HOW TO PLAY - ZÈRTZ GAME - GAME RULES
This highly competitive strategy game
will have you and your opponents battling until the very last move.

 

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HOW TO PLAY - ZÈRTZ GAME - GAME RULES

CONTENTS:

• 6 White, 8 Grey and 10 Black Marbles

• 49 Round Board Pieces

• 1 Rulebook

AIM:
You must try to capture:

• either 3 marbles of each color

• or 4 white marbles

• or 5 grey marbles

• or 6 black marbles

The winner is the first player to achieve one of these goals.

PREPARATION:
In total you have 49 rings.  To play the basic game you need only 37 of them.  (So, you don't need the 12 remaining rings yet.  After having mastered the basic strategies, you can use them to play ZÈRTZ on a larger board.  See below: H.  Expanded board.)

1. Take 37 rings and assemble a hexagonal game board with them.

2. The 6 white, 8 grey, and 10 black marbles are the "pool".  Put the pool next to the board, so that both players can easily reach the marbles.

3. Draw lots to determine who will go first.

MAKING A MOVE:
When it is your turn, there are two possible moves:

1. You place a marble on the board and then remove a board piece.

2. You capture one or more marbles.

Placing a marble and removing a board piece.

1. When it is your turn, you first select a marble from the pool.  Next you must place it on the board.  You may select any color you wish and you may place the marble on any vacant board piece.
   Important: the marbles, in the pool as well as on the board, belong to both players (i.e. neither you, nor your opponent have your "own" marbles to play with).

2. After you have placed a marble on the board, you must remove a "free" board piece.  "Free" means: the piece must be vacant and it must be positioned at the edge of the board.  In other words, there may not be a marble on it and you must be able to remove it from the sides with-out disturbing the position of the remaining board pieces.

3. Placing a marble and removing a ring is one turn.  You must do both.  However, it may occur that you cannot remove any of the vacant rings without disturbing the position of the other rings.  In this case you must not remove a ring (i.e. your move ends after having placed a marble).
   Note: don't stack the rings that you remove on top of each other.  It is better to use them to put your captured marbles on.  (See Capturing marbles below.)

CAPTURING MARBLES:

1. Capturing is compulsory, you must do it if you can.

2. To capture a marble, you must jump over it with another marble (i.e. as in checkers).  You may only jump over a marble on an adjacent board piece.  You many jump in any direction if there is a vacant board piece behind the marble that you intend to capture.

3. The color of the marbles is of no importance when capturing: you may jump with any marble over any other marble, no matter the color, no matter whether you or your opponent placed it on the board.
   For Example: you put a white marble on the board.  A few moves later your opponent places a grey marble next to it.  There is a vacant board piece behind both marbles.  You may select the option you think is the most advantageous: jumping with the white marble over the grey one or the other way around.

4. If you jump over a marble and you have the possibility to jump over a second one, then you must do so, no matter in which direction you make the second (or third) jump.

5. If you can capture different numbers of marbles (e.g. in one direction 1 marble and in another direction 2 marbles), you may freely chose which possibility you'll go for.

6. Capturing one or more marbles counts as a complete move.  In other words: that turn you may not place a marble, nor may your remove a board piece.

ISOLATING MARBLES:

1. If you succeed in isolating one or more board pieces from the main part of the board, you may claim the isolated pieces, including the marbles on them.  Most of the times it will concern one board piece, thus one marble, but it is not limited to one.  This "claiming" should be seen of a secondary way of capturing marbles, but it is not compulsory.

2. You can only capture marbles this way if there are no vacant board pieces in the isolated group.  So, you may claim one or more board pieces when you either put a marble on the last vacant board piece of an already isolated group, or remove the board piece through which a group of occupied board pieces gets isolated.
   Note:  you may capture marbles this way as a result of a move; it is not itself a move.

END OF THE GAME:
As mentioned at the beginning of these rules: the first player to obtain either 3 marbles of each color, or 4 white marbles, or 5 grey marbles, or 6 black marbles wins the game.

