Alquerque (also known as al-qirkat from ) is a

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

that is thought to have originated in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. It is considered to be the parent of draughts (US:

checkers Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), is a group of Abstract strategy game, strategy board games for two players which involve forward movements of uniform game ...

) and

Fanorona Fanorona () is a Abstract strategy game, strategy board game for two players. The game is indigenous to Madagascar. Rules Fanorona has three standard versions: Fanoron-Telo, Fanoron-Dimy, and Fanoron-Sivy. The difference between these variants i ...

and the diagonals of its grid are the predecessor of the checkering of the draughts board.

History

The game first appears in literature late in the 10th century when

Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Iṣfahānī (), also known as Abul-Faraj, (full form: Abū al-Faraj ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥaytham al-Umawī al-Iṣfahānī) (897–967Common Era, CE / 284–356Islamic calendar, AH) w ...

mentioned qirkat in his 24-volume work ''

Kitab al-Aghani ''Kitāb al-Aghānī'' (), is an encyclopedic collection of poems and songs that runs to over 20 volumes in modern editions, attributed to the 10th-century Arabic writer Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, Abū al-Farāj al-Isfahānī (also known as al-Is ...

'' ("Book of Songs"). This work, however, made no direct mention of the rules of the game, most likely because it is

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

and they would have been common knowledge in the context the book originated in. In '' Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations'', R. C. Bell writes that "when the Moors invaded Spain they took El-quirkat with them". Rules are included in ''

Libro de los juegos The (Spanish: "Book of games"), or ("Book of chess, dice and tables", in Old Spanish), is a 13th century Spanish language, Spanish treatise of chess that synthesizes the information from Arabic works on this same topic, dice and Tables games, ...

'' ("Book of games") commissioned by

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, ; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, Kingdom of León, León and Kingdom of Galicia, Galicia from 1 June 1252 until his death in 1284. During the April 1257 Imperial election, election of 1 ...

in the 13th century.

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

settlers A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

introduced a four-player variant of alquerque to the Zuni.

Rules

An empty abstract alquerque board upright=1.75, This board graphic displays Moorish design elements relating to the origin of Alquerque. The algebraic notation facilitates move annotation and gameplay discussion. Before starting, each player places their twelve pieces in the two rows closest to them and in the two rightmost spaces in the center row. The game is played in turns, with one player taking white and the other black. * A piece can move from its point to any empty adjacent point that is connected by a line. * A piece can jump over an opposing piece and remove it from the game, if that opposing piece is adjacent and the point beyond it is empty. * Multiple capturing jumps are permitted, and indeed compulsory if possible. * If a capture is possible it must be made, or else the piece is removed (or huffed). The goal of the game is to eliminate the opponent's pieces.

Additional rules

R. C. Bell developed additional rules, saying those given by Alfonso X, in his opinion, "are not sufficient to play a game". These extra rules are: * A piece cannot move backward (e.g., a piece in the middle of an empty board would have five available moves). * No piece can return to a point it has previously occupied. * Once a piece has reached the opponent's back row it can only move to capture opposing pieces. * The game is won when either: ** The opponent has lost all of their pieces. ** None of the opponent's pieces are able to move. Bell also includes a scoring system for rating games.

References

External links

An open-source Microsoft C# version of Alquerque

Adfree Android APK version of Alquerque, minimum Android 4.4.2 (API-19)An open-source browser HTML5/Javascript version Alquerque
human vs AI in each combination, game rules and game options. ''Source: https://github.com/OMerkel/Alquerque'' *{{bgg, 11464, Alquerque
Alquerque rules with some sample situations discussed
Abstract strategy games Traditional board games History of board games Draughts variants Arab inventions Historical games

History

Rules

Additional rules

See also

References

External links