Leblin 2023

Leblin (from German: Lebenslinie, meaning "lifeline") is a drawless annihilation game for two players: Black and White. It is played on the intersections (points) of an initially empty square board. The recommended board size is 19 points per side, but boards of 13, 15, or 17 are also acceptable. There is also an off-board location called a prison. Each player has access to a sufficient supply of stones of their own color.

Definitions: A lifeline is a maximal path of empty points in a straight line from a stone to the board edge or to a friendly stone. Stones can share their lifelines among several friendly stones without the need for empty points between them. A territory is one or more empty points connected to each other. You own a territory if all stones connected to it are of your color. An incursion is a player's placement into the opponent's territory. An incursion is minimal if it causes exactly one enemy group to be moved to the prison.

Turns:Black plays first and then turns alternate. On your turn, perform exactly one of the following actions:

Place a stone of your color on an empty spot and then move all dead enemy groups to the prison. If the only stone you remove is the one you just placed, your placement is illegal. Remove an enemy stone from the prison. If the prison contains stones of both colors, remove pairs of stones of opposite colors until only one color remains, or none at all.

You cannot make a minimal incursion if your opponent has just made a minimal incursion anywhere on the board.

End of the game:You win if the last enemy group is eliminated from the board.

To balance the game, before starting, the first player places several black stones in the prison, and then the second player chooses a side. This balancing method is called komi pie. For handicap games, the weaker player takes black and opens by placing a number of black stones on the board proportional to the difference in skill between the players.

NotesThe minimal incursion rule was taken from some territorial games of Luis Bolaños Mures.

—description from designer