Kōnane

How to play

An ancient Hawaiian game played with black and white stones filling the whole board. Remove a stone to open the first gap, then jump your pieces over an adjacent enemy stone into the empty space beyond to capture it — straight lines only, no diagonals.

Rules

  • To start, tap one of the four highlighted black stones (centre or corner) to remove it and open the first gap.
  • Tap a black stone with an available jump, then the highlighted landing point to capture.
  • Chain further jumps in the same direction if a follow-up capture is available.
  • Every move must be a capture — the first player unable to jump loses.

Tips

Every move must capture, so think ahead about which of your stones will still have a jump available later. Keep several possible jumps open rather than using them all up early — running out of moves means an instant loss.