The Game of Gong

A two-player game of the seat of power

Object

Occupy the Gon with the last pawn still on the board.

If you ever have the last pawn standing, your opponent has no legal move, so you keep playing until that pawn reaches the Gon. Last pawn and last pawn-on-the-Gon are therefore the same win in practice.

Pieces and board

Players. Two. One commands eight black pawns, the other eight white pawns. All sixteen begin off the board.

Board. Thirteen concentric circles crossed by twenty-four radial lines that meet at a single center point. Twelve radials are black, twelve white, alternating. Pawns sit on intersections (radial × circle) and on the center point.

The Gon. The exact center. It is a distinct space, inward of ring 1, and the seat of power.

Rings. The outermost circle is ring 13. The innermost circle is ring 1. The Gon lies inward of ring 1.

• “Toward the center” decreases ring number or enters the Gon.
• “To the edge” increases ring number.

Setup

Place the empty board between the players. Each takes their eight pawns. Decide who places first.

Sequence of play

Players alternate turns.

• If you still have any pawn off the board, your turn must be a placement. You may not move a pawn already on the board that turn.
• If all eight of your pawns are on the board, your turn is one legal action with one of your pawns.

If the opponent has no legal action at the start of their turn, they pass and you take another turn immediately.

Placement

Place one off-board pawn on an empty ring-13 intersection whose radial matches that pawn’s color.

• Black pawns may enter only on black radials.
• White pawns may enter only on white radials.

There are twelve legal entry points per color and eight pawns, so four outer intersections of each color stay empty through placement. Placement ends the turn.

Once placed, a pawn is not bound to its starting color of radial. Later sidesteps may carry it onto the other color.

You never move your opponent’s pawns. You may take them off the board. You may not slide them, push them, or swap with them.

Movement (pawns not on the Gon)

A pawn on the board and not on the Gon may never move away from the center. It has two moves.

Advance

Slide the pawn inward along its current radial any number of intersections, including onto the Gon. You choose where to stop. You may not pass through or land on an occupied intersection.

Sidestep

Move the pawn one intersection left or right on the same ring.

This is the only way a pawn not on the Gon may take.

Capture (not from the Gon)

A sidestep onto an intersection occupied by an opponent’s pawn takes that pawn. Remove it. Self-capture is illegal on a sidestep.

After the take, the capturer must advance one intersection toward the center along the radial it now occupies.

That forced step decides whether the take is even allowed:

Toff

Toff means to push. You push all of your own pawns one intersection toward the center. You never push, slide, or otherwise move an opponent’s pawn. Opponent pawns stay where they are unless a rule removes them from the board (a take).

A toff happens when a legal take cannot complete its forced inward step because your own color occupies that square.

1. The capturing pawn stays on the intersection where it took.
2. Then every one of your pawns , that block, on the board is pushed one intersection toward the center.

A push stops short of an opponent. If an opponent’s pawn occupies the next intersection inward on a radial (or occupies the Gon, when your pawn is on ring 1), your pawn on that line does not move. Their pawn is not pushed, swapped, or captured by the toff.

Friendly pawns on the same radial are pushed from the center outward so they do not collide:

• An unblocked pawn on ring 1 enters the Gon if the Gon is empty.
• Each further friendly pawn then steps into the intersection just vacated (or already empty) ahead of it.
• A pawn whose next inward intersection is an opponent stays put. Pawns outward of that jam on the same radial still push inward only if their own next intersection is not an opponent; they may close up behind the stopped pawn.
• You may not push a friendly pawn through the Gon, only into.

The turn ends after the toff.

The Gon and the Gong

A pawn on the Gon holds the seat of power. On your turn you use it in one of the following ways. The Gon has no left or right; that pawn cannot sidestep.

Gong (give up the seat)

Leave the Gon along any radial and slide outward any number of intersections, including all the way to ring 13. This is the only legal outward move in the game.

You may not pass through any pawn. The path up to your destination must be empty.

Taking from the Gon

On a Gong you may land on a pawn and take it, then you must move one intersection back toward the center along the same radial.

• You may land on an opponent’s pawn.
• You may land on your own pawn. Self-capture is allowed only from the Gon.
• You may not pass through a pawn to reach a further one. Landing on the first pawn on that radial is the only Gong take available on that line.

The square you step back onto is the intersection you just traveled through, so it is empty. The forced step after a Gong take therefore does not toff.

If you Gong onto an empty intersection, you simply stop there. No forced inward step.

No legal move

If a player has no remaining placement and no pawn that can legally advance, sidestep, take, toff, or Gong, they take no action. The opponent plays again.

When only one pawn remains, its owner keeps moving under this rule until the pawn occupies the Gon.

Winning

The game ends when a single pawn remains and that pawn occupies the Gon. Its owner wins.

Summary of color and capture