Alquerque

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Starting positions at the Alquerque

Alquerque is a game that is popular in many Mediterranean countries, e.g. B. was played in Turkey , Spain , Portugal and Italy and is considered the forerunner of the checkers game and the Fanorona .

history

The game is believed to have originated in the Middle East . The first literary mention occurs in the 10th century . It can be found in the book of songs by the Persian poet Ali al Isfahani . With the invasion of the Moors , the game came to Spain. The oldest detailed description of the rules of the game, which can be found in King Alfonso's "Libro de los juegos", comes from there . The game also reached Central and South America via Spain and Portugal, where it was still popular in the early 20th century.

regulate

The playing field consists of five horizontal and vertical as well as six diagonal lines. In other words: from four joined playing fields of the so-called small mill (vertical, horizontal and diagonally crossed square). Twelve game pieces are placed on the crossing points, with the middle point remaining free. As with checkers, you draw from point to point and beat by jumping over.

Representation from the Libro de los Juegos

A stone can be moved along a line from any point to any unoccupied neighboring point. If a stone can hit it must do so or it will be removed from the board. The question is discussed whether there was already a promotion of a normal piece to a "queen" at the Alquerque, if this had reached the opposing baseline.

New editions

Several publishers brought out the game under this or a similar name as a historical game or for advertising purposes. There are outputs of:

  • Hoenning design by the author Grotz from 1990
  • Clemens Gerhards in his Holzspiele-Verlag
  • the Wünnenberg Verlag 1999

literature

Web links

Commons : Alquerque  - collection of images, videos and audio files