Questions tagged [board-games]
A board game is a game that involves counters or pieces moved or placed on a "board" according to a fixed set of rules.
85
questions
11
votes
2answers
919 views
Twelve Labours - #02 Lernaean Hydration
This puzzle is part of the ‘Twelve Labours’ series. Previous instalments can be found here: Prologue | 01
His first labour now complete, Hercules made his way up the street to the storage depot for ...
9
votes
2answers
432 views
Minimum number of turns to capture all pieces in Checkers
On an 8x8 checkerboard, there are 12 red kings and 1 black king. The kings behave as they would in any normal game of checkers, being able to move in any diagonal direction one space and jump any ...
33
votes
2answers
834 views
Magic Maze Puzzle
Inspired by the board game, Magic Maze
Set-up:
Cut out each 4x4 tile, and the four small tokens (orange, yellow, green and purple), from the provided image below. Place tile 1 on a flat surface with ...
7
votes
2answers
269 views
Marbles on a Mancala Board
I would like to introduce an ancient African board game I've just invented.
Until someone comes up with a better name, it's called Marble Mancala.
The rules are pretty simple:
There are two ...
6
votes
1answer
234 views
Don't bully your cousin at Reversi
Title (only) inspired by Don't bully your little sister at chess
Prologue
Well, this happened when I played Reversi with my cousin a few days ago...
I, not being as nice as @Arnold ...
18
votes
1answer
1k views
A game of red and black
Two players, red and black, play a game. The outcome is as follows:
CCCBBABCDFBBDDE
Who won the game, and what game were they playing?
HINT:
3
votes
0answers
218 views
How to solve this specific situation in 2048?
In trying to develop and perfect my strategies, I've been playing 2048-undo.
This is what I got myself into:
Since this is not an uncommon situation and I still don't know how to properly get out of ...
10
votes
3answers
335 views
Black to play and win (Teeko)
$$\def\S#1{\phantom{\Space{18px}{22px}{0px}}\llap{#1}}
\begin{array}{|c|c|c|c|c|}\hline
\S{}&\S{}&\S{}&\S{}&\S{}\\\hline
\S{}&&&&\\\hline
\S{}&&X&O&X\\\...
-1
votes
1answer
50 views
Traversing a grid
I'm wondering if there's a way to check if every square of a board can be visited such that every time you move to a new square, it can't be in the same row, column, or diagonal as the previous square....
5
votes
1answer
207 views
What is the optimal way to play standard Battleship?
I've seen the questions on this site with modified Battleship, but I haven't seen one for the standard variation.
So - what is the optimal strategy to win this game?
17
votes
2answers
505 views
What is the optimal strategy for this triangular board game?
I saw a board game somewhere and I want to know the optimal strategy for it.
The game is played on a triangular board with 21 slots:
The two players, red and blue, take turns to put numbered circles ...
23
votes
3answers
2k views
Unfinished Snakes and Ladders
An entry for Fortnightly Topic Challenge #40, have fun with non-Chess puzzle! ;)
Three young children: Red, Green, and Blue; were playing a classic game of Snakes and Ladders, when suddenly their mom ...
7
votes
2answers
219 views
Retrograde Go Problem (Some Assembly Required)
An entry into the Fortnightly Topic Challenge #40.
In case you aren't familiar with the rules of go, the information in the basic rules section of the Wikipedia page should be enough to solve this ...
7
votes
5answers
269 views
Selecting the starting player [closed]
The board game is about to begin. And suddenly we realize that we need to decide the starting player. The dice procedure is tiresome. And we can't find our dice right now. Or any other artifact that ...
1
vote
1answer
579 views
How many Dobble symbols are there? [closed]
The game of Dobble (will edit in a link later) involves a set of bespoke playing cards covered in symbols or small pictures - a dog, an arrow, a pencil, a tree etc.
Each card contains eight such ...
6
votes
1answer
264 views
Poker Chips on the board
You are in a casino and a weird game is happening where there is a grid-board $11$x$11$ and people are trying to put some chips on them. After hearing the rules you want to play it too, the rule is ...
