How to play Abalone

3 years ago
10

Learn the rules to the board game Abalone quickly and concisely - This video has no distractions, just the rules.

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RULES:

The object of the game is to be the first player to push 6 of your opponent's marbles out of play, into the board's outer rim. Setup. Layout the board and each player picks a color and arranges the marbles as shown. Pick a player to go first, then turns alternate.

On your turn, you may move either a single marble or Column of marbles of your own color one space. A column consists of two or three marbles of the same color directly adjacent to one another in a straight line. A single marble can move 1 space in any direction. A column can move 1 free space in an in-line direction or it can side-step.

A side-step move is when all the marbles in the column are moved sideways into adjacent free spaces. All the marbles in the Column must move in the same direction. All the spaces from a side-step must be free in order to move. A ‘Side step’ move cannot be used to push an opponent’s marble or column.

When your column is in-line with, and directly adjacent to, a lesser number of your opponent's marbles, you have a Sumito advantage. In a Sumito position, your column may push columns of less size with an in-line move. So, a Column of 3 marbles may push 1 or 2 marbles. And a column of 2 marbles, may only push 1 marble. All pushes move 1 space and a single marble may never push an opponent’s marbles.

When pushing, the opponent’s marbles must be pushed either into an unoccupied space or off the board into the outer rim. Marbles pushed into the outer rim are no longer in play, and may not be moved. A single marble can never push an opposing marble, nor can a Column push any marble if it moves sideways. Enemy marbles sandwiched between friendly marbles may not be pushed. At any turn, no more than 3 friendly marbles can be moved, thus an opponent’s Column of three can never be pushed. A position of 4-on-3 or greater is not considered a Sumito.

The first player to push 6 of their opponent’s marbles off the board into the outer rim wins.

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