12
12
A modern strategy classic with one beautifully simple goal: gather all of your pieces into a single connected group before the AI gathers its own. The catch is the move rule. A piece never just steps one square — it slides exactly as many squares as there are pieces, of either colour, standing on the whole line it travels along. So every capture and every move you make quietly re-times the entire board, lengthening some moves and shortening others. Pieces clump together, lines thin out, and a position that looked scattered can snap into one connected blob in a single surprising slide. There is no luck and almost no setup; it is pure spatial calculation, easy to learn in a minute and deep enough to chew on for years. Win games back to back and the AI searches deeper with every victory.
You are Black, starting with twelve pieces spread along the top and bottom rows; the AI is White, lined up down the left and right columns. The four corners start empty. You move first.
Tap one of your pieces and every square it can legally reach lights up; tap a highlighted square to move there. The move distance is the rule that makes this game: a piece travels in a straight line — horizontal, vertical, or diagonal — exactly as many squares as the total number of pieces (yours and the AI's together) standing anywhere on that entire line. A line with three pieces on it means every piece on that line moves exactly three squares along it.
A piece may jump over your own pieces, but it cannot pass over an AI piece — an enemy in the path blocks the move. It may land on an empty square or on an AI piece (capturing and removing it), but it can never land on one of your own.
You win the instant all of your remaining pieces form a single connected group, where connected means touching in any of the eight directions, diagonals included. If you are ever reduced to a single piece, that counts as connected and you win. The same rules win the game for the AI, so a careless capture that suddenly links the AI's pieces can hand it the win.
Win a game and the next begins immediately, keeping your streak — your score is how many you have won in a row. The AI searches deeper as your streak grows. A loss or a stalemate ends the run; tap Save to post your streak to the Hall of Fame.
Think in groups, not pieces. The only thing that matters is how many separate clusters your army is split into, so judge every move by whether it merges two clusters or strands a piece off on its own. A move that captures a piece but leaves yours scattered is usually worse than a quiet move that pulls a straggler into the fold.
The centre is home. Pieces gathered near the middle are easy to connect and hard to cut off, while pieces marooned on the edges and corners need long, awkward journeys to rejoin. Drift your army inward over the game, and be wary of chasing a capture into a corner where your piece then sits alone.
Remember that captures cut both ways — including yours. Removing an enemy piece changes how many pieces sit on every line through that square, which retimes your own future moves and the AI's. Worse, thinning a line can suddenly hand the AI the exact distance it needs to connect. Before you capture, glance at whether it tidies the AI's shape as much as it dents it.
Watch the AI's connection as closely as your own, because the game ends the moment EITHER side joins up, and the winner is whoever's move completes it. Keep a piece or two positioned to break the AI's last link, and never make a capture that gift-wraps its final connection. Patience and a tight, central shape win far more streaks than greedy captures.