MATRX GIPF Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• A. The Game Board
• B. Starting the Game
• C. Goal
• D. A Turn
• E. Retrieving and Capturing Pieces
• F. The GIPF Pieces
• G. General Use of the Potentials
• H. Specific Use of Potentials
  • H.1. The TAMSK-potential
  • H.2. The ZÈRTZ-potential
  • H.3. The DVONN-potential
  • H.4. The YINSH-potential
  • H.5. The PÜNCT-potential
• I. End of the Game
• J. Good to Know
• GIPF With Potentials
  • A. Introduction (GIPF With Potentials)
  • B. General Use of the Potentials (GIPF With Potentials)
  • C. Specific Use of the Potentials (GIPF With Potentials)
    • C.1. The TAMSK-potential
    • C.2. The ZÈRTZ-potential
    • C.3. The DVONN-potential
    • C.4. The YINSH-potential
    • C.5. The PÜNCT-potential
  • D. Ultimate GIPF
  • E. Combining Games

Contents

• 1 game board
• A white and a black set of 33 pieces, each consisting of
  • 3 basic GIPF pieces,
  • 6 TAMSK-potentials,
  • 6 ZÈRTZ-potentials,
  • 6 DVONN-potentials,
  • 6 YINSH-potentials and
  • 6 PÜNCT-potentials
• 2 player aid cards for MATRX
• 1 MATRX rulebook (+ 1 GIPF With Potentials rulebook)

The term "piece" without further specification refers to all kinds of pieces in the game: GIPF pieces, stacks of 2 potentials, as well as single (i.e., used) potentials.

In these rules, you will encounter some highlighted phrases. These indicate specific differences with regard to the rules of GIPF With Potentials.

A. The Game Board

The board shows an asymmetric pattern of lines. Each line has a black dot at its 2 ends. The intersections of the lines are called spots.

1. There are 25 dots around the pattern of lines on the board. Dots are not part of the play area; they serve to position a piece before pushing it into the game.
2. The play area consists of 40 spots. Only pieces covering a spot are in play.
3. The lines indicate the directions in which pieces can be moved.
4. The 2 separated dots—one at each side of the board—are for the GIPF pieces that are not (yet) in play.

B. Starting the Game

1. Draw lots for your color. Take all the pieces in your color. White goes first.
2. Place the board between you and your opponent with the dot marked E1 on the side of the player with the white pieces.
3. Make 15 stacks of 2 potentials each. The potentials may not be mixed: each stack must contain 2 potentials of the same type. These stacks, i.e., stacks that are not in play, are hereafter called the reserve. Leave your stacks clearly visible in front of you on the table. You should always be able to see each other's pieces in reserve.
4. Put your 3 GIPF pieces (as a stack) onto the separate dot on your side of the board. They are also considered as in your reserve.

C. Goal

You must try to either capture your opponent's 3 GIPF pieces, or make your opponent run out of moves.

D. A Turn

You and your opponent alternate taking turns. You must make your first three moves with your 3 GIPF pieces. (See section F. below.) After you have brought your 3 GIPF pieces in play, on each turn you must either bring a stack of 2 potentials into play or make a move with a potential that is already on the board.

Particulars:

1. To bring a stack into play, you are free to choose any stack in your reserve. There is no specific order that must be followed.
2. A stack must always first be placed on a dot (step 1). The stack is not in play as long as it is on the dot, meaning that the move is not yet complete.
3. To complete the move, the stack must be pushed from the dot onto an adjacent spot (step 2), free or occupied. In the latter case, the occupied spot must first be cleared: the piece that occupies it (regardless of its color) must be moved to the next spot; if that spot is also occupied, that piece also moves over one spot, and so on, until you reach a free spot. You then push the new stack onto the spot you cleared. While making this move, all pieces must be moved along the same line. (See illustrations 1a and 1b, showing step 1 and step 2.)
   • Note: To make a move onto an occupied spot, start by moving the farthest piece in the row—and move over pieces one by one. Otherwise, you risk creating a mess on the board.
4. It is not allowed to push a piece out of the play area, i.e., onto the dot at the opposite end of a line. A line of which all spots are occupied is blocked in both directions. (See illustration 2.)
5. Instead of making a move with a stack, a player may choose to play with a potential that is already in play. The rules for playing with the potentials are explained below in sections G. and H.

