Overview

Alquerque is an ancient abstract strategy game for two players, originating from the Arabic world (first described in the 10th century). It is the ancestor of modern checkers/draughts. Players move pieces across a 5x5 grid, capturing opponent pieces by jumping over them. The goal is to have the most surviving pieces when no more captures can be made.

Components

• 1 Alquerque board (5x5 grid with diagonal lines indicating allowed movement)
• 12 pieces per player (2 colors)

Setup

Place all 24 pieces on the board in the standard starting position: each player fills their two closest rows plus the two nearest positions in the middle row, leaving the center position empty.

Turn Structure

Players alternate turns. On each turn, a player moves one of their pieces.

Actions

Movement

A piece may move to any adjacent empty position along a line on the board. Pieces may move:

• Forward
• Sideways
• Diagonally forward

Pieces may NOT move backward.

Capturing

A piece may jump over an adjacent opponent’s piece to an empty position beyond, removing the jumped piece from the board. Captures follow the same directional rules (forward, sideways, or diagonally forward – not backward).

Multiple captures: You may continue jumping over additional opponent pieces in the same turn, as long as each jump lands on an empty space and does not go backward.

Huffing Rule

If a player chooses not to make an available capture, the opponent may “huff” the piece that could have jumped – removing it from the board before starting their next move.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The game ends when all pieces belonging to each player have moved past each other, so no more captures can be made. The player with the most surviving pieces wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• The first player has only one place to move (the center position) but a choice of 3 pieces.
• You may choose not to capture, but risk being huffed.
• Alternative version: Allow backward movement; the winner is the last player with a piece on the board (elimination).

Player Reference

Direction	Movement	Capture
Forward	Yes	Yes
Sideways	Yes	Yes
Diag. forward	Yes	Yes
Backward	No	No

Huffing: If you skip a capture, your opponent removes the piece that could have jumped.