SPECIAL CASES:

1. It may occur that there are no more marbles in the pool before the game has ended.  In this case you must continue with you captured marbles.  As selecting a marble from the pool, you may choose any color of your captured marbles to play with - and this goes on until one of the two players gets a winning set of marbles.

2. In the extreme event (not to exclude the possibility) that all the board pieces would be occupied before either of the players achieves one of the set goals, it is the one who makes the last move who wins.  In fact, he may claim all of the remaining board pieces, including the marbles, for this situation is to be seen as an isolated group of occupied board pieces.

3. If it would happen that two players start repeating the same sequence of moves, the game ends in a tie.

EXPANDED BOARD:
ZÈRTZ was initially released with only 37 rings.  That is all you need to explore the game and to find out how challenging it is.  However, once you have become an expert player you may want to play with more rings.
The extra rings you need to play ZÈRTZ on a larger board were available from the beginning, but only as a part of GIPF Set 2.  This new version of ZÈRTZ contains 12 more rings than the initial version.  But be careful!  Playing on an enlarged board only makes sense if you have first mastered the basic strategies.  ZÈRTZ is a fast and explosive game.  If you add extra rings too soon, you risk to turn it into a long, possibly even boring game - and that is not the purpose!
On the other hand, once you are familiar with the principles of making sacrifices and long sequences of forced moves, then you will find an extra challenge in making the board larger.  For example, you can add a row 3 tings at one side of the board.  3 extra rings don't add that much complexity, but they change the board into an irregular hexagon and that implies that you now have more different opening moves.  You can go one step further and play with 6 or 7 extra rings.  If you want to play the tournament version, you must add 11 rings.  The more rings, the harder it is to control the game!
Note 1: you don't need extra marbles' the number of marbles and the conditions to win remain unchanged.
Note 2: the 49th ring is a spare piece.  And you may need it if you have GIPF Set 2 and want to play ZÈRTZ with 24 extra rings.

TOURNAMENT RULES:

1. Tournaments are played on a board that consists of at least 48 rings.  (If you want to play on a board that is even larger than 48 rings, you'll need GIPF set 2, which contains 12 more rings.  ZÈRTZ with 24 added rings, thus on a board with 61 rings, may well become the ultimate tournament version some day.)

2. Handling the marbles and the rings: (a) once you ahve taken a marble from the pool, you must play it (i.e. you may not put it back and chose a marble of another color), (b) as soon as you touch a ring with the marble you play with, you must put it on that ring, and (c) as soon as you touch a vacant ring at the edge of the board, you must remove that ring.

3. Capturing is compulsory, meaning that you may force the opponent to take back his last move if he didn't do so.  (Taking back a move includes putting back the removed board piece.)
   For example: you put a marble on the board and create an opportunity for a capture; he takes a marble, places it on the board and next removes a board piece.  You may have a look at the new situation and either do the capturing yourself, or force your opponent to take back his move and oblige him capture.  (If you don't ask your opponent to take back his move and you don't capture either, then it is your opponent, when it is his turn again, who may force you to take back you last move.)

BLITZ VARIANT:
This variant concerns the original "Basic Game".  It is a short, very aggressive and unforgiving version to play ZÈRTZ.  It is played on a board with 37 rings, and with one marble less per color.  So, you only need 5 white marbles, 7 grey marbles and 9 black marbles.  Now you must either capture only 2 marbles of each color, or 3 whites, or 4 greys, or 5 blacks to win the game.

Enjoy the Game!

ZÈRTZ POTENTIAL

A present: you will find 3 white and 3 black ZÈRTZ-potentials enclosed.

PROJECT GIPF:
Project GIPF consists of a series of 6 games.  GIPF is the first and central game of this series; TAMSK is the second game, ZÈRTZ is the third.  Through Project GIPF, we will provide you with a system that enables you to combine games - not only game from the project itself, but literally every possible existing game or challenge.  This system is based upon the use of "potentials".  Each game in Project GIPF will introduce it own new potential.

