Picaria

How to play

A Pueblo alignment game from the American Southwest, kin to Three Men's Morris. First place your three stones on the points; then slide a stone along a line to an empty neighbour.

Rules

  • Placement phase: tap any empty point to place one of your three stones (you place first).
  • Once all six stones are down, tap one of your stones then a highlighted adjacent empty point to slide it there.
  • Line up all three of your stones on any drawn line — row, column or diagonal — to win.
  • The AI blocks and lines up the same way; if it lines up three first, it wins.

Tips

The centre point touches every line, so holding it is powerful — but if all three of your stones cluster there you can't make a line. In the sliding phase, set up a "fork" where one slide threatens two different lines at once, so the AI can't block both.