E. Retrieving and Capturing Pieces

1. When you succeed in getting 4 pieces of your color lined up next to each other, you have the possibility of taking them from the board: this is how you retrieve pieces and refill your reserve. Apply this simple rule: each single piece must be removed, while each stack of 2 potentials (of the same color) may be removed (i.e., such a stack may also be left on its spot). However, if the row consists of 4 stacks, you must remove at least one of them; the row-of-4 must be broken.
2. In addition to this, a row of 4 pieces of the same color is the condition required to capture opposing pieces. If one or more pieces (regardless of color) extend a row-of-4 without interruption, these pieces are considered to be part of the row and may also be removed. Apply the same simple rule for the complete row: single pieces must be removed, stacks may be removed. Removed pieces of your own color go back to your reserve, while opposing pieces are captured. (See illustrations 3a – 3d, showing the principle of capturing. Black captures, respectively, 0, 1, 1 and 2 white pieces and can also retrieve 1 black piece in c and d. Remember that all single pieces in the complete row must be removed, while stacks may be left on the board.)
   • Note: An opponent's stack of 2 potentials may also be left on the board.
3. A stack of 2 potentials of the same color must always be removed as a whole; it is not allowed to only remove the top piece.
4. The GIPF pieces and used potentials are single pieces. This also goes for a (DVONN- or PÜNCT-) potential that has jumped onto another piece. Even though that potential is on top of at least one other piece, it must be dealt with as a single piece. When it is part of a row that must be removed, you only remove the potential; the piece underneath it (of the other color) remains on the board and, in that manner, comes into play again.
5. It does not matter which player causes a row-of-4: it is always the color of the pieces that determines the owner of the row. If you make a row in your own color, you must (at least partially) remove it right after completing your move. If you complete a row with opposing pieces, the opponent must deal with it before making their move. (See illustration 4: White forces Black to remove the row of 5 black pieces [at least partially] from the board.)
6. It will occur that more than one row-of-4 of the same color are lined up at the same time. If these rows do not intersect each other, then they are removed (at least partially) following the standard procedure. If they do intersect, the player playing that color may choose which row they will deal with first. If they remove the piece on the intersecting spot, the second row is broken up and the remaining pieces of that row stay on the board. If it is a stack and it is left on the intersecting spot, then the second row is still intact, which means that it must also be dealt with. (See illustration 5: Black may choose between first dealing with the row of 4 pieces or the row of 5 pieces. If the piece on the intersecting spot is a stack and Black removes it from the board, then the other row is not complete anymore; if Black leaves the stack on the board, they must also deal with that other row.)

F. The GIPF Pieces

1. GIPF pieces are identical to the basic pieces used in GIPF, but in MATRX GIPF they are only used as single pieces.
2. You and your opponent each start with 3 GIPF pieces. These pieces represent a player's GIPF—their "potential". As such, when you have no more GIPF, neither on the board nor in your reserve, you have lost all of your potential as a player, which means that you have lost the game.
3. You bring a GIPF piece into play with a regular move: put it on a dot and push it onto a spot.
4. You may not leave a GIPF piece on the board when it is part of a row that must be removed. It is a single piece, so you must take it from the board. A GIPF piece of your own color goes to your reserve, while an opponent's GIPF piece is captured.
5. A GIPF piece may not be kept in reserve. If you retrieve one or more of your GIPF pieces, you must bring it/them back into play on your next move(s). This implies that instead of the obligation to each turn add a stack to the game or make a move with a potential on the board, you must play with a GIPF piece.
6. When removing one or more of your GIPF pieces, do not mix them with the other pieces in your reserve. Put them in the hexagonal space on your side of the board, as a clear indication that you must play them first.

