Dameo

Dameo

Invented by Christian Freeling in 2000. Dameo introduces two innovations to the draughts family: the phalanx, which lets a line of friendly pieces slide forward together as a unit, and a purely orthogonal capture system where all jumps go along ranks and files, never diagonally. The result is a game that rewards formation-building over the individual-piece tactics of most draughts variants.

Setup

Board: 8×8 board. Unlike most draughts variants, Dameo is played on all 64 squares, not just the dark ones.

Pieces: 18 men per player, arranged in a trapezoidal formation:

• Row 1 (closest row): all 8 squares occupied
• Row 2: the 6 inner squares occupied (b2–g2)
• Row 3: the 4 innermost squares occupied (c3–f3)

White occupies rows 1–3. Black occupies rows 6–8 (mirror image).

First move: White moves first.

Rules

Men movement:

Men move forward only, either straight ahead (orthogonally) or diagonally forward. They cannot move sideways or backward.

In addition to single-step moves, a man may perform a linear move: if one or more friendly men are lined up directly behind it in a straight line (along a rank, file, or diagonal), the entire line slides forward by one square, provided the square at the front of the line is empty. A man cannot use a linear move to push into an occupied square.

King movement:

Kings move like queens in chess: any number of squares in any of the eight directions (orthogonal or diagonal), as long as the path is clear.

Capture

All captures in Dameo are orthogonal only, along ranks and files, never diagonally.

• A man (or king) captures an adjacent opponent piece by jumping over it to the empty square directly beyond, along a rank or file.
• Kings capture from any distance: the king jumps over a single opponent piece that lies any number of empty squares away along a rank or file, landing on any empty square beyond the captured piece on the same line.
• Mandatory capture: If a capture is available, it must be taken.
• Majority rule: When multiple capture sequences are available, the piece that can make the maximum number of captures must be used, and the longest sequence must be completed.
• Delayed removal: Captured pieces are removed at the end of the entire multi-capture sequence, not after each individual jump. A piece that has been jumped but not yet removed still physically blocks the line and cannot be jumped again in the same sequence.

King Promotion

When a man reaches the opponent’s back row (row 8 for White, row 1 for Black), it is promoted to a king at the end of its turn.

• If a man reaches the back row during a multi-capture sequence without stopping there, it is not promoted until it ends its turn on the back row.

Winning

A player wins when their opponent has no legal move: either all pieces have been captured, or all remaining pieces are blocked.

Draws

The game is drawn when:

• Both players agree.
• The same position occurs three times with the same player to move (not necessarily consecutive).
• Neither player can force a win.

Attribution

Dameo. Invented by Christian Freeling (2000). Rules in the public domain; game rules are not subject to copyright. Source: Wikipedia — Dameo article (CC-BY-SA 4.0).