How to Play Konane

In the olden days, most konane boards were carved into stone. King Kamehameha liked to play konane. Some games would last all day long.

 

What you need to play Konane

1. A wooden board or a piece of cardboard that is about 1 square foot (12 inches on each side).

2. Make 64 shallow holes in the board or mark 64 dots on the cardboard, about 1 inch apart - 8 rows with 8 dots in each row.

 3. Find small pebbles, shells, or dried beans for the pieces, 32 black and 32 white, or use colored cardboard or paper pieces.

 Two people can play.

Put the stones on the board with a black then white, then black pattern. Fill all the spaces.

One player picks up a black and a white stone from the center of the board and hides them in his hands, leaving two empty spaces on the board. The other player picks a hand. The player who gets the black stone starts first.

The first player jumps a black stone over a white stone into an empty space and removes the white stone.

The next player jumps a white stone over a black stone into an empty space and removes the black stone.

Take turns. You may jump over more than one opponent's stones in your turn, but there must be an empty space between the stones, and an empty space to jump into.

You can jump up and down, left or right, but you can only jump in a straight line. You may not change directions in one turn if you are jumping over more than one stone.

You must jump in your turn. There will be fewer and fewer stones to jump over. When a person can't jump, the game is over and the last person to jump is the winner!!