Fanorona

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Ny Fanorona

The standard version of Fanorona is played on a 5×9 board. The stones are placed on its intersections and moved along the lines.

There are strong and weak points (intersections). On a weak point it is only possible to move a stone horizontally and vertically, while on a strong point it also is possible to move stones diagonally. A stone can only move from one point to another at a time. A capturing stone is allowed to continue making successive captures.

Two players take part, each player having 22 pieces.

w w w w w w w w w
w w w w w w w w w
B w B w . B w B w
B B B B B B B B B
B B B B B B B B B

Three phases of the game

On the surface the game has an opening, a mid-game and an end game. However from the get go, you must prepare for the end making room for control of the board by taking hold of key nodes.

In the opening, many captures are possible and so a lot of pieces will be eliminated very quickly.

The basic tactics are to squeeze your opponet’s pieces so they are placed in situations of forcing moves to your advantage, or to set up sacrifices where a mandatory capture is ultimately disadvantageous.

Board

The Fanorona board consists of lines and intersections, creating a grid with 5 rows and 9 columns subdivided diagonally to form part of the tetrakis square tiling of the plane. A line represents the path along which a stone can move during the game. There are weak and strong intersections. At a weak intersection it is only possible to move a stone horizontally and vertically, while on a strong intersection it is also possible to move a stone diagonally. A stone can only move from one intersection to an adjacent intersection.

Rules

Riatra

Players alternate turns, starting with White.
There are two kinds of moves: non-capturing and capturing. A non-capturing move is called a paika move.
A paika move consists of moving one stone along a line to an adjacent intersection.
Capturing moves are obligatory and have to be played in preference to paika moves.
Capturing implies removing one or more pieces of the opponent, in one of two ways:
    Approach - moving the capturing stone to a point adjacent to an opponent's stone, which must be on the continuation of the capturing stone's movement line.
    Withdrawal - the capturing stone moves from a point adjacent to the opponent's stone, away from the stone along the continuation of the line between them.
When an opponent stone is captured, all opponent pieces in line beyond that stone (as long as there is no interruption by an empty point or an own stone) are captured as well.
An approach capture and a withdrawal capture cannot be made at the same time - the player must choose one or the other.
As in checkers, the capturing piece is allowed to continue making successive captures, with these restrictions:
    The piece is not allowed to arrive at the same position twice.
    It is not permitted to move twice consecutively in the same direction (first to make a withdrawal capture, and then to make an approach capture) as part of a capturing sequence.
However, unlike in checkers, continuing the capturing sequence is optional.
The game ends when one player captures all stones of the opponent. If neither player can achieve this - for instance if the game reaches a state where neither player can attack the other without overly weakening their own position - then the game is a draw.

Vela

Rules

Players are allowed to play a move alternatively. Even if a move consists of multiple movements of one single stone we will still denote it as a single move. Du to the influence of samantsy (chess) it is now common to start with White.

We get to distinguish two kinds of moves, non-capturing and capturing moves. A non-capturing move is named as “paika” move. A paika move comprises of moving one stone along a line to a contiguous intersection. Capturing moves are irremissible and are preferred in order over paika moves.

During the game, players are allowed to play a move alternatively. Even when a move consists of a greater number of movements of one single stone we will still refer to it as a single move.

Capturing implies removing one or more stones of the opponent. It can be done in two different ways, either by approach or by withdrawal

An approach is the movement of the capturing stone to a point adjacent to an opponent stone provided that the stone is situated on the continuation of the capturing stone’s movement line. That is by approach we mean the movement of the capturing stone to an adjacent point of an opponent stone if the opponent’s stone is placed on the extension of the movement line of the capturing stone.

A withdrawal works analogously to an approach but the difference is that the movement is away from the opponent stone. That is the movement away from the opponent’s stone if the capturing stone is placed on an adjacent point of the opponent’s stone and if the opponent’s stone is placed on the extension of the movement line of the capturing stone.