G. General Use of the Potentials

The following rules apply to all 5 types of potentials.

1. A potential may not be brought into the game as a single piece, but only as a stack of 2 potentials of the same type.
2. Making a move with a potential can only be done with the top piece of a stack of 2 potentials in play. Take the potential from the stack and make the move (according to its particular ability).
3. When making a move with a potential, the stack is split into 2 separate single pieces. Both potentials are then considered as used—the top piece because of the actual move, and the bottom piece because it was the carrier of the top piece. A single potential has no special property: you may not make a move with it, nor may it be left on the board or on top of another piece when it is part of a row that must be removed.
4. A move with a potential may not end on a black dot. It must remain in the play area.
5. The consequences of a move with a potential are exactly the same as when playing with a stack coming from the reserve. A move with a potential can result in pieces being captured.
6. A single potential in your reserve is of no immediate use. If at some point you retrieve a second potential of the same type, the two can be assembled again as a new stack you can bring into play.
7. It can happen that you have no more stacks in your reserve, but still one or more stacks on the board with potentials in a usable position. This enables you to go on with the game.

Note: The main difference in the use of potentials between MATRX GIPF and GIPF With Potentials is that removed potentials are returned to the reserve in MATRX GIPF, whereas that is not allowed in GIPF.

H. Specific Use of Potentials

TAMSK-, ZÈRTZ- and YINSH-potentials are used the same way in MATRX GIPF and in GIPF With Potentials. So is the DVONN-potential, for the most part. Only the use of the PÜNCT-potential is significantly adjusted, because MATRX GIPF is played with only basic GIPF pieces. (In GIPF, its use is linked to the double GIPF-pieces.)

H.1. The TAMSK-potential

The TAMSK potential is different from the other potentials. Its use is connected to a condition that must first be met; it is not a separate move in itself.

1. When you succeed in pushing a TAMSK-stack (a stack of 2 TAMSK-potentials) onto the central spot of the board, i.e., spot E5, you may use the top piece to play again. Thus, the particular ability of the TAMSK-potential is an extra move. You must make use of it in the same turn it is pushed onto the middle spot. If not, the potential goes out of the game.
2. To make the extra move, you take the top piece from the stack and bring it back into play as a single piece: put it on a dot and push it onto a spot.
3. If your opponent pushes one of your TAMSK-stacks onto the central spot, then you also get an extra move. In that case, however, you must make the extra move before your regular move.
   • Note: Your opponent's turn must be completed before it is your turn; if one or more rows must be removed, they must do so before you may make the extra move.
4. A regular move and an extra move are considered one single turn, whether the extra move is made after or before the regular move. The position of the pieces between the two moves is regarded as an "interim" situation. This means that no pieces may be removed or captured in between the regular move and the extra move. The same goes for situations where you succeed in pushing a second or third TAMSK-stack onto the central spot during one and the same turn.

H.2. The ZÈRTZ-potential

1. The ZÈRTZ-potential has the ability to jump over other pieces.
2. Take the top piece from a ZÈRTZ-stack and use it to jump over one or more pieces. It can jump over both your own and your opponent's pieces.
3. The potential must jump over at least one piece. If it jumps over more than one piece, these must all be on the same line.
4. A jump with a ZÈRTZ-potential always ends on the first vacant spot in the direction of the jump; it cannot jump over empty spots.