6
votes
0answers
320 views
Best moves for a 7X7 4 queen board
There is a 7x7 board and 2 players, each having 2 queens. The queens can move just like the queens in chess, but cannot capture each other. At the beginning, the first player places both the queens on ...
4
votes
1answer
335 views
50 cm x 50 cm board filling with polygons
Comes up with this puzzle idea while watching the little kids play. Warning first of all - I don't have an answer for it so it might be a joint effort to find out the best answer. Here we go:
...
1
vote
1answer
522 views
Stepladder Puzzle 2: Edge surfing
Continuing the Stepladder Game puzzle series, here's
Stepladder Puzzle 2: Edge Surfing
If you haven't played the Stepladder Game* before, you should first take a look at the rules, which can be ...
4
votes
2answers
198 views
Stepladder Puzzle 2: Edge Surfing (small target version)
Continuing the Stepladder Game puzzle series, here's
Stepladder Puzzle 2: Edge Surfing (small target version)
If you haven't played the Stepladder Game* before, you should first take a look at the ...
13
votes
2answers
549 views
Stepladder Game, Introduction and Puzzle 1: Turning
I want to introduce a new game to PSE: the Stepladder Game!*
* You may already know this game by another name.
The rules for the Stepladder Game:
The game is played on a grid.
Our grid is ...
4
votes
2answers
371 views
A Pawn is riding this Knight on his Tour
Do a Knight's Tour under the following conditions:
8*8 board
You have to alternate between a knight move and a pawn move (advance one square)
No pawn advancing of two squares at any time
You can not ...
6
votes
1answer
311 views
Cannot solve Ubongo Extreme B-38 purple puzzle
Today, I was playing Ubongo Extreme and I could NOT solve the following puzzle:
B-38, purple colour.
Let me know if you can solve it!
7
votes
4answers
1k views
Who wins in this tic-tac-toe game?
Question sourced from Brilliant.org
Jack and Jill are playing Tic-Tac-Toe, with Jack being Os and Jill being Xs. Now, being perfectly logical beings narrow-minded one-move-foresight beings, they move ...
4
votes
2answers
219 views
Homeworlds - Monopoly
Lee wins in 5 turns (click the image for a bigger version)
This puzzle is inspired by the other Homeworlds puzzles introduced by @Destructible Lemon. You should explain how Lee (the player on the ...
2
votes
1answer
96 views
Homeworldsmate - Blastdoor
Back with another one move wonder homeworldsmate (link explains who Lee is, for example. Though I guess I'll explain here anyway.)
quick reminder, remember to use these rules, with the additional ...
1
vote
1answer
166 views
Homeworldsmate - Inheritance or Insurance fraud
Homeworldsmate: a chess puzzle (directmate e.g.) but with Homeworlds instead of chess. That's a term I just coined/made up, and since I'm currently the one making these, you're just going to have to ...
3
votes
1answer
165 views
Simple Homeworlds puzzle
On this site, we have numerous chess puzzles. however, we do not seem to have any Homeworlds puzzles, the game of space kings (yes this can be tagged outer space thank you very much.)
Hence, here is ...
5
votes
2answers
854 views
Tips for making board game victory sequence puzzles
(I might ask on meta for a new tag and term to describe these puzzles. "board game victory sequence puzzles" is unwieldy.)
I was thinking of making a Homeworlds puzzle, which would be analogous to ...
6
votes
4answers
1k views
Filling the board with 0s and 1s
You are given a $9\times9$ grid board.
You have 40 "$1$"s and 41 "$0$"s. You can put these numbers wherever you want on the board.
After that, you will take the sum of the numbers in each row and ...
15
votes
1answer
2k views
What's the maximum number of pegs you can leave on a 15-hole triangular peg solitaire?
Peg Solitaire is mostly known to me as the triangular board with 15 holes and 14 pegs (mostly because of the restaurant Cracker Barrel). The rules are simple: pegs jump each other in straight lines, ...
3
votes
1answer
386 views
Coordinate yourself!
Task is simple. Get coordinates from the two pictures below. You don't have to know game rules to solve it :)
Hint
7
votes
1answer
1k views
8 Puzzle Unsolvable Proof?
How do I proof that this 8 puzzle
cannot be solved if the final state is
?
