Breakthrough is an abstract strategy board game invented by Dan Troyka in 2000. It won the 2001 8x8 Game Design Competition and it has some similarity to Checkers, but the strategy is completely different.
Start position and game object
The game is played on 8x8 square board with white and black pieces. The following image shows the start position:
The object of the game is to reach opponent's home row - the one farthest from the player. It means that the white player must reach the 8th row and the black player must reach the 1st row to win the game.
How to move and capture pieces
Each player moves one piece per turn. A piece can be moved one space forward or diagonally forward, if the target position is empty. A piece may be also moved to a square occupied by an enemy piece, if the target position is one space diagonally forward. The following picture shows a situation where:
E2 white piece can move to D3, E3 or F3,
D4 white piece can move to C5 or E5 but cannot move to D5,
C4 white piece can move to B5 and C5, and can capture the D5 black piece,
etc.
How to finish the game
The game ends if one player reaches opponent's home row. The next picture displays an example of black's winning move:
Other important rules
Captures are not mandatory. Even if a player can capture opponent's piece, he can choose any other valid move instead.
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