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What are the Quoridor Rules: How do you play Quoridor?

 

Setup: The game requires a 9×9 inches board with 81 squares and ten walls for each player. 

 

In a two-player game, each player places a pawn at the center space of both baselines of the board. 

 

The Quoridor rules state that pawns must have different colors to distinguish each player. 

 

Each player aims to move their pawn and the first to reach the opposite side of the board wins the game.

 

Quoridor Rules: 

 

  • Each player gets a turn where he performs one action. He may place a wall or move his pawn. 

 

  • A pawn can move in four different directions; left, right, up, or down (But not diagonally). 

 

  • The purpose of the walls is to disrupt or block the opponent. They can also help push a player’s pawn towards the goal. 

 

  • A player can never completely wall his opponent. That means that there must remain at least a single path towards the goal. 

 

  • Once a player places walls, they cannot move them.

 

Opening the game: Each player chooses a pawn and places it at the center of the first line of the board facing each other. The opening phase can either be orthodox or unorthodox. The goal in the orthodox opening is to move the pawn toward the other side. 

 

Unorthodox opening; on the other hand, the player makes two or more wall moves before moving his pawn. One may start by placing two walls during the first two moves before his opponent’s third row. He may also counter this strategy by placing two horizontal walls on both ends of his first line. This counter-strategy reduces both player’s path count.

 

Another way to start is by both players advancing their pawns three times toward the middle, and then the first player places a wall vertically to the column close to his pawn. This strategy maximizes the opponent’s path count while minimizing one’s paths.

 

The walls. Quoridor rules stipulates that the walls can get placed everywhere across the board. They also have to face two sets of squares and should never overlap each other. A player places the walls in front of his opponent, forcing him to move around as a strategy to reduce path counts. However, this may leave the player without walls and loses control over the game. 

 

A good strategy is to save the walls because one cannot win a wall race. Additionally, the player should try to wall himself, not the opponent, and ensure he too is not walled off. He should also watch all edges of the board to ensure he is not pushed on one side of the board, leaving open paths on the other. Remember that an optimal wall is that which adds more moves to the opponent. Therefore a player should try to get the most out of his walls.

 

Move the Pawns. Quoridor rules state that a pawn cannot cross over a wall and only move orthogonally. Although each player gets ten walls, they can make an unlimited number of moves. The moves can also turn to a player’s worst enemy when trying to figure out a way to gain a path. Nevertheless, these are the ultimate resources when playing.

 

In case two pawns face each other, a player whose turn it is to play can move his pawn over his opponents in a straight line. However, if there is a wall behind the opponent’s pawn, the player can move his pawn over to the free adjacent squares. This action occurs because pawns cannot share a single space.

 

Winning: the first player who reaches the opposite side of the board is the winner. It also signals the end of the game, and they can start fresh by removing all the walls. 

 


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