Salta
Salta Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Material
- Board (10x10; checkered)
- 15 blue discs (1-5 suns, 1-5 moons, 1-5 stars)
- 15 red discs (1-5 suns, 1-5 moons, 1-5 stars)
- carrying case
Setup
One player plays red and the other player plays blue. Setup the board as follows (by placing the discs on their corresponding symbols):
[The printed rulebook shows the standard setup as a board diagram: red discs on the top rows and blue discs on the bottom rows, each disc placed on the square matching its suns, moons or stars symbol. The diagram is not reproduced in text.]
Rules
Starting with the blue player, players alternate turns during the game.
The pieces move one square diagonally in any direction to a vacant square, or must leap over one opposing piece (only opposing pieces, but without capture – there are no captures in Salta) if the square immediately beyond is vacant. Only one jump is made (no chain jumping), although a player is free to choose among several available jumps.
It is forbidden to leave the opponent with no legal moves.
Game End
The goal is to be the first player to move all of his pieces as into the starting places of the corresponding opposing piece (indicated on the board). Reading from right to left, the goal position is one through five stars (tenth rank), one through five moons (ninth rank) and one through five suns (eighth rank). The player first achieving this position wins the game. Optionally you can score as many points as the number of moves opponent would need to achieve his goal position.
If neither player reaches the goal position by the time 120 moves have been made by each player, the score is calculated as the difference between the number of moves each player would need to reach the goal position, as if the board were clear of opposing pieces.
Example diagram (not reproduced in text): the goal space for the 5 Blue Suns disc, shown by an arrow from that disc's starting square to its goal square on the opposing side of the board.
Variant (1901 edition)
If you want to play with the rules of the 1901 edition, setup the board as follows:
[The printed rulebook shows the 1901 setup as a board diagram, not reproduced in text.]
Notice that, for each player, the 1st and 3rd row have been exchanged. Also the order of the discs (left to right) has changed into right to left.
This way, in order to win, players must just shift the opening position seven rows forward, without mirroring.