Tower Push

The Objective

There are only two ways to win the game. You must be the first player to achieve one of them.

• Win by Surrounding: Get four of your pieces onto the squares immediately surrounding the central gold Tower. This can be done in two patterns:
  • Adjacent Pattern: Occupy the four squares directly above, below, left, and right of the Tower.
  • Diagonal Pattern: Occupy the four squares on each of the Tower's corners.
• Win by Capture: Capture all of your opponent's pieces. If your opponent has no pieces left on the board, you win immediately.

Movement

On your turn, choose one of your pieces to move. You can move it one single square in any direction (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) as long as the destination square is empty.

Pushing an Opponent

The main mechanic of the game is pushing. When you move your piece to a square that is next to one or more of your opponent's pieces, you will push them.

• An opponent's piece is always pushed one square directly away from the square your piece just landed on.
• Single Push Example: If you move your piece to the square directly above an opponent's piece, their piece is immediately pushed one square down.
• Multi-Push Example: One move can cause pushes in multiple directions. Imagine your opponent has three pieces in a vertical line. If you move your piece directly to the right side of the middle piece in that line, you are now touching all three. The top piece (which is to your northwest) is pushed further northwest. The middle piece (to your west) is pushed further west. The bottom piece (to your southwest) is pushed further southwest.

Chain Reactions

If a pushed piece lands on a square that is already occupied by another piece (it doesn't matter whose piece it is), a chain reaction occurs. The piece that was landed on is also pushed one square in the same direction. This chain continues until a piece is pushed onto an empty square or off the board.

• A win is only checked after all pushes and chain reactions are complete. Be careful, as your move could trigger a chain reaction that undoes your winning position!

The Repetition Rule

To prevent endless back-and-forth stalemates, a special rule is in place. If your move pushes only a single opponent's piece, your opponent is not allowed to make a move that would immediately revert the board to the exact state it was in before your turn began. This rule prevents simple one-for-one reversals but allows any move that results in a new board state (for example, by causing a different chain reaction). The rule does not apply if your initial move pushed multiple opponent pieces.

Capturing Pieces

If any piece (yours or your opponent's) is pushed off the edge of the board during a chain reaction, it is captured.

• When a piece is captured, it switches teams.
• The captured piece is given to the opponent of its original owner. For example, if your move causes one of your own red pieces to get pushed off the board, the player with the black pieces gets a new black piece.

Placing Captured Pieces

If a move results in one or more pieces being captured, a "Placement Phase" begins after the move and pushes are complete.

• The player whose turn it was gets to place all the pieces they captured first. Then the other player places theirs.
• You can place a captured piece on any empty square on the entire board.
• Placing a piece is a "safe" action; it does not cause a new push.
• The turn only ends after all captured pieces have been placed on the board.

The Tower

The gold Tower in the center is a special obstacle.

• It can never be moved, pushed, or captured.
• It acts like a wall. A piece can never be pushed into the Tower's square. Any push that would end on the Tower's square is cancelled.