Entrapment
Entrapment Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Starting Set-up
Players start the game by alternating turns placing single roamers anywhere on the board, until all the roamers have been placed.
Turns
Players alternate turns. On the very first move, player one (who may be chosen by a coin toss) moves one of his roamers, but does not place a barrier. This rule is designed so that moving first is not an unfair advantage. Starting with the second player's first turn, each player must first move a roamer, and then place a barrier. If a player is willing to forego barrier placement, he or she may move either two roamers once or one roamer twice. This is called a "Double Move," and is a relatively uncommon but often valuable option.
Movement
Any roamer may move forward, backward, or sideways up to two squares. Diagonal moves are not allowed. A corner may be turned only if the roamer is executing a "Double Move" (and the player is thus forgoing barrier placement). If the piece to be moved is adjacent to a friendly roamer it may jump it, but only if there are no other obstructions (friendly or otherwise) in the way. A friendly barrier may be jumped if the roamer is adjacent to it, but once it has, it is rotated so that it stands on end. This indicates that the barrier segment is now impenetrable to both sides. Enemy roamers and enemy barriers are both impenetrable obstacles.
Barrier Placement
After a player moves, he/she places one, and only one, barrier anywhere on the board (again, unless executing a double move). Once barriers are placed, they are not moved or removed for the duration of the game, with the following exception. If the players run out of barriers during a game, they must begin to take them from the board and place them elsewhere. Barriers which have been jumped may not be used for this purpose.
Entrapment
A player's roamer is entrapped, and eliminated, as soon as it is rendered incapable of making a legal move. This occurs when an impenetrable obstruction (i.o.) is found on each of the four sides of the entrapped piece. I.O.'s include enemy barriers, enemy roamers, friendly barriers that have already been jumped, and the edge of the board. A roamer is eliminated the instant it is entrapped (in other words, it may not enter an "entrapped" square and live long enough to perform a block).
Forced Move
When a player has a roamer which is enclosed on all four sides, but is not dead, because at least one of the obstructions is a friendly, penetrable one, the player must move that piece on his next turn. In the case where there are two simultaneous forces against one player, the second roamer put into a forced situation is eliminated. If one of the friendly obstacles in a forced situation is a roamer, the force may be alleviated by moving that roamer out of the way, rather than moving the forced piece itself (though this is usually not advisable). A player may create a force situation for himself (as a protective measure) as long as on the next turn he does what he can to alleviate it.