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Loca

no Sound
Broken canvas...
to move
   
 
   
 

Christian Freeling - MindSports AI (1-0)




Loca is a 'move short, capture long' Checkers variant that was accidentally invented by Christian Freeling in 2020. It's unique in that a piece is a man-king hybrid.


Play Loca interactively or against an AI


How I invented Loca
Rules
The game is played on a square board. There are two players, Black and White. MindSports features boards of 8x8 up to 10x10. All play is on the dark squares only. The initial position shows four filled rows at each side for 10x10 and three rows for the other sizes.

Play
White moves first. Then turns alternate. On his turn, a player must either move a piece or make a capture. Captures are compulsory and maximal capture (counted after the number of pieces) is mandatory.

  • A man moves one square forwards. If it ends its move or capture on the back row, then it is promoted to king. A king moves one square omni-directional.
  • A man captures by the long leap but only in a forwards direction, so if it reaches the back row, its move ends. A king captures omni-directional by the long leap.
  • In the course of a capture a piece may not be jumped more than once. A capture must be completed before the pieces may be taken off the board.
  • A "long leap" means that a capturing piece may move over any number of vacant squares before as well as after jumping a piece. In a multiple capture the free runout only applies to the last piece jumped.


Goal
Loca is an elimination game. The winner is the player who blocks or eliminates the opponent completely. Although a one-vs-one kings endgame on a 9x9 board is 100% decisive, and on even sized boards almost, games may yet end in a draw by mutual stranglehold.



Loca © 2020, MindSports