Talat Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Start of the Game
• Order of Play
• 1. Setup
• 2. Move or Capture
  • Move
  • Capture
• 3. End of the Game
• Scoring
• Talat for Two
  • Setup
  • Move and Capture
  • Scoring

Components

• 3 game boards, each with 2 coloured starting row areas for each player
• 27 towers (9 grey, 9 black and 9 white)

The starting areas are labelled black, white and grey in the illustration.

Start of the Game

Each player receives 9 towers of one colour. The game boards form a triangle, so that each player has access to both boards that carry his starting row areas. The oldest player begins the first game. In every subsequent game the winner of the previous game begins.

Attention! If you play Talat with two players, note the additional rules (see "Talat for Two").

Order of Play

1. Setup
2. Move or capture
3. End of the game

1. Setup

The players take turns placing one of their 9 towers on the starting squares of their starting areas, until all towers are on the game boards. After all towers have been placed, each player must have one free square left in the starting area.

Attention! Only one tower may stand on one square. Each player decides for himself which towers will be on which of the 2 game boards. After setup, towers may no longer swap places at this stage of the game.

2. Move or Capture

Move

In turn, a player moves one of his towers exactly one square forward. A tower may be moved in a straight line forward or diagonally forward. The square the tower moves to must not be occupied by another tower.

(Illustration: a move straight ahead or diagonally forward is allowed; moving sideways, backwards, onto an occupied square, or jumping over a tower is not.)

Attention! You may not skip your turn, jump over a tower or move backwards.

Each player in turn moves only one of his towers, on one of the game boards. Not all of a player's towers must advance from the starting area. If a player manages to move his tower to the opposite side, onto the opponent's starting area, it stays there.

Capture

If a tower stands next to an opponent's tower (beside it, in front of it or diagonally), the opponent's tower can be captured in the following cases:

1. A tower may capture any opponent tower that is one size level smaller. Large towers capture medium-sized towers, but not small ones. Medium towers capture small ones.
2. If two towers are of the same height, the tower with the greater number of sides (corners) captures the tower with fewer sides (corners). Thus hexagonal towers capture four-sided and three-sided towers. Four-sided towers capture three-sided ones.
3. Towers of the same height and shape cannot be captured (by each other).
4. David and Goliath rule: A small three-sided tower can capture a large hexagonal tower!

Size is always the main criterion for comparison, and only then the number of sides (faces). A captured tower is placed in front of the player who captured it. The capturing player's tower now occupies the square from which the captured tower was removed.

Illustrated examples:

• Capture possible: a large tower captures a medium one; a medium tower captures a small one; the small three-sided tower captures the large hexagonal tower.
• Capture not possible: towers of the same size and shape; a small tower against a larger tower that it may not capture.
• A three-sided tower is safe (from a capture it cannot be subject to).
• Black can capture Grey; Grey can capture Black (in both cases as shown by the size/shape relations above).

Attention!

• It is not compulsory to capture opponent's towers.
• You may not capture your own towers.
• A tower on the opponent's starting area can also capture, or be captured, if an opponent's tower ends up next to it.

3. End of the Game

If there are no capture possibilities left on a game board, that game board is "closed". Players can no longer move their towers on a "closed" game board. The game ends when two of the three game boards are "closed".

Illustrated examples:

• The game board is "closed": the opponents' towers have passed each other. Theoretically tower 1 cannot capture tower 2.
• The game board is "closed": tower 2 cannot capture tower 3 because they are far away from each other. Towers 3 and 4 cannot capture tower 1, because it is 2 sizes smaller.
• Tower 1 can theoretically be captured by tower 2 (by the David and Goliath rule). For that to happen, tower 3 must move to the indicated position. However, if tower 1 moves forward, the game board will be "closed".

In some cases during the game a situation may arise in which capturing towers is no longer possible, for example if all the players' towers have already passed each other, or all towers of one colour have already been captured.

As soon as a player realises that capture is no longer possible on a game board, it is "closed". None of the towers on a "closed" game board can be moved any more.

Attention! If a capture is theoretically still possible, the game must continue on the corresponding game board, even if this capture cannot happen immediately.

Scoring

Each captured tower, regardless of its size or shape, is worth 5 points. Each tower on the opponent's starting area is worth an additional 3 points. The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, there is more than one winner.

Talat for Two

Additional rules of the game:

Setup

First, the towers of the imaginary third player "Tsikhin" (translated from Arabic: "spirit") are placed on the game boards by both players. In turn the players place one Tsikhin tower at a time on the squares of the starting areas of one colour, until all 8 towers are placed. The ninth Tsikhin tower "drops out" of the game. Now each player in turn places his own towers one after another, as in the standard game.

Move and Capture

The player who placed his towers last starts the game. Players alternately make moves and captures as in the standard game. Each player in turn has the right to:

• move or capture a tower on the Tsikhin game board with his own tower;
• move or capture a tower on the opponent's game board with his own tower;
• move or capture a tower on the opponent's game board with a Tsikhin tower.

Attention! Captured towers are placed in front of the player who captured them, regardless of whether they were captured with his own tower or a Tsikhin tower. You may not capture your own towers with Tsikhin towers.

Scoring

Scoring is done as in the standard game. Each Tsikhin tower on the opponent's starting area brings an additional 3 points.