Mixtour

A stacking game for 2 players by Dieter Stein

Material

• Square board with 5 × 5 spaces
• 2 × 20 of stackable pieces (white and red)

The Mixtour board.

Objective

Players try to build stacks, at least five pieces high, with a piece of their own color on top.

Preparation

The board is initially empty.

Players decide on the colors they play. White starts, then players take turns.

Play

Note: In the following, a single piece is also be referred to as a “stack.”

In each turn players have two options, one of which they must choose:

• Enter a piece
• Move a stack

Enter a piece

A player places a new piece of his own color on any empty space on the board.

Move a stack

A player chooses a stack and moves one or more pieces from there.

• Pieces move orthogonally or diagonally in straight lines.
• Pieces are always taken from the top of a stack.
• Stacks may be split at any level. Remaining pieces stay behind.
• Players may move pieces of any(!) color. It is possible to move single opponent piece or a stack with an opponent piece on top.
• It is not allowed to move such that the last move of the opponent is effectively taken back. Please note that such a move is often not available.
• Stacks may not cross occupied spaces.
• A move must end on another stack, moved pieces are placed on top of the target stack.
• Stacks may be any height.

And, most important:

• The height of the target stack determines the exact distance from where it can be reached.

That means (unlikely other stacking games) …

• The top piece does not determine ownership of a stack.
• The height of the moving stack does not determine the length of a move.

Examples

The piece at e4 may move three spaces onto the stack at b4 (because it is three pieces high) – not the other way round! The stack at e1 cannot reach b4 because it is blocked by c3 and d2.

The white piece at b2 is within reach of all adjacent stacks because it is a stack of height one and each of the surrounding stacks is exactly one step away.

Pass

If a player cannot enter a new piece they must move a stack. If no move is available, the player must pass. The game ends in a draw if both players pass in sequence (which is very rare).

End of the game

When a player builds a stack of height 5 (or higher), this stack is removed from the board, the pieces are put back to the reserve and the player who owned the top piece of said stack, scores 1 point.

For a standard game only 1 point is needed to win, but players can agree upon any other number at the beginning of the game.

Please note: It is possible (although very rare) that players end up in an arrangement of single pieces in which one additional piece skips endlessly in a loop. If really none of the players is willing to break out of this situation, they should declare the game drawn. Please note, that in combinations of larger stacks this situation is not likely to occur, because scoring moves will be available.