Sunday, July 08, 2007

Sicic

Sicic is a game for two. Each player guides a group of Astronomers, aiming at copying the opponent’s Constellation. Sicic is played on two 8 × 8 squared boards, named the Earth and the Sky. Each player has 4 pieces that move on the Earth (the Astronomers) and 4 pieces to be placed in the Sky (the Stars). The Stars are the player’s Constellation. There are three phases: the Afternoon, the Evening and the Night. One of the player will be the first to move in every phase of the game.

the game

In the Afternoon, players alternate placing one Astronomer at a time on the Earth, on an empty square. In the Evening, players alternate placing one Star at a time in the Sky, on an empty square. In the Night, each player must move one of his Astronomer every turn.
The Astronomer can move in a direct line in every direction, any number of unoccupied squares.
He must land in an unoccupied square.
The Astronomer may choose not to move, in order to “pinch” one of the opponent’s Astronomers set in a neighbouring square. The result of a pinch is that the pinched Astronomer must move in the next turn. Moreover, it is forbidden to the opponent, in the second next turn, to pinch an Astronomer that occupies the abandoned square.

winning

The winner is the first player who manages to place his Astronomers in the same way as the opponent’s Stars. Translations, reflections and rotations are allowed. Also, a player can win by pinching an Astronomer that is not able to move.

a problem

The player with black Astronomers moves, and wins in his next move (the first board is the Sky, and the second is the Earth):


more info

Sicic is latin for "stellae inerrantes caeli imitatio consequi".
Stars are fixed, so paper and pencil could be used for the Sky and the Stars. Change the number of Stars and Astronomers, the shape and size of the board, to get simple game’s variants.
Sicic was invented by Jean Manuel Morales between June and July 2007. He hopes the game is original and fun to play.

Rules of Sicic in English.
Regole di Sicic in italiano.