Abalone Rules

Abalone is the 1989 abstract strategy game by Michel Lalet and Laurent Lévi — the very first Mensa Select winner. Concentrate your forces toward the center, line them up so you outnumber the opponent in any single direction, and use sumito to peel away their flanks one marble at a time. First to capture 6 wins.

• 61-cell hexagonal board (rows of 5·6·7·8·9·8·7·6·5).
• 14 black and 14 white marbles.
• Capture tray for pushed-off opponents (the app counts automatically).

• Single move: move one of your marbles to an adjacent empty cell. It can never go off the board.
• Inline move (2 or 3): with 2 or 3 of your marbles touching along a line, move them by one cell along that same line (forward or backward). Empty target → simple move; opponent ahead → sumito.
• Broadside move (2 or 3): the lined marbles all shift by one cell in a direction that is not along their line. Every destination must be empty (broadside cannot push).

• 3v1, 3v2, 2v1 only. You need a strict numerical majority along the line.
• If your own marble lies behind the opponent line you cannot push.
• Empty cell behind the opponent line → push by one. Off the board → that opponent marble is captured.
• Broadside moves never push — capture only happens through inline sumito.

First player to push 6 of the opponent's marbles off the board wins.