Surakarta worth play based on its historic nature

One of the strengths of abstract strategy games is how the varied ‘mechanics’ utilized across the genre often make you think in a decidedly different way.

That is certainly what Guilder Trevor and I found as we cracked the box on a NewVenture Games version of Surakarta.

Surakarta is an Indonesian abstract strategy board game for two players, named after Surakarta, Central Java, featuring as noted, an unusual method of capture. It is different enough Wikipedia noted the method of capture “is "possibly unique" and "not known to exist in any other recorded board game".”

Well whether it is the only game using it or not, it is rare enough among games that it had Trevor and I scratching our heads more than a few times trying to ascertain exactly what was the best move to make, and realizing our previous game experience didn’t offer us much in terms of insight with Surakarta.

Again from Wikipedia, it is noted, “the name of the game in Indonesian is permainan, which simply translates as ‘the game’. In Java, the game is also called dam-daman. It was first published in France in 1970 as ‘Surakarta’. The game is called ‘Roundabouts’ in Sid Sackson's The Book of Classic Board Games.”

It is background I found interesting in as much as I would have assumed a very ancient game, which it likely is, but is obviously only in the last 50 years or so that it has gained an audience outside its home area.

Surakarta is a two-player game, with the object of the game to capture all 12 of the opponent's pieces; or, if no further captures are possible, to have more pieces remaining in play than the opponent.

Pieces always rest on the points of intersection of the board's grid lines.

On a turn, a player either moves one of their pieces a single step in any direction (like a chess king in that regard) to an unoccupied point, or makes a capturing move special to Surakarta, which is the mind twister of this one.

“A capturing move consists of traversing along an inner or outer circuit around at least one of the eight corner loops of the board, followed by landing on an enemy piece, capturing it,” notes Wikipedia. “Captured pieces are removed from the game.”

The corner loops certainly give the board a different look, and having to envision capture approaches using them is a rather fresh challenge you should appreciate if you like abstract strategy gems.

Any number of unoccupied points may be travelled over, before or after traversing a loop. Only unoccupied points may be travelled over; jumping over pieces is not permitted.

Capturing is also always optional which is not unique but rather unusual for a game of this type which tend to enforce capture.

This is a game that fits into the broader checker family in my view, and so checker fans will certainly want to check Surakarta out.

As for a broader audience this is different enough for two players to recommend, and the all wooden board and pieces from www.newventuregames.com is so nice, it is certainly worth consideration.