers. The field numbers are hard to remember. If they were printed on the fields they would be covered by pieces during play, and if they were shown on a separate diagram you would have to keep looking at it. Verticals should be numbered and horizontals lettered a, b, c, d, e, f, and moves written as "b3—c4". The numbering of verticals and horizontals is always in front of you (if it is printed on the board), and it is easier to remember. The translator would also add the piece symbol to the move record, to make errors easier to spot.