Lines of action
LOA is a board game invented in 1969 by Claude Soucie.
An ordinary checkerboard (8x8 squares), 12 black and 12 white pieces are needed; in the standard version of the game, as you can see in the image below, the black checkers are placed in two rows along the top and bottom of the board, while the white pieces are placed in two rows at the left and right of the board.
The aim of the game is to move own pieces until they are all in one connected group; two pieces are considered to be connected when they are placed in horizantal, vertical or diagonal adjacent squares.
How the game goes on
Start of the game
Black moves first. Each player moves one of his pieces in every turn.
Pieces are moved in a straight line (vertical, horizontal or diagonal), exactly as many squares as there are pieces of either colour anywhere along the line of movement.
Moved piece cannot land on a square occupied by one piece of the same colour. However, opponent pieces can be captured by landing on them.
Moved piece may jump over pieces of the same colour, but not over opponent pieces.
Game may be won with an own move or an opponent move, if the opponent makes a capture leaving an only group of pieces; particularly, if one player is reduced by captures (11) to a single piece, that is a win for the captured player (a single piece, obviously, makes a single group).
If a move simultaneously creates a win for both players, the player who has made the move is the winner.
The game ends in a draw if the same position is repeated three times.
Play online with some other players
Play by yourself: lines of action
Mona and YL's. Lines of Action page
Dave Dyer's page: Lines of Action