INTRODUCTION
Atoll is a two player game played on a hexagonal
pattern grid. The game starts with eight "islands" of stones surrounding
an empty grid as shown in Figure 1. Each player takes possession of an
entire set of stones of one color, black or white. Each player owns the
islands of his stones' color. Draws and ties cannot occur in Atoll.
Mark Steere designed Atoll in January 2008.
STONE PLACEMENT
Players take turns adding their stones to the
board, one stone per turn. Black makes the first placement of the game.
Each player will always have a placement available on his turn and must
make one.
OBJECT OF THE GAME
To win, you must connect two of your islands
which are exactly opposite each other, with a contiguous sequence of
your stones. The stones of your islands can be included in the sequence.
In Figure 2, Black wins by connecting his North and South islands. In
Figure 3, Black wins by connecting his West and East islands. Note that
stones in Black's South island comprise part of the winning sequence.
PIE RULE
As noted earlier, Black makes the first placement.
White then has the option of switching colors with Black, and
claiming Black's first move as his own. If White chooses to
exercise the Pie rule, Black then becomes White and now
makes the second move of the game. The Pie rule can only be
used once and only on the second move of the game.
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Fig. 1 - Initial setup
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Fig. 2 - Black wins
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Fig. 3 - Black wins
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APPENDIX FOR THE ONLINE VERSION
You can drop a stone by clicking on a free place on the board.
Then click "finish turn".
You can use the "Pie Rule" this way: Simply click on the stone placed by your opponent in his first turn.
If you instead drop your own stone, that is the sign not to use the "Pie Rule".
The displayed colors (not the stones!) can be changed all the time.
For this you have to click on the color marker besides a player's name.
This change has no influence on the game and has nothing to do with the "Pie Rule".
The different sizes of playing areas use names (only on Yucata.de) of real atolls.
The lengths of the names are proportional to the size of the game playing area -
a short name indicates a small playing area.
Gan (beginner)
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Nauru (standard)
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Tokelau (advanced players)
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Kiritimati (for experts only)
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