facilitates move annotation and gameplay discussion. Before starting, each player places their twelve pieces in the two rows closest to them and in the two rightmost spaces in the center row. The game is played in turns, with one player taking white and the other black. • A piece can move from its point to any empty adjacent point that is connected by a line. Note that this is only the normal rule used at the Castilian court, as
Xiangqi,
Janggi, Javanese
Surakarta and other, more obscure, board games allow diagonal movement without explicitly marking the relevant diagonal segment. • A piece can jump over an opposing piece and remove it from the game, if that opposing piece is adjacent and the point beyond it is empty. • Multiple capturing jumps are permitted, and indeed compulsory if possible. • If a capture is possible it must be made, or else the piece is removed (or huffed). The goal of the game is to eliminate the opponent's pieces.
Additional rules R. C. Bell developed additional rules, saying those given by Alfonso X, in his opinion, "are not sufficient to play a game". These extra rules are: • A piece cannot move backward (e.g., a piece in the middle of an empty board would have five available moves). • No piece can return to a point it has previously occupied. • Once a piece has reached the opponent's back row it can only move to capture opposing pieces. • The game is won when either: • The opponent has lost all of their pieces. • None of the opponent's pieces are able to move. Bell also includes a scoring system for rating games. == See also ==