Before the game begins, pieces are placed on the board as shown on the opposite figure.

Available pieces: each player starts with eight square pieces and eight round pieces.

Initial position: round pieces are placed on light squares of the board (light yellow on figure) and square pieces are placed on dark squares of the board (shown in blue on figure).

As a matter of tradition, White plays first.

The first player who manages to have any of his pieces, either a simple or a combined piece, reach past the last rank of the board, wins the game.

That's the meaning of the gray areas on the above figure: White wants to reach the gray area beyond the eighth rank, and Black the opposite area.

Simple round pieces move forward on diagonals, one square at a time.

For instance, on the opposite figure, the white round piece on square c2 may move either to square b3 or to square d3. The black round piece on d7 may move either to c6 or to e6.

Important: round pieces never move backward.

This is a common principle in the game: no piece can ever move back toward its own side.

Simple square pieces move forward or sideways, one square at a time.

For instance, on the opposite figure, the white square piece on d3 may be moved either to c3, d4, or e3. The black square piece on f7 may be moved either to e7, f6, or g7.

As shown, square pieces never move backward (*).

(*) As long as they keep moving sideways (without changing ranks) square pieces can move back freely; on the contrary, whenever they move along files, they can only go forward with no possible return.

Any opponent's piece on the target square of a move is captured.

The captured piece is lost and removed from the board for the rest of the game.

Note: theoretically, a player who manages to capture all his opponent's pieces wins the game. However, this way of winning is very seldom used in practise, as it's usually much easier and faster to win by reaching past the last rank.

If, on the destination square of a move, a piece of the same side is already present, the moved piece is put on top of the former, the two pieces becoming bound and thereafter forming a "combined piece" (also called "clustered piece").

Combined pieces combine the powers of the simple pieces which they're made of, which makes them very powerful.

The table below depicts a few possible cases.

Clustering	Comment
	A simple square piece put on top of another one results in a double square piece.
	A simple round piece put on top of a double round piece results in a triple round piece.
	A simple round piece put on top of a double square piece results in a square-square-round combined piece.
	A round-square clustered piece combined with a simple round piece results in a round-round-square combined piece.

Note: the order with which the pieces are clustered never matters.

Thus the three combined pieces on the opposite diagram have identical powers in the game. In subsequent figures, to ease reading square pieces will always be drawn below round pieces.

Important:

• A combined piece may not contain more than three simple pieces. As a consequence, a move is forbidden if it would result in more than three simple pieces being clustered on the destination square.
• Pieces in a combined piece are bound and must be moved together (see below). The action that enables to split a combined piece into its individual components is called "deploying" (this action is explained in depth on next page).

The opposite figure shows how combined pieces of two simple pieces may be moved.

Double round pieces move forward on diagonals, either one or two squares at a time.

Double square pieces move forward or sideways, either one or two squares at a time.

Round-square combined pieces move one square at a time, either like a simple round piece or like a simple square piece.

Important: one cannot change direction in the course of a move (*). For instance, the double square piece on f2 cannot move to g3 within a single move; neither can the double round piece on d7 travel to d5 in less than two moves.

(*) Excepts if one bounces on a boundary of the board.

Important: one can never leapfrog over another piece.

For instance, on the opposite figure, the white double square piece on f2 can't move to f4, because to do so it would leapfrog over the black round piece on f3.

(Of course, it can capture the black round piece on f3, but then it will be captured in turn by the black round piece on e4...)

The opposite figure shows how to move square-square-round combined pieces and round-round-square combined pieces.

A square-square-round piece may be moved either like a double square piece or like a simple round piece.

A round-round-square piece may be moved either like a simple square piece or like a double round piece.

Needless to say, they can't leapfrog over another piece.

Triple square pieces are moved just like double square pieces, excepts that they can get one square farther.

Triple round pieces are moved just like double round pieces, excepts that they can get one square farther.

Note: while triple square and triple round pieces are the fastest combined pieces in the game, they should be used with great care, as they turn out to be far less manoeuvrable than "mixed" combined pieces (e.g. square-square-round, round-round-square, or even round-square combined pieces). In particular, as one can't leapfrop over other pieces, triple round pieces may often find themselves blocked by your opponent's pieces.

Pieces with a range of two squares (or more) in a single move may bounce on the boundaries of the board, as shown on the opposite figure:

• The triple round piece on f3 may be moved to g6, by bouncing on the h file (the normal course of the move would lead to square "i6", but there is no such square! Therefore, the move switches direction when in h5, hence reaching g6).
• Similarly, the round-round-square piece on b4 may be moved to b2, by bouncing on file a.

Moves with bounces are sometimes unexpected and may be decisive in some situations.

Important: bouncing is only possible when moving from file b or c (bouncing on file a) or when moving from file f or g (bouncing on file h); moves originating from file a or h can never bounce.

Note: on the above figure, if any piece was standing on h5, the triple round piece on f3 could no longer move to g6, because doing so would require to leapfrog over the piece on h5, which is not allowed.

Moves with bounces are commonly used with combined pieces of round pieces. However, the rules of the game also enable combined pieces of square pieces to bounce.

You will most likely find this of very little help, but should you need it, in the position shown on the opposite figure, you may "pass" by moving your double square piece from g2 to g2 by bouncing on the h file!

However, always bear in mind that one cannot leapfrop over another piece. For instance, on the opposite figure, as there is a piece on h2, the "null move" of the double square piece from g2 to g2 is not allowed, because it would leapfrog over the round piece on h2.