Educational Games run with Zillions

Game: Bubbles for Two II

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, February 2003


Object: Pop all your opponent's bubbles. (40 variants)

You play White against Black. First both players drop their two queens anywhere on the board.

Then you move a queen to a free square or onto a bubble. A queen cannot jump over another queen. The queen's attack lines, however, go all the way to the border of the board (not so in variants 21 thru 40, however).

If you move onto a bubble, this bubble will be deleted. Furthermore, any bubbles, friendly or not, will be deleted that are attacked by BOTH of your queens!

The player who pops all of the opponent's bubbles wins.

Variants 1 - 20: different setups for bubbles.
Variants 21 - 40: Queen's attack lines only go up to next queen.


More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz.

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Game: Buffalo

Invented by Alex Randolph,
implemented by Maurizio De Leo, August 2002,
images by Keith Carter,


Buffalo is a fast and funny game that in some way resembles chess pawn endings. You can take the buffalos and try to escape by crossing the river, or you can take the cowboy who tries to capture them. The cowboy is helped by 4 fast moving dogs, which will be of great help in his task.
You will find all the piece movement in the help menu of zillions, or clicking on the properties of each piece.

Updated 02/02/03
plays better; new graphics

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Game: Bugs

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, October 2001


Object: Capture all your Opponent's pieces by 'bumping' into them.

The board contains 'Ants', 'Bugs', and 'Beetles', rotated in different directions.

When clicked, any piece will rotate 0, 90, 180 or 270 degrees, depending in which direction there is a free square ahead.
If there is no empty space in front of the piece, then the piece will rotate 90 degrees.
If after a rotation of 90 degrees there is no empty space in front of the piece, then the piece will rotate 180 degrees.
If after a rotation of 180 degrees there is no empty space in front of the piece, then the piece will rotate 270 degrees.
If after a rotation of 270 degrees there is no empty space in front of the piece, then the piece cannot be clicked.

After the rotation an Ant or a Bug slides as far as empty squares are available. A Beetle, however, may slide any number (one or more) of squares.

If after its rotation and slide a Bug or Beetle 'bumps' into an enemy piece (i.e. has an enemy piece in front of it), then this piece will be captured.

You win if you manage to capture all your opponent's pieces.

Please note that there is an alternative piece set using chess pieces.

The unusual movements of the pieces need a little time to get used to. I recommend playing my solitaire game 'Bump' as an exercise.


More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz.

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Game: Bunny War

Invented and implemented by L. Lynn Smith, August 2001.

Bunny War is an 8x8 board game for two players, who each begin with two ranks of Bunnies.

A Bunny can run straight, orthogonally or diagonally, through adjacent vacant spaces.
A Bunny can capture by hopping over an adjacent opponent Bunny. Once a Bunny begins hopping, its must continue to hop until there are no more legal hops.

The game is won when your opponent has one Bunny left.

So, get hopping.

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Game: Bushi Shogi

Invented by Georg Dunkel.
Implemented by L. Lynn Smith, October 2002.

Bushi Shogi is played by two opponents on a field of two cells, with two pieces called Samurai. The pieces are cubes with kanji in red for 'samurai' and kanji in black for 'sword' on each face.

The playing field starts empty. Each player receives one Samurai and, beginning with Black, drops them onto their respective cells in turn. Such placement must be so that the upward face of the cube does NOT present a 'sword' kanji toward the opponent.

Movement consists of either rotating the cube one face clockwise, rolling it forward one face toward the opponent, rolling it left one face or rolling it right one face.

The upward face of each cube controls the play of the game. If an opponent cube presents an upward face which has a forward 'sword' and the upward face of the player's cube does NOT present a forward 'sword', the player must rotate only. If an opponent cube presents a 'sword' forward, and the player presents a 'sword' forward, the player must roll the cube directly away from the 'samurai' kanji on its upward face.

The game is won by the player who is able to present an upward face with a forward 'sword' and a rearward 'samurai' when the opponent cube also presents a forward 'sword' with a rearward 'samurai'. The 'samurai' are considered to be facing each other with their 'swords' met.

The diagram demonstrates the orientation of a Samurai cube. The faces are presented as a box laid flat. The degree orientation of both cubes are in relation to the White player. Use the corresponding direction arrows to control the movement of the Samurai cubes.


