Moeraki: Kemu
Moeraki: Kemu Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal
You are the tribal leaders of your respective Maori people and have the task to place your pieces strategically to use one of the possibilities to gain the victory and to win the Moeraki-Kemu.
Ways to Play
- Beginners Game: When you play for the first time Moeraki-Kemu, consider only the rules with the one-spiral symbol.
- Basic Game: If you have already played a few times, add to the rules of the beginner's game those bearing the two-spiral symbol.
- Masters Game: Once you are familiar with the basic game, add to the rules of the basic game the points of the three-spiral symbol.
Material and Board
- Tribal tiles: 24x Matau (hooks), 24x Manaia (bird)
- Game pieces: 28x black for the Matau-Tribe, 28x white for the Manaia-Tribe
- 2 counting stones
- Moeraki-ball
- 2 Maori-Tane
Board parts: storage area for the gaming pieces; hollows for the game pieces; beach area; semi-beach area; Moeraki-fields (nine hollows within the white circle); Moeraki scale; 3 warehouses for tribal tiles; cave of the Maori Tane (warrior).
A) Before you start to play
The gaming board is placed in the middle of the table such that the Moeraki-Kemu lettering on the left and on the right hand side of the board can be read by both players. The players determine which tribe and respective colour they represent. The players take the gaming pieces out of the bags, according to their tribal colours, and put them in the storage area to the right of them.
Tribal tiles
Before the first game is started, all tribal tiles are carefully removed from their frame.
B) Start of the game
The younger player begins the first game (player A). He puts the Moeraki-ball, which he takes from the white bag, into one of the nine central hollows of the Moeraki-field. In the following game, the winner of the last game starts by placing the Moeraki-ball. The Moeraki-ball must be moved.
C) Playing the Game
Laying Tiles
After the Moeraki-ball has been placed by player A, the opposing player (player B) puts the first gaming piece of his own colour in any hollow of the playing field. Now player A puts a gaming piece of his own colour in any of the open hollows. The stones are always placed alternately.
Once a gaming piece lays in a hollow, the move is considered as performed and the stone can not be moved around any more.
Placing of tribal tiles
If a beach area is, for example, surrounded by three white gaming pieces and one black gaming piece, a white tribal tile must immediately be placed on this space (3 to 1 superiority). It does not matter which player has put down the last gaming piece. With two black and two white gaming pieces around a beach area, it remains vacant (no superiority, 2 vs. 2).
The Moeraki-ball is a neutral gaming piece!
A tie is not possible for those beach areas bordering the Moeraki-ball. There is always a superiority of 2:1 or 3:0 for one tribe. Thus, the tile of that tribe must be placed, no matter how big the superiority is.
At both horizontal and vertical rows-of-four, there is always a superiority around the triangular areas ("semi-beach areas"). If the superiority is 2:1, the tile of the superior colour is placed such that its diagonal dividing line sits on the board's sideline. Thus, a triangle is visible inside. It counts as half a tile. If the superiority is 3:0, the tile of the superior colour is placed such that its diagonal dividing line crosses the board's sideline. It counts as a full tribal tile.
D) End of the game
There are four possibilities to become the winner of Moeraki-Kemu.
-
Tahuna (beach): A player manages to surround a beach field with four game pieces of his own colour. The game is won early!
-
Awa (River):
- Variant A: One player manages to lay a diagonal with the game pieces of his own colour from sideline to sideline. Here, three-diagonals at the edges of the game field are also counting. The game is won early!
- Variant B: The Moeraki-ball ends the diagonal in the centre. One player manages to lay a diagonal from the sideline to the Moeraki-ball. The game is won early!
-
Ara (Path): One player manages to fill the four hollows on one of the outer edge of the field (two horizontal and two vertical rows-of-four) with game pieces of his colour. The game is won early! In the beginner's game a tie is possible.
-
Marae (holy ground): All hollows of the holy ground are occupied. Now, each player counts the tribal tiles he has been able to put down. Each full tribal tile counts for one point. The outer tribal tiles at the semi-beach areas either count for one point (superiority of 3:0), or just for half a point per tile (superiority of 2:1). The player with the highest total score is the winner of the match. In case of equal scores, the player wins who has placed the Moeraki-ball.
Some advice: First take out the full tribal tiles of one colour and count them. Then, add the remaining tiles of the semi-beach areas. Repeat the count in the same way with the other player's tiles.
Attention: In case no player manages to outwit his opponent via possibility 1, 2 or 3 to win the game early, the fourth possibility to win must be applied.
E) The Moeraki-Scale
Before the first match, the players determine at how many individual victories the Moeraki-Kemu is won. With every victory, the player pulls his marker stone one field further up the scale. The field to start is the larger field at the bottom. The player who has first reached the agreed number of victories has won the Kemu.
- Ika Moana (whale): Game of 10 victories. Game of the "Ariki"
- Moa (extinct running bird): Game of 7 victories
- Kiwi (National Bird of New Zealand): Game of 5 victories
- Uira (lightning): Game of 3 victories. Tournament play
Master's Game
Once you are acquainted with the basic game, you should continue to play Moeraki-Kemu as a master's game. It offers experienced players additional tactical appeal.
In the master's game, the Maori-Tane (warrior) steps out of his cave onto the playing field. Playing sequence just like in the basic game. In the beginning of the game, the Maori-Tane remain in their caves. Once in a match, every player can bring forward his Tane, thereby replacing a full tribal tile of his own colour. In the line of sight of the Tane, all tribal tiles up to the sidelines are removed by the Tane (including own tiles). For the rest of the match, these lines remain free from tribal tiles, even in cases of superiority.
In case that placing a gaming piece triggers the placing of two different tribal tiles, then the tile with the same colour as the laid gaming piece is placed first. The same is true if the Maori Tane is placed instead of a tribal tile.
Placing a Maori-Tane
Instead of a tribal tile, White places its Tane looking down to the left. Already placed tribal tiles must be removed (including the white tribal tiles).
Lines of sight of Maori-Tane intersect
The tribal tile in the beach area in which the lines of sight intersect, is re-inserted.
Special cases in the master's game
In case the lines of sight of two Tanes intersect in a beach area, then the first Tane's effect on this beach area is lifted. A tribal tile may be placed again here in case of superiority.
If the last-placed Tane looks towards the first Tane, then only the tribal tiles up to the first Tane are taken off the game board (Tane looks at Tane): the tribal tiles are removed only up to the white Moeraki-Tane.
Maori words and their meaning for the game
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ara | Path (third possibility to win) |
| Ariki | Chief (the two players) |
| Awa | River (second possibility to win) |
| Haka | War dance |
| Hei-tiki | Lucky Charm (the gaming piece that brings victory) |
| Hongi | Nose pressing as a sign of welcome (before playing) |
| Ika Moana | Whale (game of 10 victories) |
| Iwi | Tribe |
| Kemu | Game |
| Kiwi | Heraldic Animal of New Zealand (game of 5 victories) |
| Koru | Rising Fern (symbol of the game variants) |