Senet
by macabot
This page contains the rules of Senet. You can also learn the rules with the interactive tutorial.
Goal
Senet is a two player game. The goal of Senet is to be the first player to move all of their pieces off the board.
Board
Below you see the board and pieces. Player 1 plays with the blue squares . Player 2 plays with the red circles . Use a coinflip to decide who becomes player 1. Player 1 goes first.
The pieces move in a Z shape from bottom right to top left.
To move a piece, click on it and then click on valid destination. A green square is a valid destination. A red square is an invalid destination.
Sticks
Below the board we have the sticks. You can move a piece equal to the number of white sides. You can move a piece 1 step , 2 steps , 3 steps or 4 steps . If all sticks are showing the black side, you can move a piece 6 steps . If you throw 1 step , 4 steps or 6 steps , you may go again. This goes on until you throw 2 steps or 3 steps . Then your turn ends.
Trading places
A piece can move to a square occupied by another player's piece, except if that piece is protected . If not, the pieces trade places. You are not allowed to trade places with a piece of the same color. A piece is protected if at least one neighboring square (left, right, above or below) is occupied by a piece with the same color or if it occupies a square with the protecting icon: .
Blocking piece
Neighboring pieces that form a group of at least 3 pieces of the same color will block the movement of pieces of the other color. A piece that is blocking is also protected .
Return to start
The top row shows the return-to-start square . If you move a piece to the return-to-start square , then your piece is immediately moved to the start of the board: the first unoccupied square, starting in the bottom right of the board.
Move backwards
If none of your pieces have a valid move forwards, then they must move backwards. When moving backwards, you are not allowed to trade places with another piece. You are still not allowed to move a piece if it passes over another player's blocking piece .
No move
Sometimes no move is possible. If none of your pieces have a valid move forwards and none of your pieces have a valid move backwards, then you must perform no move .
Off the board
A piece that is located in the top left square of the board will be moved off the board if all pieces of that color are located in the top row. The goal of Senet is to be the first player to move all of their pieces off the board.