An abstract strategy game for 2 players with a territorial flavour but with total annihilation as its object, designed by Kanare Kato.

Play Meridians interactively

boardComponents
  • A centerless hexagonal board tessellated with triangles.
    (Note: MindSports features 3 board sizes: beginner, standard, experienced)
  • A sufficient amount of stones in 2 colours.

Definitions
  • Group: like-coloured stones that are connected to each other via edge adjacencies. Singletons are considered groups of size 1.
  • Path: an empty point, or an uninterrupted straight line of empty points that have a pair of like-coloured stones on both ends that are not part of the same group. Such a pair is said to 'have a path'.
  • Dead group: a group in which all stones in it have no path. If any stone belonging to a group has a path, the entire group is said to have a path.

Game play
Decide which player gets which colour, Light or Dark, in any adequate way.
Light goes first, then turns alternate.
On each player's first turn, players place a stone of their own colour on any empty point.
On each player's second turn, players place another stone of their colour so that their own two stones have a path.

Then players take the actions below on every turn, in this order:
  1. Remove all opponent’s dead groups, if any.
    (Note: the MindSports app does this automatically.)
  2. Place a stone of their own colour on an empty point that is on at least one same straight line with an existing friendly stone, and no opponent's stone in between. Passing is not allowed.

Game end
After the second turn, the player with no stones of their colour on the board at the beginning of their turn loses.


Meridians © 2021, Kanare Kato