High Jump (game)

High Jump is a two-player strategy board game from Somalia. It is related to draughts and Alquerque as pieces hop over one another for capture. However, pieces move and capture orthogonally and not diagonally. Moreover, the game is played on a 5×5 square board. An interesting feature of High Jump is that the middle square offers a kind of sanctuary; a piece occupying the middle square cannot be hopped over and captured. The same board is used in the game Seega.^[1]

Goal

A player wins, if all of their opponent's pieces are captured.

Equipment

A 5×5 square board is used. The middle square can be marked with an "X" or any special marking. Each player has twelve pieces. One plays the black pieces, and the other plays the white pieces.

Gameplay and rules

1. Players decide what colors to play, and who starts first.
2. Each player's pieces are set up on their half of the board, and on the right side of the middle rank. Only the middle square is empty in the beginning.
3. Pieces move orthogonally (not diagonally) one space per turn onto a vacant square.
4. Alternatively, a piece can capture an orthogonally adjacent enemy piece by leaping over it, and landing on a vacant space on the other side. The piece can continue capturing provided there exist exactly one vacant space in between the enemy pieces, and a vacant space beyond the last piece to be leaped over. Only one piece may be used per turn for capture. Captures are compulsory. If a piece has more than one capturing line, it can choose any one of them.
5. A piece in the middle square cannot be leaped over and/or captured.

See also

• Draughts
• Alquerque

Notes

1. Bell, Robert Charles. "Board and Table Games From Many Civilizations". Courier Dove Publications, 1979, p. 84.

References

• Traditional games

External links

• Games
• Traditional games