Method of playing a strategy game

A method of play of a strategy board game in which each player moves his playing pieces about a grid of playing spaces in a playing pattern in an attempt to capture, either by jumping or bumping, the playing pieces of his opponent, the method of play comprising the steps of:

• (a) each player receiving a similar set of playing pieces, the playing pieces of one player being recognizably distinct from those of another player, but the set of each consisting of an equal number of playing pieces, divided equally into two subsets, the playing pieces in each such subset coded as either jumping or bumping pieces, that is, capable of capturing an opponent's playing piece by executing either a jump from the space presently occupied by the player's piece over the adjacent space occupied by the opponent's piece and into the space directly behind the opponent's piece, or a bump from the space presently occupied by the player's piece into the adjacent space occupied by the opponent's piece, respectively, and further divided equally into more than one sub-subsets, the playing pieces within each sub-subset, in addition to being coded as a jumping or bumping piece, being additionally coded with another unique code, one of said codes being designated a neutral code;
• (b) placing the playing spaces on the game board and within the grid in a random manner to produce the playing pattern, the playing spaces being equally divided into subsets, equal in number to the number of sub-subsets of the playing pieces, and coded similarly thereto;
• (c) each player placing his playing pieces in stacks of multiple pieces on one or more playing spaces which have been designated as starting spaces;
• (d) each player, in alternating turns, and at his discretion, moving his playing piece, or a stack of more than one playing piece, first from a designated starting space, and thereafter from its then location, to any adjacent, unoccupied playing space, or an adjacent space occupied by his own piece or pieces, regardless of codes;
• or
• (e) if an adjacent, unoccupied playing space is of a neutral code, then moving through that neutrally coded playing space and any additional contiguous, interconnected, unoccupied, neutrally coded playing spaces to any unoccupied playing space, or a space occupied by his own piece or pieces, which can be reached by travelling along those interconnected neutral spaces;
• or
• (f) if an adjacent space is occupied by an opponent's playing piece or stack of playing pieces, and, if that adjacent playing space is similarly coded as the player's playing piece or the uppermost playing piece in a stack of playing pieces, or if either said adjacent playing space or the player's playing piece or the uppermost playing piece in his stack of playing pieces, is of the neutral code, and if the player's playing piece, or the uppermost playing piece in a stack of playing pieces, is coded as a bumping piece, then the player may capture the opponent's playing piece or stack of playing pieces by moving his playing piece, or his stack of playing pieces, or a top portion of his stack of playing pieces onto the playing space formerly occupied by the captured opponent's playing piece or stack of playing pieces and may remove his opponent's captured playing piece or pieces from the game board;
• or
• (g) if an adjacent playing space is occupied by an opponent's playing piece or a stack of playing pieces, and if the playing space directly and linearly behind (relative to the player's playing piece) and adjacent to the playing space now occupied by the opponent's playing piece or stack of playing pieces is unoccupied, and if that unoccupied playing space is coded similarly to the sub-subset code of the player's playing piece or the uppermost playing piece of a stack of playing pieces, or if either that unoccupied playing space or the player's playing piece or the uppermost playing piece of a stack of playing pieces is of the neutral code, and the player's playing piece or the uppermost playing piece of a stack of playing pieces is coded as a jumping piece, then the player may capture the opponent's said playing piece of stack of playing pieces by jumping over the opponent's said piece or pieces onto said unoccupied playing space, and continuing, within the same turn, to make multiple jumps if the above stated conditions exist as to each jump;
• or (h) if an opponent's playing piece or stack of playing pieces may be reached as a result of moving through an adjacent unoccupied neutrally coded playing space, and any number of inter-connected such playing spaces, and if the above stated conditions for a jump or a bump exist with respect to that opponent's playing piece or stack of playing pieces, the jump or bump may be executed, in that same turn, after moving through the unoccupied, interconnected neutrally coded playing spaces;
• or
• (i) in any one turn, and as a complete move, either player flipping any stack of his playing pieces over such the previously lowermost playing piece in the stack is now the uppermost piece;
• and
• (j) continuing in that manner until one player has captured a predetermined number of his opponent's playing pieces.