Yolanda is a 2-player abstract strategy game invented by Chye3mc Games in 2025. It was created by accident during an experiment involving a chess variant with grasshopper pieces. The designer replaced all the grasshoppers with rooks—and just like that, Yolanda was born! This is the ultimate Clobber ripoff.

🎲 The Basics:

Yolanda is played on either a 4x4 or 6x6 chessboard, as shown in the diagram above..

Red rooks go on black squares.
Yellow rooks go on white squares.
Each player controls one color—Red or Yellow.

🕹️ How to Play:

On your turn, you must do one of the following:

Capture an opponent’s or your own piece (this is mandatory if possible).
Move one of your rooks to an empty square.
Place a rook from your bank onto the board (if you have any in reserve).

Pieces in the bank can be placed on your turn instead of moving or capturing.

♖ How the pieces move:

A rook moves any number of squares in a straight line—either vertically or horizontally—as long as there are no pieces in the way. Rooks capture in the same way they move. However, they cannot jump over other pieces or dead-piece blockades.

⚔️ Capturing Rules:

Captures are compulsory. If you can capture a coloured piece, you must.

You may capture your own pieces.
Captured pieces become "dead"—they stay on the board as blockers and can't move.
After a capture, a rook added to the capturing player’s bank as a new rook of their color.

🏁 How to Win:

You win when:

You have no rooks left on the board, and
You have no rooks left in your bank.

In other words, the first player to run out of pieces completely is the winner! The threefold repitition & fifty-move-rule applies.

Common Variants:

Omaha - Red's rooks are replaced with queens, which makes the variant a forced win for Red.
Cloisterlanda - Rooks are replaced with wazirs, which can move only one square orthogonally.
Stupidly Big - 14x14, often used in high-level computer games, as these games can take a long time.

Yolanda Variant Club

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