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(Created page with "INTRODUCTION Tanbo (Japanese for "rice paddy") is played on a grid of size 7x7, 11x11, 15x15... Or 5x7, 7x9, 9x11, 11x13... The board is initially populated with black and white stones, thoroughly interspersed, with one empty point (intersection) between stones, as shown in Figure 1. Mark Steere designed Tanbo in 1993, and updated it with a denser starting position in April, 2026. PLAY The two players, Black and White, take turns placing stones of their own color onto un...")
 
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INTRODUCTION Tanbo (Japanese for "rice paddy") is played on a grid of size 7x7,
 
11x11, 15x15... Or 5x7, 7x9, 9x11, 11x13... The board is initially populated with black
and white stones, thoroughly interspersed, with one empty point (intersection) between
stones, as shown in Figure 1. Mark Steere designed Tanbo in 1993, and updated it with a
denser starting position in April, 2026.
PLAY The two players, Black and White, take turns placing stones of their own color
onto unoccupied points on the board, one stone per turn, starting with Black. You must
place your stone orthogonally (horizontally or vertically) adjacent to exactly one of your
on-board stones. [All relevant adjacencies here are orthogonal.] In Figure 2, Black can
place a stone on any of the points marked with a green dot.
ROOTS A "root" is root-like, monocolored group, which could be a single stone. The
game begins with a fixed number of roots. Roots cannot merge together, and new roots
cannot be created. The "current root" is the root which you enlarged during your current
turn.
BOUNDED ROOT A root is “bounded” if it’s so tightly surrounded that it doesn’t
have room to grow. There are no legal placements available that would enlarge the root.
[More technically, there is no unoccupied point which is adjacent to exactly one stone in a
bounded root and which is not adjacent to any other stones of the bounded root's color.]
CURRENT ROOT CAPTURE If your placement has bounded your current root,
you must immediately remove your current root from the board, concluding your turn.
In Figure 3, Black has placed the stone marked with a green dot, bounding his current
root. He must immediately remove his current root - that is, all of the stones marked with
red or green dots - concluding his turn.
NON-CURRENT ROOTS CAPTURE If your placement has not bounded your
current root, but has bounded other roots, of either or both colors, you must
immediately remove all of the roots that were so bounded, concluding your turn. In
Figure 4, Black has placed the stone marked with a green dot. His current root was not
bounded, but other roots were bounded. Black must immediately remove all of the roots
that were bounded - that is, all of the stones marked with red dots - concluding his turn.
OBJECT OF THE GAME The goal is to annihilate your opponent. When all of the
roots of one color have been removed, the player of the other color wins. You can win on
either player's turn.
DESIGN NOTES Tanbo was the second game I ever designed, back in 1993. It
originally had a much sparser initial position, having only 16 stones on a size 19 board.
Now in 2026, I'm re-releasing Tanbo, with a much denser initial position, but otherwise
exactly the same rules. This creates more fluid, less stilted gameplay. Tanbo is a classic.
It's been bastardized, butchered, and debased. But never equaled.
AUTHOR’S NOTE Feel free to publish this rule sheet, and to program the game of
Tanbo. No licensing fee or royalties are expected. However please don’t change the name
or the rules, and please attribute the game to me, Mark Steere. My other games can be
found at marksteeregames.com.

Latest revision as of 19:38, 12 June 2026

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