THE GIPF-POTENTIALS:
Potentials are additional GIPF-pieces with the "potential" of a particular move.  You can use them to change GIPF into many different versions and, on top of that, to connect other games to GIPF.  The aim of the project is to offer you a large variety of combinations, so that you can decide for yourself which version of GIPF you want to play at any given moment.
It is very important to understand that these potentials are optional.  GIPF, TAMSK and ZÈRTZ are, above all, three separate games and they should always be treated as such.  That aside, if you'd like to add an extra twist to GIPF or if you fee like playing a combination of games, you may do so through using potentials.
Using potentials in GIPF is not obvious, it is something you'll have to get used to.  And you'll only get used to it through being surprised by your opponent's potentials.  This is a hard way to learn, indeed, but also the most effective one.  Hold on for a few games, and suddenly you'll notice how each of the potentials will open up GIPF in a completely different way.

THE ZÈRTZ-POTENTIAL:
TAMSK introduced the TAMSK-potential, a piece through which you can obtain an extra move; now ZÈRTZ introduces the ZÈRTZ-potential, a piece that will enable you to "jump".  The free pieces you'll find in the ZÈRTZ-box serve as examples.  Add them to GIPF and you'll find out why they are called "potentials": you bring them into play, but you don't know whether you will use them or not.  They can be captured or neutralized, sometimes you must remove the from the board yourself - and sometimes you'll take advantage of their special power...  Just keep one thing in mind: as long as they are on the board, they remain a threat for your opponent.  The more potentials you add to GIPF, the more "potential" danger you create on the board.  You'll be amazed how much they'll influence your (and your opponent's) strategy...

THE USE OF THE ZÈRTZ POTENTIAL
ZÈRTZ has the potential of a "jump"!

To avoid misunderstandings, the different pieces are defined as follows:

• A basic piece is a single piece.

• A GIPF-piece is 2 basic pieces stack upon each other.

• A potential is an extra piece that represents the ZÈRTZ-potential.

• A loaded piece is a basic piece with a ZÈRTZ-potential on top of it.
  Note: the side with the furrow is the top side of a basic piece!  A potential must be stack upon that side!

GENERAL USE:

1. Before you start a game of GIPF, you and your opponent must agree on how many potentials you are going to use.  You should play with a minimum of 3 ZÈRTZ-potentials each.  (If you want information about how to obtain more ZÈRTZ-potentials: see the frame at the end of these rules.)

2. You must stack a potential on a basic piece before bringing it into play.  A basic piece with a potential on top of it is called a "loaded piece" and is to be introduced with a regular move: put it on a black dot and push it onto a spot.  You must not introduce ZÈRTZ-potential as a separate piece.

3. All your loaded pieces must be in play before you start playing with single basic pieces.  For example: if you play with 3 potentials, they must be stacked upon the first three basic pieces you play.  (When you play the tournament version: first introduce your GIPF-pieces, next play the loaded pieces and continue with basic pieces.  When adding ZÈRTZ-potentials and TAMSK-potentials to GIPF, you must first introduce the ZÈRTZ-potentials.)
   Note: potentials that are not brought into play before your first basic piece, are lost; they go out of the game.

4. A loaded piece may be pushed by other pieces and can be captured just like any other piece on the board.

5. You do not have to take a loaded piece from the board when it is part of a row that must be captured.  So, just like a GIPF-piece, you may leave it on its spot.  (Exception: see point 6 below.)  If you decide to remove one of your own loaded pieces, you return the basic piece to your reserve but you lose the potential; it goes out of the game without being used.  A potential can never return to the reserve!

6. A row of 4 GIPF-pieces may remain on the board (cf. GIPF rules).  This is not the case when 4 loaded pieces form a row of 4 in combination with solely GIPF-pieces.  Any such row must be "broken": you must remove at least one GIPF-piece or loaded piece.
   Very Important: GIPF-pieces remain the most important pieces in play.  A piece loaded with a potential is not to be considered as a GIPF-piece.  You may lose all your potentials, but never all your GIPF-pieces.