For more info visit: http://www.kolumbus.fi/geodun/bushi/bushi.htm

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Game: Bushka

Bushka game & art work © 1995-1999 by Christian Freeling
Bushka.zrf Rules File © 2000 by Ed van Zon

Bushka's 'capture by approach' originates in Fanorona, a game from Madagascar. Bushka looks like Dame, and has indeed structural similarities, but it is a very different game, far more flexible in terms of development, and allowing positions that are quite unlike those found in the latter. In Bushka, as in HexDame, three kings against one is a win.

A complete illustrated description of the rules is included in the download.

The image below depicts a nice Bushka problem, White to play and win, that was composed by Myron Freeling.

Please note: Bushka requires Zillions of Games version 1.2 (or higher)!

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Game: Butterfly

Invented (1988) and implemented by Karl Scherer, October 2003.


Object: Move your four tokens into the opposite corner. You lose when you have only 3 tokens left.
(Version 1.1; 4 variants)

First click the board to randomize the setup.
Each player also has a dice. The dice determines how many moves you can make before it is your opponent's turn.

Each player has 4 tokens. You play Red against Blue.
On the board, all token movements are orthogonal only.

The 'board' consists a layout of 7x7=49 cards.
The cards restrict the movement of the tokens:
A BUTTERFLY card allows you to move only into one direction, namely the direction the butterfly points to.
A CLOWN card allows you to move into one of two opposite directions; those are the directions the clown's arms point to.
A CLOCK card allows you to move into one of the two directions indicated by the clock's hands.
A NAPOLEON card allows you move into one of the three directions indicated by the tips of his hat.
A TRAIN CROSSING card forces you to wait for one round. After that you may move into any direction.

You can rotate the card you stand on by clicking the same position twice. (Note for variant 2 : This movement will NOT rotate the back of the card!)

When you step on a card, the token covers the card, but the border arrows still indicate where you can go. If there are no arrows, then you are standing on a TRAIN card and this token cannot move for one turn.

When you move to a position that carries you opponent's token, it will be transported to a starting position outside board. If all starting positions are already filled, the enemy token will be deleted, and you have won immediately.
When you enter the target area, first you have to fill the empty places.
When there are no empty target places left, because an opponent's token blocks a place, then you may replace your opponent's token with yours and you win immediately.
You cannot move out of a starting position if the corner square carries an opponent's token.

You also win (and this is the main goal) when you move all your tokens into your opponent's starting positions.

Variant 2 : Advanced Level - The cards are two-sided, and display different images on each side. Before you make any move, the card you step on will be is reversed and the image on the back side will be activated.
Variants 3 and 4: Like variants 1 and 2, but with double size board (better graphics).


More freeware and real puzzles and games at my homepage: karl.kiwi.gen.nz

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Game: Cam

Invented by George S. Parker in 1887.
Rules file and graphics © W. D. Troyka, October 2002.


Cam is a small version of George S. Parker's famous boardgame Camelot. The original Camelot was invented by Parker in 1887, and Cam was released in 1949. To learn more about Cam and other variations of Camelot, please visit the web site of the World Camelot Federation at http://communities.msn.com/worldcamelotfederation.

Cam is played on a 7x13 board, with six squares removed from each of the corners to give the board an oval shape. To see a notation key, select "Switch Piece Set" from the View menu. A single space protrudes from both the top and bottom of the board. This space is called the 'castle.' The object of the game is to move a piece into the enemy castle. You also win by capturing all opponent pieces, provided you have at least two pieces remaining. A draw is declared if both players are reduced to a single piece. Stalemate is a loss.

Each player starts the game with seven pieces, consisting of five Men and two Knights. A Man has three basic moves. It may move one space in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. This is called a "plain" move. It may jump over a friendly adjacent piece and continue jumping, at its option, as long as friendly pieces remain to be jumped. This move is called "cantering." And it may jump over an enemy piece, thereby capturing it, in which case it must continue jumping as long as captures are available. A Man may not canter and capture in the same move.

The Knight has all the moves of the Man plus one important addition, called the Knight's "charge." A charge consists of a cantering move (or series) followed by capturing. Once a Knight makes a capture, it must continue making captures if available and may not return to cantering.

Circular canters, i.e., canters that return to an already visited square, are not permitted. Visited squares are indicated by flags. The flags are cleared at the end of the cantering sequence. To pass on further canters, move the piece to the Knight graphic of your color in the lower left or upper right corner of the board. The piece will not actually change location.

Capturing is compulsory but there is no requirement of choosing a path of maximal captures. A player is not required to make a Knight's charge, with the exception that when a capture is directly available, the player may satisfy the compulsory capture rule through a Knight's charge. When cantering a Knight must make a capture if one becomes directly available but may do so through a charge.

