How to Play Surakarta

Surakarta is an Indonesian strategy game played on a 6x6 board. Each player starts with 12 pieces arranged in the two rows closest to them.

Player 1 occupies the top two rows, Player 2 occupies the bottom two rows, and the middle two rows start empty.

The board features circular loop tracks that are used for captures. Player 1 moves first.

On your turn, you may move one of your pieces one step in any direction: horizontally, vertically, or diagonally (8 directions total).

Simple moves can only go to adjacent empty squares. You cannot move onto a square occupied by any piece.

Simple moves do not capture. To capture, you must use the loop paths.

The board has two concentric circular loop tracks at each corner, forming paths that wrap around the board edges.

The outer loop passes through columns 2-3 and rows 2-3 with large arcs at the board corners. The inner loop passes through columns 1-4 and rows 1-4 with smaller arcs.

These loops are the key to Surakarta: captures can only be made by traveling along a loop path through at least one arc.

To capture an enemy piece, your piece must travel along a loop track, pass through at least one arc (curved section), and land on the first enemy piece it reaches.

The path must be unobstructed: no pieces (friendly or enemy) may block the track between your piece and the capture target, except at the target itself.

Capture moves can travel long distances around the loops, even wrapping around the entire board.

A valid capture must satisfy three conditions:

1. The capturing piece must sit on a loop track position.

2. The path along the loop must pass through at least one arc.

3. The path between the capturing piece and the target must be clear of other pieces.

You cannot capture a piece that is simply adjacent to you. Adjacent captures do not exist in Surakarta -- you must use the loop paths.

Control the loop track positions. Pieces on loop tracks have capture potential, while pieces off the tracks can only make simple moves.

Keep your pieces along the loops to threaten captures while protecting them from enemy loop attacks. Sometimes retreating a piece off a loop denies your opponent a capture opportunity.

Look for long-range captures that travel through multiple arcs across the board.

If 40 consecutive moves pass without any capture, the game is declared a draw.

This prevents games from going on indefinitely when neither player can make progress.

A capture resets the counter to zero. Both simple moves and unsuccessful turns count toward the draw limit.