Outbound 2025

Outbound is an asymmetric strategy game played on a Goban with Go stones. In this game, there are no draws, no ties, no cycles, no luck, no randomness, and no hidden information.

To set up the game, Black begins with a stone in the center, and a crown token. The king is the Black group containing the crown. White can start from a few standard setups, or players can take turns placing White stones anywhere along the perimeter until one player, instead of placing a stone, declares they can stop Black with the current White setup, and makes the first move as White.

Each White turn, White moves one piece in a straight line, orthogonal or diagonally, over empty or friendly spaces , onto an empty space. If such a movement results in two white pieces flanking a single black piece, orthogonally or diagonally, the black piece is flipped to white. A single move can result in multiple flips. However, the black piece containing the crown can never be flipped.

Each Black turn, Black may grow each of their groups (those with liberties) once, by placing a stone orthogonally adjacent to a stone in that group. A group may only grow once per turn; in other words, each placement consumes all the potential for growth for all the groups it was placed adjacent to, for the remainder of the turn. However, growing a different un-grown group may lead to merging of previously-grown black groups. At the end of Black's turn, the crown moves to the most recently-placed stone in the king.

Black wins if the king reaches the edge. White wins if the king cannot grow because it lacks liberties.

Outbound was designed by Alek Erickson in November 2025. Michael Amundsen and Samraku provided useful suggestions during the design process.

—description from the designer