Malady 2020

Malady is an unconventional stacking/sowing game designed by Alek Erickson in May 2020. It is inspired by the games of Arrausi.

Setup: Players play on a hexagonal board. Three colors are involved: White, Black, and Grey (neutral). Players Black and White own stacks with their own color on top. The field is initially filled with single checkers of all 3 colors. The third color may be neutral or owned by a third player. The checkers are tiled so that they are evenly spaced. This game may also be played on a square grid tiled with evenly spaced White and Black checkers.

Players take turn distributing stacks: On your turn, you pick up one stack with your color on top, and immediately place a blockade (stone of your color) on that empty point. Then, distribute the stack. This means for each checker in the stack you are holding, move exactly that many points in a straight line in any direction and drop the bottom checker on that destination. Repeat this process as long as checkers remain in the stack. Note that "any direction" means any of the six hexagonal directions, or, on the square version, any of the eight orthodiagonal directions.

The board gets increasingly restricted: Nobody can drop checkers on points occupied by blockades of either color. While distributing, you may jump over blockades of your color, but not the opponents.

Game end: A player loses when they are unable to make a legal move.

—description from the designer