Zola Rulebook

Table of Contents

Move Types
Object of the Game
Author's Note
*Distance From Center

Move Types

There are two types of moves in Zola: non-capturing and capturing.

Non-Capturing Moves

The non-capturing move is a king-like move to an adjacent (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally), unoccupied square. A non-capturing move must increase the straight line distance to the center point of the board*. See Figure 2.

Figure 2 — Non-Capturing

A red checker sits with a blue checker to its left and another blue checker below it. Three green arrows point away from the red checker: one up, one up-and-left (diagonal), and one down-and-left (diagonal). Red has only three available moves. Each move is non-capturing and moves his checker to an adjacent square which is further from the center of the board.

Capturing Moves

The capturing move is a queen-like move along a straight (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) sequence of zero or more unoccupied squares terminating with an enemy occupied square. The enemy checker is removed and replaced with the capturing checker. A capturing move must maintain or decrease the straight line distance to the center point of the board. See Figure 3.

Figure 3 — Capturing

A blue checker sits at the right end of a row, with a red checker two squares to its left in the same row and another red checker diagonally up and to the left of the blue checker, near the top corner of the board. A third red checker sits in the far corner. Arrow A runs diagonally from the blue checker up to the red checker in the corner. Arrow B runs horizontally from the blue checker left to the nearer red checker. Blue has only two available moves. Both moves are capturing. Move A moves his checker to a square equally distant from the center of the board. Move B moves his checker to a square closer to the center.

Object of the Game

To win you must capture all enemy checkers.

Author's Note

Feel free to publish this rule sheet and to program the game of Zola. No licensing fee or royalties are expected. However, please don't change the name or the rules, and please attribute the game to me, Mark Steere. My other games can be found at marksteeregames.com.

*Distance From Center

There are 6 "levels" of distance from center. All of the highlighted squares within each level are equally distant from the center.

Level 1 — the four center squares.
Level 2 — the ring of eight squares surrounding level 1.
Level 3 — the next ring out from level 2.
Level 4 — the next ring out from level 3.
Level 5 — the next ring out from level 4.
Level 6 — the outermost ring, along the board's edge.

Example 1: You can make a non-capturing, king's move from a square in level 2 to an unoccupied square in level 3, 4, or 5.

Example 2: You can make a capturing queen's move from a square in level 4 to another square in level 4 (assuming a straight path from one square to the other that isn't blocked by intervening checkers).

Example 3: You can make a capturing queen's move from level 6 to level 1.