H.3. The DVONN-potential

1. The DVONN-potential has the ability to jump only onto a DVONN-potential of the opposite color. This can be a DVONN-stack, a single DVONN-potential on the board or a DVONN-potential that jumped atop a stack of DVONN-potentials. The potential can jump onto any such piece on an adjacent spot or onto a piece that can be reached in a straight line over empty spots, i.e., it cannot jump over pieces.
   • Note: Unlike in GIPF With Potentials, a DVONN-potential cannot jump on a (basic) GIPF piece.
2. Since you can jump onto each other's DVONN-potentials, it will happen that several of these potentials are stacked on top of each other (always in alternating colors). Unlike a stack of 2 potentials of the same type and color, a stack of several DVONN-potentials is not to be considered as a whole. When such a stack is part of a row, you only remove the top piece (for a used potential is a single piece).
3. A piece on which you jump with a DVONN-potential is neutralized, and it remains neutralized for as long as your piece stays on top of it. Your color occupies that spot. When you or your opponent must remove that top piece, then the piece underneath it is set free again and comes back in play.
4. Special case: It can occur that you create a new row-of-4 by removing a DVONN-potential. If you capture an opponent's DVONN-potential on top of a DVONN-potential of your color, the result may be a new row of your own color (i.e., by setting free your piece underneath—which can be the fourth piece in a row). Similarly, if you remove a DVONN-potential of your color on top of an opposing DVONN-potential, the result may be a row-of-4 for your opponent. The main principle to deal with this kind of situations is to keep in mind that your turn is not over if you still have a row that must be removed. Rows must be removed one at a time, and your turn ends when there are no more rows of your color on the board. Then it is your opponent's turn. If there is a row of their color on the board, they must remove it before making a move.

H.4. The YINSH-potential

1. The YINSH-potential has the ability to move along the lines on the board. It may be moved onto an adjacent vacant spot or to any vacant spot that it can reach in a straight line without jumping over pieces.

H.5. The PÜNCT-potential

The PÜNCT-potential is used just like the DVONN-potential, except that it can only jump onto an opponent's PÜNCT-potential. So their function is the same, but each potential can only target potentials of its own type.

I. End of the Game

There are two ways to win:

1. Capture all 3 of your opponent's GIPF pieces.
2. Make your opponent run out of moves. (If they have no more pieces in their reserve and no more potentials on the board with which they can play, they cannot go on with the game.)

The first player to achieve one of these two goals wins the game.

Note: If both players run out of moves on two consecutive turns, the one who made the last move wins the game, because the other player will be the first unable to make a move.

J. Good to Know

1. Although MATRX GIPF is played grosso modo according to the rules for GIPF and GIPF With Potentials, it is more than just a variant. GIPF With Potentials is mainly played with basic GIPF pieces, to which extra possibilities are added through the potentials—as if playing GIPF with an additional layer. MATRX GIPF is played with the potentials as the core of the game. Moreover, potentials in MATRX may be returned to the reserve, which is not allowed in GIPF With Potentials. That rule difference creates a very specific and thus distinguishable dynamic for each of these games.
2. MATRX GIPF is played on an adjusted GIPF board. Even though it is only 3 spots larger, the asymmetrical pattern allows for more different opening moves and creates more space for the use of the potentials. The wider pattern also has more lines with 7 spots, which makes the game more open and increases the possibilities of multiple captures. That said, it is also perfectly possible to play MATRX on a regular GIPF board. It will feel significantly different, though. On a GIPF board, the game is more dense and may take longer, but that does not make the experience any less challenging.
3. As I already suggested in the preface, no matter how much time you take to consider your next move, you will undoubtedly feel like you are in limbo—more so than with any other game of Project GIPF. Try this: make a move and see what happens! Therein lies the beauty of abstract 2-player games, and in this one even more than most. Put differently, what turns out well and what goes wrong can be equally fascinating. If you accept this, MATRX will offer you plenty of surprises for a long time to come.
4. One of the tough things to learn is choosing which potential you will bring into the game, in particular during your first games. You will have no clue yet in which situations the different potentials can be strong. Oftentimes you will think you picked the wrong potential. So be it. Do not look back: play with what you have on the board. You have to maneuver the potentials into positions where they can become threats, and not necessarily create threats with the moves with which you bring them into play.
5. The potentials are not all equally strong—but they can all be equally dangerous. They should also be considered not just as containers of special abilities, but first and foremost as pieces that can occupy spots for your color. And regardless of their different strengths, they are part of the cycle of getting pieces back into your reserve, in order for you to be able to keep playing when your turn comes around.
6. Avoid focusing too much on the effective use of the potentials. Even if you feel you cannot use them as often as you would like, as long as they remain on the board they form "potential" danger that your opponent must take into account. As such, they will always influence the course of the game.

