An abstract strategy game is a board, card or other game with perfect information, no chance or physical skill, and (usually) two players or teams. Some board games which do not involve the removal of taken pieces can be played as pen-and-paper games.
Chess and chess-like games
- Chaturaji (India)
- Chaturanga (Indian chess)
- Chess (Western chess)
- Courier chess (German chess)
- Djambi (modern French chess variant)
- Fortress chess (Russia)
- Four-handed chess
- Hexagonal chess
- Hnefatafl (Nordic chess-like game)
- Hiashatar (Mongolian chess variant)
- Hive (boardless chess-like game)
- Janggi (Korean chess)
- Jeson Mor (Mongolian chess variant)
- Maharajah and the Sepoys (Indian chess variant)
- Makruk (Thai chess)
- Ploy (board game)
- Senterej (Ethiopian chess)
- Shatar (Mongolian chess)
- Shatranj (Persian and Arabian chess)
- Shogi (Japanese chess)
- Shogi variants (other shogi-like games)
- Sittuyin (Burmese chess)
- Tak (America)
- Tamerlane chess (Persian)
- Three-player chess
- Xiangqi (Chinese chess)
Paper and pencil games
"N-in-a-row" games
N-in-a-row games involve placing and/or moving pieces on a game board attempting to create a layout of N of your pieces in a straight line (often N=3, but not always). Positional games[1] involve only playing pieces, with no movement or captures afterwards. Many of these positional games can also be played as paper and pencil games, and these are marked †. (Generally, 3D games are difficult to play on paper.)
- Positional "N-in-a-row" games
- Andantino †
- Connect Four †
- Connect 4x4
- Connect6 †
- Gobblet
- Gomoku †
- Hijara †
- Join five (aka. morpion solitaire, cross 'n' lines, line game) †
- Quarto
- Qubic
- Renju †
- Rhumb Line †
- Score four
- Tic-tac-toe † (aka noughts and crosses)
- Non-positional "N-in-a-row" games, i.e. games with movements and/or captures
- Achi
- Boku
- Check lines
- Dala
- Dara
- Kamisado
- Morabaraba
- Morris – three, six and nine men's morris
- Nine holes
- Pentago
- Pente, a slight simplification of Ninuki-renju
- Picaria
- Shax
- Shisima
- Square chess
- Tant Fant
- Tapatan
- Teeko
- Tsoro yematatu
- Wali
- Yinsh
Blockade games
Blockade games[2][3] primarily involve moving your pieces, following the game rules, so as to block your opponent from having any move they can make. In symmetric blockade games, both players have the same number of pieces with the same movement capabilities. In asymmetric blockade games, players have different numbers of pieces with different movement capabilities—usually one player having a single piece of greater movement range and the other player having multiple pieces of lesser movement capabilities.
- Symmetric blockade games
- Berry patch scramble
- Grinder
- Mlýnek
- Mū tōrere
- Pat gonu or hobag gonu
- Pong Hau K'i (aka Sua tok tong, umul gonu, gang gonu or do-guti)
- Tako judo (octopus wrestling)
- Asymmetric blockade games
Connection games
A connection game is a type of abstract strategy game in which players attempt to complete a specific type of connection with their pieces. This could involve forming a path between two or more goals, completing a closed loop, or connecting all of one's pieces so they are adjacent to each other.[4] Those marked † can also be played as paper and pencil games.
Stacking games
Other games
Those marked † can also be played as paper and pencil games.
- Aadu puli attam
- Abalone
- Adugo
- Agon
- Alquerque
- Amazons
- Arimaa
- Armenian checkers
- Asalto
- Astar
- Ataxx
- Awithlaknakwe
- Awithlaknannai Mosona
- Bagh bandi
- Bagha-chall
- Bizingo
- Blokus
- Blue and Gray
- Brax (game)
- Breakthrough
- Breakthru
- Buga-shadara
- Butterfly
- Camelot
- Canadian checkers
- Catch the hare (aka cercar la liebre or corner the rabbit)
- Cathedral
- Chinese checkers
- Choko
- Chopsticks
- Cinc camins
- Conga or celim
- Congo
- Conspirateurs
- Conquest
- Crossings
- Crosstrack
- Dablot Prejjesne
- Dash-guti
- Death stacks
- Demala diviyan keliya
- Diaballik
- Diamond
- Dominoes
- Draughts (also known as checkers)
- Egara-guti
- En Gehé
- Entropy (1977)
- Entropy (1994)
- Epaminondas
- Fanorona
- Felli
- Fetaix
- Fitchneal
- Five-ield kono
- Four-field kono
- Fox games, such as fox and geese
- Game of the Generals
- The GIPF project games:
- Go
- Gol-skuish
- Halatafl
- Halma
- Hare games
- Hare & Tortoise
- Hat diviyan keliya
- Hexagony
- High jump
- Hive
- Hnefatafl
- Indian and jackrabbits
- Ingenious
- Irensei
- Isola
- Italian Damone
- Jarmo
- Jul-gonu
- Jungle (dou shou qi, the game of fighting animals)
- Kalah
- Kaooa
- Kensington
- Kharbaga
- Khet
- Kolowis Awithlaknannai (fighting serpents)
- Komikan
- Konane
- Kotu Ellima
- L game
- Lau kata kati
- Leap Frog (board game)
- Len Choa
- Liberian Queah
- Lines of Action
- Lotus
- Ludus latrunculorum
- Main tapal empat
- Mak-yek
- Makonn
- Mancala and related games
- Martian chess (for two to six players)
- Meurimueng-rimueng-do
- Meurimueng-rimueng peuet ploh or Dam-daman or Ratti-chitti-bakri
- Ming mang
- Mozaic
- Neutron
- Nim †
- Paddles
- Pasang
- Pentagame
- Peralikatuma
- Permainan-Tabal
- Phutball
- Pretwa
- Pulijudam
- Quoridor
- Reversi, also known as Othello
- Rhumb Line
- Rhythmomachy
- Rimau
- Rimau-rimau
- Ringo
- Salta
- Sher-bakar
- Sixteen soldiers (aka "cows and leopards" or "Sholo guti")
- Stratego
- Sua ghin gnua (aka tigers and oxen)
- Surakarta
- Sz'swa
- Tafl games
- Terhuchu
- Terrace
- Three musketeers
- Thud
- Tiger and buffaloes
- Tuknanavuhpi
- Tukvnanawopi
- Turkish draughts
- Ugolki
- Xoliba
- Yoté
- Zamma
References
Bibliography
- D. Hefetz, M. Krivelevich, M. Stojaković and T. Szabó: Positional Games, Oberwolfach Seminars, Vol. 44, Birkhäuser Basel, 2014.
- Michaelsen, Peter, (2014) "Haretavl – Hare and Hounds as a board game", in Sport und Spiel bei den Germanen, M. Teichert, pp. 197–216
- Popova, Assia, (1974). "Analyse formelle et classification des jeux de calculs mongols" in Études Mongoles 5, pp. 7–60.