When an opponent’s stone is captured by approach or by withdrawal, all opponent stones in line behind that stone are seized too.

Types of moves

two kinds of moves: non-capturing (Paika) and capturing (Mihinana).

A paika move consists of moving one stone along a line to an adjacent intersection.

A Mihinana move consists of moving one stone along a line to an adjacent intersection and capture a stone by advancing straight in its direction or withdrawing straight from its direction.

Capturing moves are obligatory and have to be played in preference to paika moves. Capturing implies removing one or more pieces of the opponent, in one of two ways:

Approach—moving the capturing stone to a point adjacent to an opponent's stone, which must be on the continuation of the capturing stone's movement line.
Withdrawal—the capturing stone moves from a point adjacent to the opponent's stone, away from the stone along the continuation of the line between them.

When an opponent stone is captured, all opponent pieces in line beyond that stone (as long as there is no interruption by an empty point or an own stone) are captured as well.

If playing a vela game, the winner of the previous set takes the white pieces and starts with the following restrictions:

The winner cannot make any captures until 17 of their pieces have already been taken.
The loser can only capture one opposing piece per turn by approach or withdrawal. It is always the nearest to them until those 17 pieces are captured.
After this, the game continues as usual.
If the other player wins, the overall match winner can be decided by a second vela round.

successive captures

The capturing piece is allowed to continue making successive captures, with these restrictions:

The piece is not allowed to arrive at the same position twice.
It is not permitted to move twice consecutively in the same direction (first to make a withdrawal capture, and then to make an approach capture) as part of a capturing sequence.

continuing the capturing sequence is optional.

Second and subsequent captures in the same turn are subject to some restrictions:

you must keep moving the same piece
you cannot return to any space twice
you can't move in the same direction twice in a row

move restrictions during a capturing sequence

  1. A stone cannot arrive at the same position it started from on current turn
  2. A stone cannot immediatly return to its previous direction after a withdral move on the previous turn.
  3. It is not allowed to capture by approach and withdrawal at the same time. The player has to choose if the current move is an approach or a withdrawal.
  4. A stone is not allowed to make a capturing move in the same direction as the capturing move directly before. for instance by withdrawing left and taking a stone on the right then advance left again to take another stone on the left.

End of the playing session

  1. The game finishes when one of the players succeeds in capturing all stones his opponent either by neutralizing their ability to move without beiieng captured or by taking the last remaining stone.
  2. In case, neither player can achieve this then the game is a draw.

Types of session

Types of opening

The Vela Game

The clopud of punishement

Traditionally a player who was unable to lift the vela punishment by winning a game was forced either to lick the lakabe, the centre point of the board - or else to get down on his knees and bleat like a sheep!

the incentive is to avoid a punishment called the vela. This is what happens if a player loses the game. A second game is played with different rules, the loser of the previous game playing first. The rules for the first part of this vela game are as follows:

The vela game has a number of differences from the first game.

  1. The loser of the previous game takes white and starts in the vela game.
  2. The winner of the previous game refrains from making captures in the vela game until he has sacrificed 17 of his pieces.
  3. The loser of the previous game captures only one piece each turn, that being the enemy piece nearest his own in the enemy line he approaches or withdraws from.
  4. After the previous winner has sacrificed these 17 pieces, the game continues as per regular riatra game play

The imbalance of the vela game is not as extreme as it at first appears. The approach and withdrawal capture method allows the disadvantaged player to capture large numbers of pieces quickly, while not offering large lines of pieces for the opponent to capture. The key is were the stones are, by the time the five stones are left and game play resumes to a riatra.

Strategy and Tips

Some of the best strategies and tips are the simplest. Some of our favorites are discussed below, along with some quick tips on how to use them. A few of the popular strategies from games like draughts – such as pinning and forking – are also very usable in Fanorona. The strategies described below, however, are more specific to this game.