GIPF With Potentials

GIPF is the central game of Project GIPF, which—with the addition of MATRX GIPF—is now a series of eight abstract 2-player games. Potentials are pieces that can be added to GIPF, and they each have the "potential" of a particular move. You can use them to play variants of standard or tournament GIPF, and—if you fancy even more complexity—to connect other games to GIPF. The intention is to offer a large variety of options, so that you and your opponent can compose your own cluster of game features. Amaze yourself! Be inspired! Use your imagination!

A. Introduction (GIPF With Potentials)

Originally, the GIPF potentials were published as 3 expansion kits (GIPF Sets 1, 2 and 3), each containing different pieces used to expand GIPF. The sets consisted of 33 white and 33 black pieces: each color had 3 basic GIPF pieces, 6 TAMSK-potentials, 6 ZÈRTZ-potentials, 6 DVONN-potentials, 6 PÜNCT-potentials and 6 YINSH-potentials. All of these pieces are now brought together into one set, providing the materials with which you can play GIPF With Potentials as well as MATRX GIPF. However, to play GIPF With Potentials, you must have a copy of GIPF at your disposal—that is, a GIPF board and 18 white and 18 black basic GIPF pieces, to which you can then add potentials and the 3 extra basic GIPF pieces.

1. These rules assume complete understanding of how GIPF is played. The goal remains the same: capture your opponent's last GIPF-piece or make your opponent run out of moves.
2. Adding potentials to GIPF means that you are adding extra possibilities. You could start playing with potentials without first having mastered the basic strategies of GIPF, but that is a bit like jumping in water without first learning how to swim. In any case, start slowly; for instance, you could try one type of potential at a time.
3. The only way to get going with the potentials is to accept to be surprised (and to allow yourself to be overwhelmed) by all that's happening on the board. This may sound like a hard way to start, but it will provide an exciting learning curve. The best tip I can give you is this: do not think too long, do something and just enjoy what happens—rather than feeling blocked by the plethora of possibilities you will be confronted with anyway. Hang on for a number of games, and bit by bit you will find out how each of the potentials opens up GIPF in a different way.
4. Before starting a game with potentials, you and your opponent will need to agree on a few things. For example:
   • Adding 1 type of potential: 6 pieces per player. (Playing with fewer than 6 hardly impacts the game.)
   • Adding 2 types of potentials: 8 (or 12) per player, 4 (or 6) per type. You either decide together which 2 types you will play with or you each choose your preferred types.
   • Adding 3 types of potentials: 12 per player, 4 per type.
   • You agree to play with 12 potentials per player. You determine together which potentials you will both use or you allow each other to freely assemble a personal mix.
   • If you agree to play with 15 potentials each (which is the maximum number of potentials), then you must also use the 3 extra basic pieces. (See point D. Ultimate GIPF.)
5. If you want to go even further, you have the possibility of taking one final—big!—step: linking the use of potentials to the play of other games. (See point E. Combining games.)

B. General Use of the Potentials (GIPF With Potentials)

The highlighted passages indicate specific differences with the rules for MATRX GIPF.

The pieces in these rules are named as follows:

• Basic pieces are the single pieces GIPF is normally played with.
• A GIPF-piece consists of 2 basic pieces stacked upon each other.
• A potential is a single extra piece with a particular ability.
• A loaded piece is a basic piece with a potential on top of it. (Sometimes such a stack of 2 pieces is called after its respective potential, e.g., a TAMSK-stack.)

The following rules apply to all 5 types of potentials.

