The game of Camelot is played on a board containing 160 squares. Each player starts with 14 pieces - 4 knights and 10 pawns. The starting position is shown at the following picture:
The game object
Every player guards a special location of the board which is called a castle. White castle is formed by two squares at the first row (F1 and G1), black castle consists of two squares at the last row (F16 and G16). The goal is to capture opponent's castle by moving two own pieces to both castle squares, or capture all opponent's pieces.
How to make moves
The game of Camelot allows to make 4 possible move types, depending of the selected piece and position:
The plain move: A piece (either knight or pawn) may move one square in any direction (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) to any adjacent unoccupied square.
The canter: If a friendly piece is located at the adjacent square in any direction (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally), a piece (either knight or pawn) may jump it if the landing square is not occupied by any other piece. This rule is also known from Halma - jumped pieces are not removed from the board and the player's piece can continue jumping as long as it can jump other friendly pieces, but cannot begin and end the canter move on the same square.
The jump: If an enemy piece is located at the adjacent square in any direction (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally), a piece (either knight or pawn) may jump it if the landing square is not occupied by any other piece. Such jumped pieces are removed from the board immediately and the player's piece must continue jumping as long as it can jump other enemy pieces.
The knight's charge: A knight (only) may combine a canter and a jump in a single move, called a Knight’s Charge. A Knight’s Charge must follow the order of first the canter(s) and last the jump(s).
How to finish the game
The game is finished when one of the following situations occurs:
A player moves two pieces (of any type) to the opponent's castle. This player wins the game.
A player captures all opponent's pieces. This player wins the game.
A player cannot make a legal move. This player loses the game.
Both players have only 1 piece left. The game is a draw.
Other important rules
Just like in checkers, jumping opponent's pieces is mandatory. It means that if a player's piece stands next to an opponent's piece and can jump it, it is forced to do it and it must continue jumping as long as it can. However, it is not mandatory to make the longest one of all possible jumps - the maximum capture rule is not applied here.
A jump is not forced if a knight's charge is possible to make in the same position. It means that if a player can make both a jump and a knight's charge (either with the same piece or different ones), he can choose any of these moves.
A player may not make a plain move or a canter to his own castle. It is allowed to make a jump (or a jumping part of a knight's charge) to own castle, but the player is obliged to move the piece out of the castle in the next move. This rule has a higher priority than a jumping one - it means that if a player's piece is located at his own castle, his next move must be done with this piece, even if he could make a jump with another piece.
A player's piece which reaches the opponent's castle can no longer come out of it. It is allowed to move from one castle square to other (which is called a castle move). A player is limited to two castle moves during a game.
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