HOW TO PLAY - ABALONE TRAVEL VERSION - GAME RULES
 Abalone™, called the “Game of the Decade,” fortifies math, logic and reasoning skills
by causing each player to logically plan each move.  The object is to “push” your opponent’s
marbles off the board game using strategic moves. This sophisticated board game is addictive!
 

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HOW TO PLAY - ABALONE TRAVEL VERSION
GAME RULES

OBJECT OF THE GAME:

To be the first player to push six of your opponent's marbles off the board.

SET UP:

• Place the marbles in their starting position, as shown.

• Decide which color you will play.

THE GAME:

• Players move in turn.  Black always starts the game.

• You can only make one "Move" on your turn.

• A Move is a distance of one space and no more.

• You can move in any one of six directions on the board.

• You can only make a Move if there is an adjacent free space.

• A Move can include one, two or three marbles at once.  If two or three marbles are moved at once, they must move in the same direction.

• You cannot move more than three marbles of the same color in one turn.

• You can split an existing, longer row by moving one, two or three marbles of the same color.

• Once a move is played, it cannot be changed.

There are two types of Moves:

1) SUMITO

You can push opponent's marbles along if you can first set up a "Sumito", a situation in which your own marbles outnumber your opponent's.  There are just three types of Sumito.  

Having set up a Sumito, you can only push your opponent's marbles

• by using an "In-line" Move

• when the black and white marbles are on spaces directly adjacent to each other

• when there is a free space behind the defending marble(s).

Even if a Sumito Move is possible, it is always optional.  You don't have to push your opponent if you don't want to.

2) PAC

In this situation, both players' marbles are evenly matched, making it impossible for one player to gain an advantage over the other.

There are just three types of PAC.

Where a player has more than three marbles locked in a Pac, these extra marbles are not taken into account, 4-on-3 is really the same as 3-on-3, a Pac.

To break the deadlock, a player will have to break the Pac by approaching along a different line of attack.

WINNING THE GAME

If you're the first player to eject six of your opponent's marbles, you win the game.

BEAT THE CLOCK

As in Chess, players can compete against each other within an alloted period of time, for example 10 or 15 minutes each.  Official Abalone tournaments are always played against the clock.

EJECTION

A marble is ejected when it is pushed off the side of the board.