1. To bring a potential into play, you must stack it on a basic piece. Together, these two pieces become a loaded piece. A loaded piece is brought into the game with a regular GIPF move: put it on a black dot and push it onto a spot.
2. When playing the standard version of GIPF, all of your loaded pieces must be in play before you start playing with basic pieces. For example, if you play with 6 potentials, they must be stacked upon the first 6 basic pieces you bring into play. When playing the tournament version, you must first introduce your GIPF-pieces, next play the loaded pieces and then continue with basic pieces. Potentials that are not brought into play before you play your first basic piece are lost; they go out of the game.
3. In addition to point 2 above, you may use the particular ability of a potential as soon as it is on the board (as part of a loaded piece). In other words, you do not need to bring all of your potentials into play before being allowed to make a move with one of them.
4. Loaded pieces move on the board like pieces in a regular game of GIPF—that is, by being moved one spot over when another piece is brought into the game. Loaded pieces can also be captured just like any other piece on the board.
5. Playing a potential counts as a turn, meaning that you make a move with the potential instead of playing with a piece from your reserve. Take the potential off the loaded piece and make the move.
   • Note: The TAMSK-potential is linked to a move that is already made. (The particular abilities of the different potentials are described in sections C.1. to C.5.)
6. You do not have to remove a loaded piece from the board when it is part of a row-of-4 that must be removed. So, as is also the rule for GIPF-pieces, you may leave the loaded piece on its spot. (Exception: see point 8 below.)
7. When removing a loaded piece from the board, you must always remove it as a whole. If you remove a loaded piece of your own color, you only return the basic piece to your reserve, not the potential. It goes out of the game without being used. A potential can never return to the reserve.
8. As for the tournament GIPF, a row-of-4 (or more) GIPF-pieces may remain on the board. This is not the case when 4 loaded pieces are lined up, nor when one or more loaded pieces form a row-of-4 in combination with GIPF-pieces. Any such row must be broken: you must remove at least one GIPF-piece or one loaded piece.

Important: The main difference in the use of potentials between GIPF With Potentials and MATRX GIPF is that potentials may be returned to the reserve in MATRX GIPF, whereas that is not allowed in GIPF With Potentials.

C. Specific Use of the Potentials (GIPF With Potentials)

The use of the TAMSK-, ZÈRTZ- and YINSH-potentials is the same in both GIPF With Potentials and MATRX GIPF. The particular abilities of the DVONN-potential and the PÜNCT-potential differ here from their use in MATRX GIPF.

C.1. The TAMSK-potential

The TAMSK potential is different from the other potentials. Its use depends on a condition that must first be met; it is not a separate move in itself.

1. When you succeed in pushing a TAMSK-stack (a basic piece loaded with a TAMSK-potential) onto the middle spot of the board (the intersection of the main axes) you may use the top piece to play again. Thus, the particular ability of the TAMSK-potential is an extra move.
2. To make the extra move, you take the potential from the basic piece and bring it back into play as a single piece: put it on a dot and push it onto a spot.
3. If your opponent pushes one of your TAMSK-stacks onto the central spot, then you also get an extra move. In that case, however, you must make the extra move before your regular move.
   • Note: if your opponent must remove one or more rows, they must do so before you may make the extra move (and subsequently your regular move).
4. A regular move and an extra move are considered one single turn, whether the extra move is made before or after the regular move. The position of the pieces between the two moves is regarded as an "interim" situation. This means that no pieces may be removed or captured in between the regular move and the extra move. The same goes for situations where you succeed in pushing a second or third TAMSK-stack onto the central spot during one and the same turn.

C.2. The ZÈRTZ-potential

1. The ZÈRTZ-potential has the ability to jump over other pieces.
2. Take the top piece from a ZÈRTZ-stack and use it to jump over one or more pieces. It can jump over both your own and your opponent's pieces.
3. The potential must jump over at least one piece. If it jumps over more than one piece, these must all be on the same line.
4. A jump with a ZÈRTZ-potential always ends on the first vacant spot in the direction of the jump; the potential cannot jump over empty spots.