You may not enter your own castle except through a capture, in which case the piece must be moved out as soon as possible. If the piece cannot move out through another capture on the same turn, then it must be moved out on the next turn (even if this means declining a capture elsewhere on the board). When moving out of the castle, priority is given to capturing or charge moves.

In the Cam All Knight variant each player starts with seven Knights.

Special thanks to Michael W. Nolan for his help in developing this script.
Please send any comments or bug reports to dtroyka@justice.com.

Please note: Cam requires Zillions of Games version 1.2.3 (or higher)!

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Game: Camelot

Invented by George S. Parker in 1887.
Rules file and graphics © W. D. Troyka, January 2002.


Camelot is one of the great boardgames of the nineteenth century, along with Reversi and Halma. Invented in 1887 by George S. Parker, founder of Parker Brothers, it was originally marketed under the name Chivalry. The game achieved a substantial following after its re-release in 1930, with minor rule changes, under the name Camelot. Its players included chess champion Jose Raoul Capablanca, also known as the inventor of Capablanca Chess. In recent years the World Camelot Federation has rekindled interest in the game. To learn more about the history of Camelot, and to join the Federation, visit http://communities.msn.com/worldcamelotfederation. Camelot was featured in an article in the seventh edition (summer 2001) of Abstract Games Magazine.

Camelot is played on a 12x16 board, with eight squares removed from each of the corners to give the board an oval shape. To see a notation key, select "Switch Piece Set" from the View menu. Two spaces protrude from both the top and bottom of the board. These are called the "castles." The object of the game is to occupy the enemy castle by moving two of your pieces into it. You also win by capturing all opponent pieces, provided you have at least two pieces remaining. A draw is declared if both players are reduced to a single piece. Stalemate is a loss.

Each player starts the game with 14 pieces, consisting of ten Men and four Knights. A Man has three basic moves. It may move one space in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. This is called a "plain" move. It may jump over a friendly adjacent piece and continue jumping, at its option, as long as friendly pieces remain to be jumped. This move is called "cantering." And it may jump over an enemy piece, thereby capturing it, in which case it must continue jumping as long as captures are available. A Man may not canter and capture in the same move.

The Knight has all the moves of the Man plus one important addition, called the Knight's "charge." A charge consists of a cantering move (or series) followed by capturing. Once a Knight makes a capture, it must continue making captures if available and may not return to cantering.

Circular canters, i.e., canters that return to an already visited square, are not permitted. Visited squares are indicated by flags. The flags are cleared at the end of the cantering sequence. To pass on further canters, move the piece to the Knight graphic of your color in the lower left or upper right corner of the board. The piece will not actually change location.

Capturing is compulsory but there is no requirement of choosing a path of maximal captures. A player is not required to make a Knight's charge, with the exception that when a capture is directly available, the player may satisfy the compulsory capture rule through a Knight's charge. When cantering a Knight must make a capture if one becomes directly available but may do so through a charge.

Special rules govern the castle. Once a piece enters the enemy castle, it may never leave. A piece in the enemy castle is permitted to move laterally twice during the game. You may never enter your own castle except through a capture, in which case the piece must be moved out as soon as possible. If the piece cannot move out through another capture on the same turn, then it must be moved out on the next turn (even if this means declining a capture elsewhere on the board). When moving out of the castle, priority is given to capturing or charge moves.

In the All Knighter variant each player starts with 14 Knights.

Special thanks to Michael W. Nolan for his help in developing this script.
Please send any comments or bug reports to dtroyka@justice.com.

Please note: Camelot requires Zillions of Games version 1.2.3 (or higher)!

Updated 10/12/02
modified notation key graphics; corrected capture bug

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Game: Camette

Game © 2002 Michael W. Nolan.
Based on Camelot, invented by George S. Parker in 1887.
Rules file and graphics © 2002-03 W. D. Troyka, September 2003.


Camette is a surprisingly entertaining miniature version of George S. Parker's famous boardgame Camelot. The board contains only 23 squares and each player starts with only four pieces. Despite these limitations, the game is quite challenging and remains -- to date -- unsolved. The original Camelot was invented by Parker in 1887, and Camette was invented in 2002 by Michael W. Nolan, president of the World Camelot Federation (see http://communities.msn.com/worldcamelotfederation). To get a sense of the unexpected twists of the game, check out the `problem` saved game that comes with the file. Red has a forced win.

