Makruk Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Beginning the Game
• How to Play
• Moving the Pieces
• Capturing Enemies
• Ending the Game
• Further Information

Beginning the Game

1. The game begins with the pieces set out as in Illustration 1.
2. The player controlling the white pieces begins the game.

Illustration 1: Mak-ruk pieces set out ready for play. From the bottom left the pieces are the boat, horse, nobleman, lord and minister, with cowries out in front.

How to Play

Mak-ruk is played by two players on a board of eight rows of eight squares, each having a set of sixteen pieces. The pieces are the lord, the minister, two noblemen, two horses, two boats, and eight cowries.

Moving the Pieces

3. A player in his turn moves one of his pieces according to that piece's particular mode of movement:

   (i). the lord can move to an adjacent square in any of the eight directions;

   (ii). or on his first move of the game, the lord can move as a horse: see rule 3(vi);

   (iii). the minister can move to an adjacent square in any of the four diagonal directions;

   (iv). or on his first move of the game the minister can move two squares directly forwards;

   (v). the noblemen can move to an adjacent square in any of the four diagonal directions, or to the adjacent square straight forward;

   (vi). the horse moves one square in a vertical or horizontal direction, and one further square diagonally away from his current position, jumping over any piece that might be in the way;

   (vii). the boat moves as many squares as is convenient in a straight line horizontally or vertically, though it cannot jump over pieces in the way;

   (viii). the cowrie moves one square directly forward.

4. When a cowrie reaches the sixth row, it is turned upside down and moves from then on like a minister.

5. There is no limit to the number of such promoted ministers in play at one time.

Illustration 2: the moves of the Mak-ruk pieces. Note that the cowrie moves differently when capturing.

Capturing Enemies

6. A cowrie may capture an enemy piece by moving one square diagonally forwards to land on that enemy.

7. Other pieces capture enemies by landing on the enemy in the course of their usual move.

8. Captured pieces are removed from the board and take no further part in play.

9. A lord may not be captured, but may be threatened with capture.

10. If a lord is threatened with capture, termed check, his player must immediately remove the threat by moving the lord out of danger, capturing the piece that threatens him, or otherwise interposing a piece to protect the lord.

Ending the Game

11. The game is ended when a player's lord is threatened with capture such that threat cannot be evaded. This is checkmate, and the player whose lord is thus threatened loses the game.

12. The game is also ended when a player cannot move any piece without exposing his lord to the threat of capture. This is stalemate, and is a draw.

13. When one player's army is reduced to just his lord, his opponent must win the game within a prescribed number of moves, otherwise a draw is declared. The number of moves depends upon the composition of the stronger player's pieces, and is given in Table 1.

14. If the stronger player has some composition of pieces not listed, then no limit on the number of moves applies.

Table 1: number of moves allowed for checkmate against a lone lord.

Pieces Left	Moves
Two boats	4
One boat	13
Two noblemen	18
One nobleman	41
Two horses	29
One horse	63
One minister	draw
Minister and two cowries	83
Minister, nobleman, horse, boat	10

Further Information

Readers interested in finding out more about the game of Mak-ruk can look in the following books:

• Bell, R. C. Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations, vol. 2, pp. 31-33. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1979.
• Bell, R. C. Discovering Old Board Games, p. 26. Aylesbury: Shire Publications Ltd., 1980.
• Murray, H. J. R. A History of Chess, pp. 113-117. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1913.
• Parlett, D. The Oxford History of Board Games, p. 295. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.