Knight Line
Knight Line Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
Each player has 20 square tiles in their colour; at the start of the game, these tiles are placed in two orthogonally adjacent stacks, one of each colour.
Because you will be moving large stacks of pieces around, it is important to leave a space between the pieces. We suggest leaving a one-piece gap between each row and column.
How to Play
White plays first.
A move consists of moving part of a stack (at least one tile must be left behind) to an empty space by making a knight's move. All pieces must be connected at least diagonally throughout the game.
The diagram on the rulebook page shows legal (black) and illegal (red X) moves on black's first turn.
To offset the first player advantage, white must move only a single piece on their first move.
How to Win
The first player to make a straight line of 4 stacks, orthogonally or diagonally, wins.
In the unlikely event that no more moves are possible and no one has made a winning line, black wins.
Strategy Tips
- You can never move pieces back to a space, only away; for this reason, always try to leave a few pieces behind when you split a stack, to keep your options open. As a rule of thumb for your first few games, leave at least 1/3 of the pieces behind.
- Keep some pieces close to your opponent's large stacks, as guards; if you have no pieces in one part of the board, your opponent can make a line unopposed.
- Watch out for ladders like the ones shown in the rulebook diagrams.
3-Player Expansion
The 3-player expansion (20 red tiles) is not included in the base game.
In the 3-player variant, players take turns in anticlockwise order with White playing first. Then Black and Red. Set up the stacks as follows (the rulebook diagram shows three stacks of 20: two orthogonally adjacent stacks, with the red stack placed beneath one of them):
Play as usual with the following changes to the rules:
- No restriction of White's first move.
- If a player is forced to pass, the game is over, all draw.
Promotional Piece (Grey)
The promotional tile (10 copies produced only) allows for some twists to the original game. It is not included in the base game. It can be used for 2-player and 3-player games.
Setup
Place the promotional tile in the middle of the playing surface. Then players add their stack of 20 pieces adjacent to the grey tile in a position of their choice (even diagonally adjacent to it).
Play
Variant 1: The promotional tile blocks all lines radiating from it (as if it belongs to none of the players).
Variant 2: The promotional tile acts as a wildcard (as if it belongs to all players). Remember that it can't be moved.