Mathematical_Recreations-Kraitchik-2e

290 Mathematical Recreations
color. It is not possible to have an alternation of color such
as White-Black-White in a single column. A captured piece in
a column is not liberated until every opposing piece above it
has been captured. A captured officer keeps his status, but
loses his privileges, until such time as he becomes the guide
of the column.
To illustrate the method of play we give the first few moves
of a sample game. White begins the play and moves a soldier
from 9 to 13. Black must take with 17, and does so, so that
13 and 17 are now empty and 9 is occupied by a column of
two pieces guided by a Black soldier. White must take the
guide of this column, and may do so with either 5 or 6. He
chooses the former, so 9 is occupied by a liberated White soldier,
and 13 by a column guided by a White soldier. Black
plays 21 to 17 and White must play 13 to 21, capturing the
Black piece at 17. Black must then play 25 to 17, capturing
the White guide at 21 and liberating the two Black captives.
12. HOPSCOTCH. This game (which is not the children's
hopping game) is a sort of glorified tick-tack-toe. The
board (illustrated in Figure 157) is
essentially the same, though using
points instead of cells; the first
moves of the game are the same,
though the players place black and
white pieces at vertices instead of
marking 0 or X in cells; and the object
of the game is the same - to get
FIGURE 157. Hopscotch
Board.
three of a kind in a row. The diff erence
lies in the fact that after three
pieces have been placed by each player, the players alternate
in moving one piece at a time a step at a time along the sides
and diagonals of the square. It is still true (as Mr. Sivasankaranarayana
Pillai has shown) that when properly played
the game must be drawn.