Traditional Games of the Ages

The histories of all the majorĀ  games played today from all over the world.

Fitchneal


Fitchneal board

Setup:

The board is set up with the pieces placed in the squares as shown.

Play:

One player controls the king and eight defenders. The other player controls 16 attackers. Attacker moves first. Each piece can move as many squares as desired in a straight line, like the rook in chess. The center square (where the king starts) is known as the throne. The king is the only piece that may stop on the throne, although other pieces can cross over it. The object of the defender is to get the king to safety, off the edge of the board, while the attacker tries to stop the king by surrounding him on all sides, or on three sides and the throne. A piece is captured by trapping it between two enemy pieces in a straight line. Captured pieces are removed from the board. Multiple captures are permitted. If a piece moves into a space between two enemy pieces it is not captured (no suicides). If the defender creates one or more openings for the king to escape, they must announce the openings. Failure to announce the openings means the king may not use those moves on his next turn. Game ends when the defender gets the king to safety or the attacker captures the king.

Fitchneal example 1 Fitchneal example 2 Fitchneal example 3

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    Charles Knutson

    I tried putting together a little video on how we teach Fitchneal / Fidchell