- cows-on-a-boat round hinkey board
- hinkey.png (8.87 KiB) Viewed 48 times
The shape of the board is that of three concentric rings or squares, connected by four radial spokes at 12:00, 3:00, 6:00, and 9:00. The intersections of these lines with the rings, and each of the four corners, make for 24 spaces on the board where pieces may be placed. Pieces can be moved on the board from point to point around each ring, and also inward and outward along the spokes.
The objective of the game is to capture your opponent's pieces, leaving them with two pieces; or maneuvering in such a way that your opponent has no legal play. The way to achieve the objective is by creating rows of 3 pieces horizontally or vertically, which allows you to capture and remove an opponent's piece (but only if that piece is not itself part of a formation of 3). (On a round board, "horizontally" and "vertically" may be less obvious: a formation of 3 must have its center piece on a spoke.)
There are three phases of play:
1. PLACING: The board starts empty. Opponents take turns placing checkers on vacant spots. Creating formations + capturing is allowed, but the focus in this phase is usually on strategic placement that allows for making formations in phase two. Pieces may not be moved on the board once placed in this phase.
2. MOVING: Once all the pieces have been placed, opponents take turns moving their pieces to adjacent spaces around the board trying to create formations and capture pieces.
3. FLYING: When an opponent is reduced to 3 pieces, that player may move their pieces on their turn to ANY vacant spot on the board. (The pastoral form of the game amusingly retains this terminology and may refer to flying cows in this phase.)
The game can be played for money---and is often done so---using coins as the game pieces, heads side showing for one player and tails for the other, and at the end of the game keeping all your coins remaining on the board, and also any coins you have captured from your opponent.
The implicit social contract of the game becomes more apparent when played for stakes. It is indeed possible to "lose optimally" by capturing (and keeping) a majority of your opponent's coins, thus losing the objective but not all of your coins. Furthermore the game ends when one opponent has been reduced to two pieces. Not when they have been obliterated. The game has a built-in safety net.
- a square board signifying love and affection
- hinkey-smooches.png (27.24 KiB) Viewed 48 times
This is not a game of war or of annihilation. It is a game of friendly rivalry and, ultimately, cooperation. Of lenience and mercy. No one side will be left empty-handed. Chess and checkers are take-no-prisoners games of the warring class. Hinkey Checkers is an egalitarian game of the people. Thus the derision in its naming when the learned warrior classes put pen to paper to describe it. And thus, nonetheless, its enduring popularity among the fishers, farmers, and other people of the land.
