Katarenga

About this board game

Katarenga is a two-player abstract strategy game with a playing time of about 20 minutes, in which you must move two of your figures past your opponent’s baseline without being captured.

Its tactical challenge comes from a variable board and a changing movement system. Each pawn’s move is determined by the colour of the square it moves away from, so the abilities available to your figures can change from one move to the next.

• Red: move like a rook
• Yellow: move like a bishop
• Green: move like a knight
• Blue: move like a king

The game includes a variable 8×8 board made from four double-sided quarterboards. Each quarterboard can be placed either way up and in any orientation, creating more than 24,000 possible board layouts. This gives every game a fresh arrangement of colours, movement options, and tactical possibilities.

To succeed, you need to recognize the advantages created by the four types of movement, use each figure’s changing strengths carefully, and plan ahead. Your opponent is flexible and dangerous, so advancing toward the opposing baseline requires both careful positioning and clever tactical play.

Katarenga includes 16 pawns and rules of movement and capture derived from chess. The same equipment can also be used to play a variety of other games based on these movement and capture rules, inviting players to invent additional challenges of their own.

Released in 2017, Katarenga combines a compact play time with a highly variable battlefield. Every arrangement asks you to adapt, find new routes, and outsmart your opponent before two of your pawns can reach the far side.