C.3. The DVONN-potential

1. The DVONN-potential has the ability to jump onto an opponent's basic piece or onto an opponent's DVONN-potential (in the latter case, onto a DVONN-stack or a DVONN-potential that has jumped onto a basic piece or a DVONN-potential). It can only jump onto such a piece on an adjacent spot, i.e., it may not be moved over empty spots (nor over other pieces).
2. Since you can jump onto each other's DVONN-potentials, it will happen that several of these potentials are stacked on top of each other (always in alternating colors). The DVONN-potentials in such a stack are dealt with as single pieces. When the stack is part of a row, you only remove the top piece (since a used potential is a single piece).
3. A piece on which you jump with a DVONN-potential is neutralized, and it remains neutralized for as long as your piece stays on top of it. Your color occupies that spot. When you or your opponent must remove that top piece, then the piece underneath it is set free again and comes back in play.
4. Special case: It can occur that you create a new row-of-4 by removing a DVONN-potential. If you capture an opponent's DVONN-potential on top of a DVONN-potential of your color, the result may be a new row of your own color (i.e., by setting free your piece underneath—which can be the fourth piece in a row). Similarly, if you remove a DVONN-potential of your color on top of an opposing DVONN-potential, the result may be a row-of-4 for your opponent. The main principle to deal with this kind of situations is to keep in mind that your turn is not over if you still have a row that must be removed. Rows must be removed one at a time, and your turn ends when there are no more rows of your color on the board. Then it is your opponent's turn. If there is a row of your opponent's color on the board, they must remove it before making a move.

C.4. The YINSH-potential

1. The YINSH-potential has the ability to move along the lines on the board. It may be moved onto an adjacent vacant spot or to any vacant spot that it can reach in a straight line without jumping over pieces.

C.5. The PÜNCT-potential

1. Just like the DVONN-potential, the PÜNCT-potential has the ability to jump onto an opponent's piece on an adjacent spot; more precisely, onto an opponent's GIPF-piece, PÜNCT-stack, or PÜNCT-potential sitting on top of one of your own PÜNCT-potentials. Moreover, it offers the opportunity to bring an extra GIPF-piece into play.
2. To jump onto an opponent's PÜNCT-potential, take your potential from the PÜNCT-stack and put it on top of the opponent's adjacent piece.
3. To jump onto a GIPF-piece, you do not actually put your potential on top of the GIPF-piece: you remove your potential (it goes out of the game!) and replace it with one or two basic pieces out of your reserve, placing it/them onto the opponent's GIPF-piece. In both cases, the opponent's GIPF-piece is considered captured for as long as you keep it covered with your piece(s).
4. If you have covered an opposing GIPF-piece with only one basic piece and that stack is part of a row that must be removed, you only remove your piece—and the opponent's GIPF-piece underneath it comes in play again.
5. If you have covered an opposing GIPF-piece with two basic pieces, you have put a GIPF-piece on top of the opponent's. Put differently, you created a new GIPF-piece during a game of GIPF, which you normally cannot do. That GIPF-piece may be left on the opponent's GIPF-piece when it is part of a row that must be removed. This new GIPF-piece can also be the target of your opponent's PÜNCT-potentials. As such, a stack can consist of several GIPF-pieces, alternating colors, even though only the GIPF-piece on top of the stack is actually in play.
   • Note: Your PÜNCT-potential cannot jump onto an opponent's basic piece sitting on top of your GIPF-piece. However, your DVONN-potential can jump onto that opponent's basic piece—since jumping on top of single basic piece is the ability of the DVONN-potential.
6. You are not allowed to use a PÜNCT-potential to jump onto an opponent's GIPF-piece if you have no more basic pieces in your reserve. To make that move, you must be able to put at least one basic piece on top of your opponent's GIPF-piece.
7. Removing a piece that jumped onto another piece can create a new row-of-4. If you remove a PÜNCT-potential from an opponent's PÜNCT-potential, or a basic piece or GIPF-piece from an opponent's GIPF-piece, apply the same rules as for the DVONN-potential. Rows must be removed one at a time and your turn ends when there are no more rows-of-4 of your color on the board.

