Quick winning principles
- Empty your rightmost pit early to enable extra-turn chains down the row.
- Never leave opponent's pit 1 (closest to their store) empty and vulnerable.
- Count stones in each pit — if a pit has exactly enough to land in your store, play it.
- In endgame, sweep all remaining stones with one chain if opponent cannot capture.
Ideal strategy
- 1
Extra-turn chains: a play that lands your last stone in your store grants another turn. Chain 2-3 extra turns to accumulate store advantage.
- 2
Capture setup: land your last stone in an empty pit on your side, opposite an opponent pit with 2+ stones — captures all opposite stones.
- 3
Stone counting: track total stones on each side. If you have more on your side at endgame, force opponent to move first into your captures.
- 4
Defensive emptying: never create a situation where opponent can capture your entire row in one move.
- 5
Pit 6 (rightmost) strategy: keep stones here for endgame sweep — moving from pit 6 often grants extra turns.
- 6
Endgame: when opponent has fewer than 12 stones, calculate exact landing positions — one stone misplaced loses the entire row.