Siam
Siam Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Material
One double-sided game board, 13 wooden pieces (5 for the rhinoceros, 5 for the elephants, 3 for the stones), 18 stickers of your choice to glue onto the wooden pieces (7 stickers for rhinoceros, 7 for elephants, 4 for stones), game rules.
Aim of the Game
After choosing your animal, be the first player to push a rock off of the board.
How to Play
We suggest that you play your first games on the 5x5 board. Each player chooses their animal. Players play in turn. At the beginning of the game, animals are placed alongside the board and the 3 rocks onto the center of the board.
The elephants, sacred animals in the realm of Siam, start the game. During each round, players may play only one of their animals and must perform one of the 5 following actions:
- Put an animal on the board
- Move to a free space
- Change the orientation of one's animal without moving
- Bring out one of your animals from an outside space
- Move and push other pieces on the board
Put an Animal on the Board
You can enter one of your animals by placing it on one of the outside spaces (red spaces). During the first two turns, neither player may place any pieces on the board spaces marked with a cross.
There are two possibilities:
- There's a free space, where you can place your animal and orientate it to the direction of your choice
- The space is occupied and you can (under certain conditions) enter the board and push (see "Move and Push Other Pieces on the Board")
Move to a Free Space
You can move only from space to space and orthogonally (diagonal moves are forbidden). The orientation of your animal does not influence the direction of your move. You can change the orientation of your animal while moving.
Change the Orientation of One's Animal Without Moving
You can change the orientation of one of your animals on its space. This is considered a game turn.
Bring Out One of Your Animals from an Outside Space
At any time, you can remove one of your animals from an outside space. This is considered a game turn. This animal can be reused later and come back to the board at any time during a next turn.
Move and Push Other Pieces on the Board
When the space you want to enter is occupied by another piece (elephant, rhino or rock), you can push it under certain conditions:
A. You can push only by moving your animal forward.
B. One animal can push a rock, two animals oriented in the right direction can push two rocks and three animals oriented in the right direction can push three rocks.
C. An animal can never push another animal facing it. Rhinos and elephants have equal pushing strength. In order to push, there must be a majority of animals pushing in the same direction. Note: one of your animals can prevent another from pushing AND your opponent's animal can help you to push.
D. An animal can push any number of animals as long as they are orientated sidewise.
E. You can push as you enter a piece onto the board.
F. In order to solve more complicated pushing actions, you must consider all the animals and their directional orientation in relationship to the animal initiating the push action. If it results in a positive, you can push forward.
Example: the elephant on the left can push forward because the rhino is pushing in the same direction (so the two forces are combined) and there is just one elephant facing them. Therefore, you have 2 forces against 1 and the pushing action is successful.
Counter-example: it is impossible for the push to succeed. A second rock has been added to the previous example and so two forces are needed to push the rocks and then with 2 animals vs. 1 animal you only have 1 animal force remaining (instead of the required 2) for a push to succeed.
G. When a rock is pushed out, the game is won but beware — the winner is the player who is the closest to the rock AND orientated in the same pushing direction.
H. An animal which is pushed out is not eliminated and can be reused at any time.
I. No animal can change direction while pushing.
End of the Game
The first player who pushes a rock off of the board wins.
Variations
A. Play using the opposite side of the board for more challenging games. Each player is limited to using only four animals for the entire game.
B. Players agree that they will only remove one animal from an outer space square for the entire game. This animal may still be returned to the board for play.