14
votes
2answers
813 views
Who is missing here?
It seems my last few puzzles have all been far too easy and quickly solved. Let's see how long this one stands against the genius of the combined PSE community.
$$[56\;68\;76\;80\;80\;76\;68\;56]^2 \;...
20
votes
2answers
4k views
Let's continue our Monopoly game
This is an entry into the 29th fortnightly topic challenge - Retrograde Analysis.
Two friends and I were playing a game of Monopoly when we were forced to stop. It's been a long time since we ...
6
votes
2answers
487 views
Checkmate all the kings #4
Following the rules created by Lord of dark in this puzzle, and used here and here also, the idea is to find the minimum number of consecutive white moves to checkmate all the black kings (in this ...
11
votes
3answers
599 views
Checkmate all the kings #3
Following the rules created by Lord of dark in this puzzle, and used here also, the idea is to find the minimum number of consecutive white moves to checkmate all the black kings (in this case 12). ...
8
votes
2answers
545 views
Checkmate all the kings #2
Following the rules created by Lord of dark in this puzzle, the idea is to find the minimum number of consecutive white moves to checkmate all the black kings (in this case just 1). You cannot make a ...
7
votes
2answers
485 views
Escape the cube 2 (Theseus and Minotaur variant)
Hello,
here is a puzzle I created. I plan to post a few more in the near future. If you like it, google Cubiscape for more.
Goal:
You are the blue ball and have to get to the green square without ...
7
votes
1answer
314 views
Escape the cube puzzle
Hello,
here is a puzzle I created. I plan to post a few more in the near future. If you like it, google Cubiscape for more.
Goal:
You are the blue ball and have to get to the green square without ...
6
votes
1answer
210 views
Opposite block control sliding game
Here's a fun maze/grid puzzle inspired by this.
Rules of play:
Firstly, no two coins may occupy the same space at a time
Suppose we label the blue coins B1, B2
Then if B1 is on an arrow then we ...
13
votes
3answers
1k views
Four free rooks for checkmate
You are given a chessboard with a black king at d5, and four white rooks in your hand.
You may place the rooks onto the board one at a time, always checking the king. After each rook placed, the king ...
6
votes
2answers
561 views
Hopping Frogs puzzle variant
There is an old puzzle which has various names such as Toads and Frogs, Jumping Frogs, Hopping Frogs, Leap Frog, etc., and which has been asked here before.
I'd like to share a variant of this puzzle ...
7
votes
2answers
533 views
Seven Impatient Knights
Source
On a $3\times3$ chess board, you must place seven knights according to the following rules:
Immediately after placement, the knight must move to an unoccupied spot using a standard knight's ...
2
votes
1answer
136 views
Rearrange twelve checkers in six lines of four
Once there where two men playing checkers. at one time during the game. one of them stopped and said "Look at that, we just arranged twelve checkers in six straight lines of four". Then they finished ...
1
vote
3answers
550 views
Quetzalcoatl 7-12
I have seen some tough puzzles that you have solved. I am hoping that this puzzle will not be hard.
Here are the rules:
All colored segments of a chain must be on the same color square to solve ...
16
votes
3answers
1k views
Checkmate all the kings #1
The purpose of this puzzle is to find the minimum number of moves to checkmate all the kings.
RULES
You are playing as White and you can make as many moves as you want before Black's turn....
11
votes
2answers
342 views
Cover an unusual board with minimum chess rooks
This is an entry for the 17th Fortnightly Challenge.
On this unusual board, how many chess rooks minimum needed to attack all tiles, but they are not attacking each other ? Show us the formation.
...
20
votes
3answers
527 views
Help Black slide the blocks to solve this chess problem
Here's a chess problem which plays very like a sliding-block puzzle, hence the rather unusual tag combo.
Ljubomir Ugren
2nd Prize, Mat, 1976; John Nunn, Solving in Style, no. 183
sh#19
To explain ...
18
votes
5answers
2k views
Chess puzzle in which guarded pieces may not move
Here's an interesting twist on the theme of chess puzzles, originally from the book Caissa's Fairy Tales by T. R. Dawson.
What is the minimum number of moves White needs to win this game from the ...
