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ZAQARU

Zaqaru is terrific ancient game! Developed and Played by the Zaqaruans on planet Zaqaru. You stack tiles on a square-grid surface. The first to get one of their tiles four tiles high wins! Well, at least that's the basic version of Zaqaru (there are numerous advanced versions!).

Here is a written-out version of the rules:

Zaqaru is a two-player game. Each player may manipulate only one set of tiles, either the circle pattern tiles or the square pattern tiles. There are eight of each, 16 total, and the game begins with all the tiles set up on the 4 by 4 playing surface grid in a checkered configuration. Only tiles with an exposed side may be manipulated. Thus, at the onset of every game the 4 tiles in the middle may not be manipulated yet. The objective of the game is to get one of your tiles 4 tiles high.

In order to get a tile 4 tiles high there are certain actions players may perform. Each player’s turn consists of performing one action. There are three different actions a player may perform: stack, un-stack, and move.

Stack: A player may stack one of their tiles on top of any immediately adjacent tile (either square pattern or circle pattern) but only if the two tiles are level. A player may not stack a tile diagonally or if the tiles are not level at the start of the turn. There are no diagonal movements in Zaqaru.

Un-Stack: A player may un-stack (or “jump down”) one of their tiles to an immediately adjacent space/tile. Players may un-stack one of their tiles from any height down to any height.

Move: A player may move one of their tiles anywhere amongst the plane the tile is on given that there are no obstructions (stacked up tiles or an absence of tiles) in the path to reach the space the tile is being moved to.