How to play
The whole game, in five minutes
There is no dice, nothing hidden, and no draw. Both players see everything from the first move — which is what makes it a game of judgement rather than of luck.
The board
Twenty-five points, and one of them is empty
Beads sit on the intersections, not in the squares. Every point connects to its neighbours along the lines drawn on the board — and the diagonals only exist where the board draws them, which is what gives the position its shape.
Twelve beads a side leaves exactly one point open at the centre. That single empty point is what makes the first move possible.
Moving and capturing
Slide to a neighbour, or jump to take
A move
Slide one bead along a line to an empty neighbouring point. That is the whole of it.
A capture
Jump straight over an opponent's bead to the empty point beyond it, along a line. The bead you jumped is taken.
Chains
A capture can continue from where it landed — but you are never forced to keep going, and you are never forced to capture at all.
Shuttle one bead too long and the point closes
A bead may land on the same point three times. Keep shuttling it back and forth and the fourth landing is refused — so the same bead alone cannot stall the game. It is not a timer: move any other bead and that bead's count starts again.
Try it
Play a few moves right here
You are amber and you move first. There is no clock on this board and nothing is being scored — it is here so the rules above stop being words.
Tap one of your amber beads, then tap a marked point. Arrow keys and Enter work too.
The clock
Ten minutes, shared — and slow play is charged in points
One clock runs for the whole match, and both players draw from it. Each move gets one free minute. After that you keep your turn — nobody's move is ever taken away — but every further minute costs a point.
Sit on a move for three minutes and you forfeit the match. You are warned at one minute and again at two, so it never arrives without notice.
The whole board flashes for the last ten seconds.
Scoring
The score is on the board the whole time
Your live score is your own surviving beads plus everything you have captured. It starts at 19 and rises as you take.
| At the end | The winner gets | The loser gets |
|---|---|---|
| Beads you captured | Counted | Counted |
| Your own surviving beads | Counted | Not counted |
| Winning bonus | +5 points | — |
| Time over the free minute | −1 per minute | −1 per minute |
When the clock stops the board decides, and it decides in order: whoever has more surviving points, then whoever has more surviving beads, then whoever captured last. The clock never breaks the tie — which is why both phones and the server always name the same winner.
That is the whole game.
Everything else — the ladder, the tournaments, the people watching — is built on top of those rules.