Permainan
Permainan is a strategy game for two players which originated from the island of Java in Indonesia. The game is similar to the board game draughts and the Middle-Eastern game of alquerque, and is essentially alquerque played on an expanded board. It is also thought to be an intermediary between alquerque and draughts. All three games have similar rules and goals, and an alquerque board can be easily converted into a permainan board with the addition of two triangular expansions on either end of the board.
Rules
Permainan is played between two people, and the goal of the game is to capture each of the opposing player’s sixteen pieces. Like draughts and alquerque, a capture is made by making a short jump over one of the opposing pieces. A piece can only move one space either forward or to the side until it is promoted to king. A piece is promoted to king if it is moved to the last rank. Unlike other pieces, a king can move all over the board and isn’t restricted to moving only forward or to the side. Many endgame strategies require the use of just one king to win the game.
A piece can be captured if it is adjacent to an opposing piece and the space directly behind it is empty. Capture is compulsory, meaning that a player must capture a piece if he or she is able to do so. Both of these rules are similar to international draughts, and like draughts an advanced player may sacrifice a piece by placing it into a position where it can be captured only to set the other player up for a devastating strategic maneuver. Also much like draughts and alquerque, several pieces can be captured in a single turn if there are enough empty spaces to do so.
