No.278
Sixteen Musashi
Japanese name: 十六むさし
You can scroll an enlarged diagram from side to side. Press again to return to its original size.
Diagram key
- A
- Starting position
- B
- When Musashi moves between 2 soldiers
- C
- Capture the soldier on each side.
Materials
- A 33-point board drawn from the diagram
- 1 Musashi piece and 16 soldier pieces, in different colours
- Paper to record positions and whose turn it is
How to play
- Place the 16 soldiers around the square’s outer edge and Musashi at its centre, as shown. One player controls the soldiers and the other Musashi. Alternate one move each, with the soldiers moving first.
- On the soldiers’ turn, move one soldier along a line to an adjacent empty point. On Musashi’s turn, move Musashi in the same way. Pieces cannot jump over one another.
- Immediately after Musashi moves, if soldiers occupy both adjacent points on a straight line through Musashi, remove that pair. If this happens along several lines at once, remove all the qualifying pairs.
- The soldiers win if Musashi has no legal move. In this version, Musashi wins if six or fewer soldiers remain, or if no soldier can move.
- Agree that the same position with the same player to move appearing three times is a draw. After a game, swap sides to explore both roles.
Ways to adapt
Older primary: demonstrate Musashi’s movement and captures first. Initially focus on trying both sides rather than winning.