Abalone - the affordable luxury

Right, last time after writing some comments on Blokus, we did have some fun on blocking others' way in the library. Some of my friends asked me about the Abalone I mentioned, okay, lets get the chess-game on!





I first met this cleverly designed game when I was in high school.

Since the time in form 6, when I started to earn some extras with the parttime job of tutoring, quite a portion of my income would go into the boxoffice every month. One of the frequently-visited cinemas is definitely AMC in Festival Walk. And almost everytime after the film, I would go get a walk in the nearby Log-On, where innovative products are often found (and of course, by innovative I am refering to the prices as well).

In a random day of winter, a huge promotion counter was set up right outside the store, where at least thirty kinds of new-to-me chess and board games were open for trial and purchase. Walking within the shelves, I was caught by this seemingly primitive game - a weird hybrid of Black-White-chess and Marble-chess. And when I looked up the banner, it wrotes: "No.1 Game of the decade - INTERNATIONAL GAME FESTIVAL".

At this very moment, the enthusiatic young handsome salesman approached, explaining the game rules, and challenged me for a quick play.

The rules are simple:
- Each player has 14 marbles arranged as above.
- For each move, a player can move 1,2 or 3 consecutive marbles.
- The move can be either in-line (parallel to the line of marbles) or broadside (not parallel to the line of marbles).
- A player can push their opponent′s marbles, IF the pushing line has MORE marbles than the pushed line (three can push two or one; two can push one).
- Marbles must be pushed into an open space (i.e. not blocked by a marble of either colour), or be ejected into the surrounding groove.
- The goal is simple, if you can eject 6 of your opponent's marbles into the groove, you win!

Gamerule illustrated


The game is fun in its dynamic game mode. As you may have spotted, the moves involve both attack and defense intention, and everytime you are pushing your opponent's marbles to the edge, you in fact on the other hand create a weak point in your territory, which allow a potentially fatal strike back. To go advance, there exist also various starting positions to choose from, so as to create more variability and actions.

Going back to the young salesman, after 15min of play and struggle, I actually won the game.

Trust me, he looked really ashamed, and said to me:
"No, no, no way. That's impossible. Let's play for one more time!"

That is how I got this lovely playable game with me for 6 years!