D. Ultimate GIPF

1. The 3 extra white and black basic GIPF pieces are meant to play Ultimate GIPF. That is GIPF with 21 basic pieces and 15 potentials per player. The standard procedure consists of taking 3 potentials of each type, but naturally, you can choose any combination of potentials you and your opponent agree upon.
2. The reason for playing with 21 basic pieces is that it allows you to start the game with 3 GIPF-pieces and 15 basic pieces (loaded with 3 potentials of each type). As such, you start with a total 18 stacks, which is the same number of basic pieces regular GIPF is played with.
3. Also, as in tournament GIPF, you can decide to play with more or fewer than 3 GIPF-pieces. When playing with fewer, you will still have basic pieces in your reserve after having brought all of your loaded pieces into play; when playing with more, you will have to retrieve pieces from the board, to then load them with the potentials you have left.
4. Start the game according to the tournament rules: first introduce your GIPF-piece(s) and go on bringing your loaded pieces into play. During this phase, you may already make use of your potentials on the board. When all of your potentials are on the board, start making moves with basic pieces (or, of course, with your potentials already in play).

E. Combining Games

Combining GIPF With Potentials with other games is playing Ultimate GIPF. It will undoubtedly prove to be a strange experience. It is not playing a combination of games in itself that may feel strange, but rather the act of interrupting GIPF to play another game, and then coming back to GIPF to make the move you intended to make if you won that other game—or contemplate a different move if you lost. It breaks the usual flow of play and introduces an external factor, namely that the outcome of one game determines what may or may not be done in another game.

1. If you want to combine other games with GIPF, you and your opponent must first come to an agreement. Ultimate GIPF is the game you play and the other games will influence its course. The agreement regards which other game(s) you combine with GIPF.
2. This extended version of Ultimate GIPF assumes that each intention to use a potential is connected to the play of another game, but you are of course free to restrict that. For example, you can agree that you may each try to neutralize the use of 3 potentials in the course of a game of GIPF.
3. The principle of playing for the use of a potential is simple. If you want to make a move with a potential, your opponent may try to prevent you from doing so by challenging you to play another game. You must win (or at least tie) that other game to be allowed to make the move with your potential. If your opponent wins, the move is cancelled and the potential is lost: it must be removed from the basic piece and goes out of the game.
   • Tip: To get used to this principle, you may want to try something as short and straightforward as, for instance, rock-paper-scissors. (Allow, for the occasion, a touch of randomness...) Each time you want to use a potential, you first play that quick game. If you win, you may make the move with the potential. If you lose, bummer. This is a fast way to get used to interrupting GIPF, and to see how external factors come into play to influence your GIPF strategy.
4. When you want to make a move with a potential but your opponent succeeds in neutralizing it, your turn is not over yet. The move you wanted to make is no longer possible, so you must look for another move. You may even try to use another potential.
5. When a move with a potential is challenged, it must always be clear which move is at stake, and also which potential will be removed from the game if its use gets neutralized.
6. It is always the challenged player (i.e., the player who wants to use a potential) who chooses who plays first in the side game.
7. The 5 types of potentials are each named after a game of the GIPF project. The idea behind combining games with Ultimate GIPF is to link the use of the potentials to their namesakes and, as such, to have players engage in a combination of games within the concept of Project GIPF. (For instance, you play a round of ZÈRTZ to allow or prevent a move with a ZÈRTZ-potential.) However, this is only a suggestion, and not a prescription. Ultimate GIPF can be combined with any existing 2-player game or challenge, depending on what you feel like playing, which games you have at hand, as well as the playtime you have at your disposal. And, of course, how adventurous you feel like.