Streak
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Best
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A race game from ancient Mesopotamia, some 4,500 years old, played here with the rules reconstructed from a cuneiform tablet. Roll four pyramid dice, run seven pieces down a shared lane where either side can knock the other back, and land on the rosettes for extra turns. Every win brings a rival that thinks further ahead.
Each side has seven pieces and a path of fourteen squares. Your pieces enter at the bottom of the right-hand column, travel up it for four squares, cross into the middle lane and run all the way down it for eight squares, then turn back into your own column for the last two squares before leaving the board. The rival does the same on the left. The middle lane is shared, and that is where all the fighting happens.
On your turn tap Roll. The four dice are pyramids with one marked tip each, so each lands marked or unmarked with equal chance and your roll is the number of marked tips, from zero to four. Two is the most common result and zero and four are rare. Then tap one of the glowing pieces, or the waiting tray to bring a new piece on, and it moves exactly that many squares. A dot shows where each choice will land.
You may not land on one of your own pieces. If you land on a rival piece in the middle lane it is knocked off and must start its journey again; the squares in each side's own column are private and safe. Three squares on your path are rosettes, marked with a star: landing on one gives you another roll straight away, and a piece standing on the rosette in the middle of the shared lane cannot be taken at all.
A piece leaves the board only with an exact roll, landing one step past the last square. If you roll zero, or none of your pieces can move the full count, your turn passes. The first side to bring all seven pieces home wins the game. Each win adds one to your streak and the next rival searches more rolls ahead; a single loss ends the run. The first move alternates from game to game.
The middle rosette is the most valuable square on the board. A piece parked there cannot be taken, blocks the rival from landing on it, and sits in the middle of the lane where it threatens everything that passes within four squares ahead. Strong players move a piece onto it early and leave it there for a long time, only moving it off when the rest of the race demands it.
Count the odds before you step into the shared lane. A rival piece one to four squares behind yours can hit it, and the chance depends on the distance: two squares behind is the most dangerous because two is the most common roll, while four behind is only a one in sixteen shot. When you have a choice, leave your exposed pieces where the rival would need a rare roll to reach them.
Rosettes are worth more than their distance. Every rosette landing is a free extra roll, so a move that stops on the first rosette in your own column, or on the last one before home, is often better than a longer move that goes nowhere special. The extra roll also lets you do two things in one turn — escape with one piece and then attack with another.
Do not rush a single piece home while the rest wait at the start. Pieces in your own column are safe but useless, and a spread of pieces at different distances gives you something useful to do with every possible roll. The rival faces the same problem, so aim to hit its pieces just after they enter the shared lane, when sending them back costs them the most.