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gsingh_msu's Twelve-Branches (Other)
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| [January 20, 2009 12:12:20 PM]
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Bara-Tahni (Twelve branches) is an ancient Indian multiplayer game played by two people. It can be seen as a variant of the Chinese checkers game with more restricted moves of one's pieces.
The objective of this game is to kill opponent's pieces by jumping over them.
=Players=
Only two players can play at one time.
=The Board=
The board consist of 4 X 4 grid with a square diamond shape and a cross. The diamond joins mid-points of all four sides, while the cross joins ends of four sides to the center of the grid.
Each player has 12 marbles with separate color for each player. The marbles can have any shape however all the pieces for one player must be of uniform color.
The marbles for both players are placed on all the line-intersection points at opposite ends of board, with one empty place in center.
=Game Mechanics=
The aim of the game is to kill all of the pieces of the opponent. The players take turns to move the marble. In every turn, the marble can either move one step or it can move one or more available jumps. In one normal step, the marble can move one adjacent position out of 3,4,5,8 available positions depending upon its position on board.
In one jump, marble can jump over an adjacent marble of opponent's, to the next unoccupied position, along same direction as the opponent's marble. However from this position marble can jump to other available positions in same move, killing opponent's other marbles. Jumping over more then one marble is not allowed.
The main strategy of this game is to attack by finding the longest jumping path, which can kill more then one opponent pieces. On the receiving end, the strategy is to block, by preventing the opponent from killing your pieces. There can be some situations to exploit where sacrificing one piece can make you able to kill more then one of opponent pieces.
=Game Play=
I played this game with my friend who has never seen this game before. The rules were pretty simple so it was very easy to play.
First Session: I started the game. At start of game it usually happens that one piece from each side is killed in first two moves. After certain moves of attack and block, i made a mistake that resulted in loosing two of my marbles at the price of one of opponent's marble. This mistake was more severe then it looked at the time, and costed me that session.
Second session: After being beaten by a novice, it was a matter of pride. I started second session cautiously. My opponent was playing good, but he made the most infamous mistake of being a near-sighted. He placed his marbles in a vulnerable stage by killing one of my marbles. Moment of glory at last !!! I killed 3 of his pieces in one move. After that, there was no chance for him and ultimately i won the game with 5 pieces alive.
After playing game I got a trick about this game. There in an advantage in keeping one's pieces on the corners and sides of the board. The more your pieces stay there, more safe they are as, it is not possible to jump a piece when it is at corner. This strategy also increases the chance of killing the opponent's pieces as you can attack from all sides.
=Overall=
Twelve-branches is an interesting strategy game. Sometimes it can be time-consuming as chess but ultimately it results in fun and excitement.
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gsingh_msu's Twelve-Branches (Other)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Sunday 18 January, 2009
GameLog closed on: Tuesday 20 January, 2009 |
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This is the only GameLog for Twelve-Branches. |
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