Ahayuta - Game of War Gods

Hey, guys! 

This time we will not talk about chess and checkers, but a completely different concept of the game.

Long ago, when I was first introduced to Awithlaknakwe, a strategy board game of the Zuni Indians of the American Southwest, I couldn't shake the feeling that the game's reenactors had missed not only the rules, but also an understanding of who the author was.

As has happened more than once in such cases, games whose rules have sunk into oblivion were approached from the point of view of already known logic games. And this ruined not only the ancient games, but also distorted the idea of ​​those people, the civilizations in which they appeared. This happened with Senet and a number of other games. This happened with Awithlaknakwe.

Contrary to popular belief, Awithlaknakwe was not just a logic game, it was an initiation game, initiation into the Priests of the Bow. The religious practices and beliefs of the Zuni Indians are quite complex, but even a cursory glance at them is key to understanding this game.

Ahayuta is my interpretation of Awithlaknakwe for two players on a much smaller board.

The rules proposed here are based on a meticulous and long-term study of the culture and traditions of the Zuni people, their mythology, religious practices and rituals.

Ahayuta

Rules of the game

Equipment: 14 pieces (7 light and 7 dark), chessboard without corner squares.

Number of Players: 2 

Setup: Each player has six pieces, and a seventh piece called Ahayuta.

The game starts with an empty board.

Players alternate turns, starting with the owner of the light-colored pieces, placing one piece of their color on any free square of their home row, or making a move with an already placed piece.

A player's home row is his first horizontal row, consisting of six squares.

Pieces move only forward diagonally.

Ahayuta - the War Gods

During the game, a player can only have one Ahayuta, which can appear in two cases:

- the first piece of the player, which has reached the opponent's home row, turns into Ahayuta and must be placed on any free square of the player's home row in the same turn.

-  If the player does not have Ahayuta in play then his first captured piece turns into Ahayuta and must be placed on any free square of the player's home row in the next turn. Subsequent captured pieces of this player are removed from the board.

Ahayuta moves to one free adjacent square horizontally, vertically and diagonally. No backward move allowed.

If the player already has Ahayuta, then his piece, having reached the opponent’s home row, must be placed on any free square of his home row in the same turn, while remaining a simple piece.

Capturing pieces

An enemy piece or Ahayuta can be captured using the custodian method - by flanking it on both adjacent squares either diagonally, horizontally or vertically.

Both regular pieces and Ahayuta can take part in the capture.

This way the player can capture one or more enemy pieces. For the capture to be successful, the pieces must be on adjacent squares:

A piece that reaches the opponent's home row also participates in the capture. Furthermore, placing a piece on the home row, either from the reserve or upon reaching the opponent's home row, can also be used to capture:

White piece f7 captures the black piece e7 and immediately moves from the opponent’s home row to the d1 square, also capturing the black piece d2. 

In one move, White captured two black pieces and turned their piece f7 into Ahayuta.

The black piece d7 also turns into black Ahayuta since it became the first victim of White’s capture.

Captured player pieces, except for the first one, which becomes Ahayuta, are removed from the board and no longer participate in the game.

Ahayuta or a piece has the right to pass between enemy pieces without being captured:

Game end: 

- A player wins the game if he is the first to deliver his Ahayuta to the opponent's home row.

- A player wins the game if he is the first to capture the opponent's Ahayuta.

- A player wins the game if his opponent cannot make a move according to the rules.

Threefold repetition. If the position occurs three times, no real progress is being made and the game could hypothetically continue indefinitely then it results in a draw.

As you can see everything is very simple and elegant but behind the apparent simplicity lies a rather complex reality that reveals itself to us as we gradually begin understand the game.

It won't be difficult to test the game in practice, and everyone can see for themselves how much this statement of mine corresponds to the truth.