Pretwa

Pretwa is a two-player abstract strategy game from India, specifically from Behar. The game is related to draughts and even more so to Alquerque. Pieces are captured by hopping over them, and the board is composed of three concentric circles divided by six lines which radiate from the center point and forms six pie slices. Pretwa belongs to a specific category of games called Indian War-games, and the other games in this category are Lau kata kati, Dash-guti, Egara-guti, Gol-skuish. All Indian War-games have one important thing in common, and that is that all the pieces are laid out on the grid patterned board, with only one vacant point in the center. This forces the first move to be played on the central point, and captured by the other player's piece.

Pretwa is a smaller version of the game Gol-skuish.

Goal

To capture all of the opponent's pieces, or reduce your opponent's number of pieces to three, or be the one with more pieces when no more pieces can be taken by either player, or stalemate the other opponent's pieces such that they are immobilized.

Equipment

The board consist of three concentric circles divided by six lines which radiate from the center point and forms six pie slices. Pieces are played on the intersection points, and there are a total of 19 intersection points.

Each player has 9 pieces . One plays the black pieces, and the other plays the white pieces, however any two colors or distinguishable objects will do.

Game Play and Rules

1. The 9 black pieces are initially placed on three radiating lines that are next to each other, and the 9 white pieces are placed on the other three lines that are next to each other. The only intersection point vacant is the center point.

2. Players choose which color to play, and who starts first. Players alternate their turns using one piece to either move or capture per turn.

3. A piece moves one space per turn onto a vacant intersection point following the pattern on the board.

4. Captures are done by the short leap as in Draughts and Alquerque, where the adjacent enemy piece is hopped over onto a vacant point on the other side. The captures must be done either sideways on a concentric circle, or forwards or backwards on a radiating line. Multiple captures are allowed as long as there is one vacant point in between the enemy pieces, and a vacant point beyond the last enemy piece. Captures are compulsory. If there are several options to capture in one turn, the player may choose any one of them. Captured pieces are removed from the board.

5. If a player cannot perform a move or a capture because its pieces have been blocked or immobilized by the other player's pieces, this is known as a stalemate, and the player loses; the other player wins.

6. If neither player can capture anymore pieces, the player with more pieces wins. If both players have the same amount of pieces, then the game is a draw.

7. The player whose number of pieces are first reduced to three is the loser, and the other player is the winner.

Related Games

Gol-skuish, Lau kata kati, Dash-guti, Egara-guti, Butterfly (game), Draughts, Alquerque

External Links

http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/indian_wg.htm