USE OF THE SPECIAL ABILITY:

1. The ZÈRTZ-potential has the ability to jump over other pieces.  Making a jump counts as a turn, meaning that you make a move with a potential instead of playing with a piece out of your reserve.
   Note: the use of the TAMSK-potential is connected to a condition: you must push a pieces loaded with a TAMSK-potential onto the central spot, in order to be allowed to use it.  This is not the case with the ZERTZ-potential.  You may make use of your ZÈRTZ-potentials in play at any moment during the game - this is, of course, when it is your turn.

2. The use is simple: take the potential from the basic piece and jump.  By doing so, you must take notice of the following:
   - You must jump over at least one piece on an adjacent spot.  If you jump over more than one piece, the must be lined up along one and the same line.
   - A jump always ends on the first vacant spot in the jumped direction (i.e. you may not jump over empty spots).
   - You may jump over both your own and your opponent's pieces of any kind (i.e. over basic pieces, loaded pieces and GIPF-pieces).
   - The potential must remain in play; you may not jump onto a black dot.
   Note: a jump is a particular move, not a second way of capturing.  Pieces that are jumped over remain on the board.

3. The consequences of a jump with a potential are exactly the same as when playing with a piece out of the reserve.  E.g. capturing pieces can be the result of a jump.

4. The particular ability of a potential can be used only once.  As a single piece (i.e. after you made a jump with it) it has no more special power.  This means that you may not leave it on the board when it is part of a row that must be captured; it must be removed.  The potential goes out of the game, no matter whether it is you or your opponent who takes it from the board.

5. It may happen, towards the end of a game, that you have no more basic pieces in reserve, but still have one or more loaded pieces on the board.  You may continue the game by making use of your potentials - at least if they are in a position that they can be used.  I.e. use of a potential counts as a move in its own right.

The ZÈRTZ-potential can be used with or without connecting ZÈRTZ to GIPF.  If you play without ZÈRTZ, you may use the special ability of the potential as described above, without further notice.  First try it out at least a few times like that before you started combining games.

COMBINATION WITH OTHER GAMES:

1. If you want to connect the game ZÈRTZ to GIPF, you and your opponent must first come to an agreement.  GIPF is the game you play, ZÈRTZ is the game that will affect the strategy.  The agreement you make regards how many times you may try to "neutralize" the use of each other's potentials and under which conditions.  For example: you both play with 3 potentials; you agree that you may try to neutralize one of each other's potentials (not necessarily the first one that you like would to use to make a jump, unless that, too, is part of the agreement).

2. Neutralizing a ZÈRTZ-potential:
   The use of the ZÈRTZ-potential is originally linked to the game ZÈRTZ.  If you want to make a jump with one of your potentials, your opponent may try to prevent you from jumping through challenging you to play ZÈRTZ: interrupt the running game of GIPF, put the board aside and play a game of ZÈRTZ.  If you win you may execute your jump; if your opponent wins, you lose the potential you intended to use (it goes out of the game) and the game of GIPF continues.
   Note: when you want to make a move with a potential, but your opponent succeeds in neutralizing it, then you haven't really made a move yet, meaning that your turn isn't over.  You must make another move - you may even try a second time to use a potential.

3. Playing ZÈRTZ to enforce or neutralize the use of a ZÈRTZ-potential is just our suggestion.  You can connect any existing game or challenge to a potential, as long as it is agreed before you start playing GIPF.  You can flip a coin or roll a die; you may also propose a game of chess or even another game of GIPF (if you have a second board); you may play pool or darts, race around the park, organize any contest you want, as long as it is clear at the end whether you may or may not use the potential.  All depends on what you feel like doing and how much time you have.  If you prefer to end the game of GIPF teh same day or evening, then choose short challenges; if you are prepared to spread it over several days, weeks, or even months... well, then the world may be too small.
   Note: whatever the game, the challenger must win to neutralize the use of a potential; a tie is not sufficient.