Moeraki: Kemu

About this board game

Moeraki: Kemu is a two-player strategy game for a 25-minute contest between the Matau and Manala Maori tribes on the southern island of New Zealand.

Players take turns placing their own pieces on the intersections of a diagonal grid. At the beginning, the first player places the neutral Moeraki-ball on one of the nine central intersections. Whenever a square becomes completely enclosed, the player with the majority claims it and places a tribe marker there.

Most enclosed fields require a 3:1 majority, although areas beside the edge or the neutral ball may be claimed with a 2:1 or 3:0 majority. This creates a sharp contest for space as players seek to complete their own lines while limiting their opponent’s opportunities.

There are four ways to win a match:

• Tahuna: Enclose a field with four of your own pieces.
• Awa: Place a piece on every intersection of one diagonal line running from edge to edge.
• Ara: Place a piece on all four intersections along one edge.
• Marae: Claim all central fields, then win by having the most tribal markers. Edge markers claimed with a 2:1 majority count as half.

Players continue through several matches until one reaches the predetermined number of wins. In the advanced game, each player also receives a Maori-Tane warrior that can be placed once instead of a tribal marker. The player chooses a direction, making every field between the Tane and the edge in that direction unclaimable and removing any markers already there.

With multiple victory routes and a disruptive advanced rule, Moeraki: Kemu rewards careful placement, tactical timing, and flexible planning.