Camette is played on a 5x7 board, with three squares removed from each of the corners to give the board an oval shape. To see a notation key, select "Switch Piece Set" from the View menu. A single space protrudes from both the top and bottom of the board. This space is called the "castle." The object of the game is to move a piece into the enemy castle. You also win by capturing all opponent pieces. Stalemate is a loss.

Each player starts the game with four pieces, consisting of three Men and one Knight. A Man has three basic moves. It may move one space in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. This is called a "plain" move. It may jump over a friendly adjacent piece and continue jumping, at its option, as long as friendly pieces remain to be jumped. This move is called "cantering." And it may jump over an enemy piece, thereby capturing it, in which case it must continue jumping as long as captures are available. A Man may not canter and capture in the same move.

The Knight has all the moves of the Man plus one important addition, called the Knight's "charge." A charge consists of a cantering move (or series) followed by capturing. Once a Knight makes a capture, it must continue making captures if available and may not return to cantering.

Circular canters, i.e., canters that return to an already visited square, are not permitted. Visited squares are indicated by flags. The flags are cleared at the end of the cantering sequence. To pass on further canters, move the piece to the Knight graphic of your color in the lower left or upper right corner of the board. The piece will not actually change location.

Capturing is compulsory but there is no requirement of choosing a path of maximal captures. A player is not required to make a Knight's charge, with the exception that when a capture is directly available, the player may satisfy the compulsory capture rule through a Knight's charge. When cantering a Knight must make a capture if one becomes directly available but may do so through a charge.

You may not enter your own castle except through a capture, in which case the piece must be moved out as soon as possible. If the piece cannot move out through another capture on the same turn, then it must be moved out on the next turn (even if this means declining a capture elsewhere on the board). When moving out of the castle, jumps take priority, although the obligation to jump can be satisfied through a charge.

In the Camette All Knight variant each player starts with four Knights.
Please send any comments or bug reports to dtroyka@justice.com.

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Game: Campaign

Created by Chris Huntoon, December 2001.

The board begins empty. The players each drop a knight anywhere on the board. After that, the players alternate moving their knight. When a knight moves from a square he leaves behind his banner to show he's already claimed that space. The object is to get five of your banners in a row in any direction.

To move, click on the square you want to move to, not the knight. A knight may not land on the other knight or a space marked with a banner. If a knight becomes trapped and unable to make a move, the player automatically forfeits the game.

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Game: Cannibal Clobber

Invented and implemented by Ingo Althofer, August 2003.

Cannibal Clobber is played on a two-dimensional board and has very simple rules:
Red and Black move in turn.
Only capture moves (=clobbers) are allowed. A stone may capture any other piece - let it be enemy or friend - in his 4-neighbourhood: north, east, south, and west.
A player unable to capture loses.

Cannibal Clobber evolved from the more classical game "Clobber". In Clobber you may capture only enemy stones. The name Cannibal Clobber indicates that a player may eat also his own pieces.

The Zillions implementation comes with three different board sizes - 5x4, 6x6, 8x8 - and two sorts of setup: a completely regular one and one where the starting configuration is generated at random. Human chances against Zillions are the better the larger the board.

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Game: Carrots

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, November 2002


Object: Make your Rabbit eat more Carrots than your opponent's Rabbit. (4 randomized variants)

Click the board to allow Zilions to randomize the board by dropping 32 carrots. Then the players drop a Rabbit each onto a Carrot.

A Rabbit moves similar to a chess knight, one (two) step(s) in one direction, then two (one) step(s) orthogonally.

You may pass a turn if you wish.

You win if your Rabbit has eaten the majority of carrots (namely 17 in the default variant).
If both Rabbits eat half of the carrots the game is a draw.

The other variants have more randomly dropped carrots.


More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz.

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Game: Carrots II

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, February 2003


Object: Make your Rabbit eat all its Carrots first.

Click the board to allow Zillions to randomize the board by dropping 32 of your Carrots and 32 of your opponent's Carrots. Then the players drop a Rabbit each.

A Rabbit moves similar to a chess knight, one (two) step(s) in one direction, then two (one) step(s) orthogonally. A Carrot you step on will be eaten, be it yours or your opponent's. The starting player owns the Carrots sloping down to the right.

You win when all your Carrots have been eaten.
Repetition is a loss.

You will quickly see that you might have to eat some of your opponent's Carrots in order to eat all of your own. Try to minimize the number of these cases while you play.


More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz.

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Game: Cascades

Invented by William Chang.
Implemented by L. Lynn Smith, February 2002


Cascades is a two-player game, Black and White.

