Choko

🎯 Setup

The board starts empty. Players choose colors and decide who goes first. Players alternate turns throughout the game.

📍 Dropping Pieces

Players first drop their pieces onto the board, one piece per turn. The first player drops their first piece anywhere on the board and gains the drop initiative.

🔄 Drop Initiative Rules

As long as the first player continues to drop pieces, the second player must also drop pieces. However:

• If the first player makes a move (instead of dropping), the second player can choose to drop or move
• If the second player drops, they gain the drop initiative - now the first player must drop while the second player drops
• The drop initiative switches whenever a player chooses to move instead of drop

🏃 Non-Capturing Moves

Pieces move orthogonally (horizontally or vertically) one space per turn. Only one piece can be moved per turn. No diagonal movement allowed.

⚔️ Capturing Moves

Capturing works like Draughts but orthogonally only:

• Your piece must be adjacent to an enemy piece
• Leap over the enemy piece onto a vacant space beyond it
• Only one leap is allowed per capture
• After capturing one piece, you must immediately capture a second enemy piece from anywhere on the board
• Therefore, every capturing move removes exactly two enemy pieces

🔄 Turn Order After Dropping

Once all pieces have been dropped onto the board, the second player moves first in the movement phase.

🤖 AI Players

AI (Aggressive): Uses advanced strategy with time-limited search. Adapts from edge control early to proximity attacks late game.

AI (Stable): Uses consistent strategy focused on board control and tactical opportunities.