Each player introduces Stones onto the empty cells of the playing field which are both next to and below a Stone of their color.

Play begins with Black who drops one Stone, then each player may drop up to two Stones at a turn.

Players may pass.

The game is won by the player who occupies a majority of the cells on the bottom row.


This game was based upon the flow of water carving out a mountainside.

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Game: Cat & Mouse for Two

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, June 2001


Object: Eat more Mice than your opponent. (3 variants)

After setting the game parameters (see below), each player clicks the board to drop his Cat. (The first player plays Ginger, the second player plays Fluffy.) A randomized setup of 9 Mice and 18 Cheeses will appear.

You start with a certain amount of strength (mouse bites), indicated by yellow dots at the left and right borders. Moving about costs one point per step, eating Mice increases your strength.

You lose either when you run out of strength (and die) or when there are no Mice left and you have less strength left than your opponent.


Setting the game parameters:
The first eight clicks (executed by Ginger) must be at the button panel. If you do not want to change any settings, click the PASS button until it disappears. The buttons (blue when active) trigger game parameters:

Sets the strength you gain per Mouse.
When 'Fearless Mice' is chosen, the Mice will occassionally venture next to a Cat. This makes them easier to catch.
When 'Mice eat Cheese' is chosen, the Mice will eat cheese. This makes them harder to catch. The Cats cannot eat the Cheeses.
When 'cats climb walls' is chosen, a cat my jump over a wall, but it costs 2 strength points per jump. This makes it easier to catch mice.
When 'cats eat cheese' is chosen, a Cat my eat a Cheese.
Sets the strength you gain per Cheese. Has only an effect if button 5 is switched on.

Variants 2 and 3: Here the Mice are more active and therefore harder to catch.

NOTE: The 6 buttons in combination with the 3 variants allow for about 300 possible variations of this game (in addition to the randomized setup).


Dedicated to my cat Fluffy. By the way, Fluffy loves cheese more than mice.


More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz.
Updated 08/02/03
minor name change

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Game: Cats & Dogs

Created by Chris Huntoon, December 2001.

One player represents the Cats, the other, the Dogs. The board starts off empty and the two players take turns to place one of their pieces on an empty space on the board. Cats and Dogs are natural enemies and may not be placed next to one another, i.e. the may not be placed in adjacent squares that share the same edge. Diagonally adjacent is fine.

In the regular game, the first play who can not make a move loses; in the losing game he wins

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Game: Celestial Checkers

Created by Chris Huntoon, August 2001.


An ancient Chinese folk tale recounts that the Jade Emperor, Emperor of Heaven, once held a feast to which he invited all the animals of the forest. Only twelve showed up. To reward his guests, the Jade Emperor announced that he would name a year of the Zodiac after each. The animals were all duly honored. But then the question of order arose. The Ox, the most brawny of all the animals but also the most dull-witted, insisted he should be first due to his tremendous strength. The Rat, puniest of all the animals but also the most cunning, argued he should be first due to his keen intelligence. The other animals, who possessed both strength and intelligence in varying degrees, soon joined the quarrel. Some sided with the Ox, saying that strength was more important than intelligence. Others sided with the Rat, saying intelligence was more important than strength. While still others wavered back and forth. So to settle the matter, the Rat proposed a contest.

This game uses the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Each animal possesses its own unique combination of strength and intelligence. During the first phase, strength is crucial; in the second phase, intelligence is valued.

The board starts off empty. The players alternately place their pieces on their sides of the board. Each piece must be placed on the unoccupied yellow spaces within their first three rows. The direction a piece is facing indicates which player it belongs to. After each player has placed all their twelve pieces, the game can begin. North, for having gone second during the set-up stage, gets to move first.

An animal can not capture an animal stronger than itself. The animals are ranked in strength, from strongest to weakest: 12. Ox, 11. Tiger, 10. Dragon, 9. Horse, 8. Dog, 7. Goat, 6. Pig, 5. Snake, 4. Rooster, 3. Monkey, 2. Hare, 1. Rat.

When an animal reaches the far rank, it is removed to the side and scored according to its intelligence. The animals are ranked in intelligence, from smartest to dumbest: 12. Rat, 11. Hare, 10 Monkey, 9. Rooster, 8. Snake, 7. Pig, 6. Goat, 5. Dog, 4. Horse, 3. Dragon, 2. Tiger, 1. Ox. As can be seen, an animalís intelligence is in inverse proportion to its strength. In other words, the weaker the animal the more valuable it is and vice-versa.

Other than this, normal Checkers rules apply. Pieces can only move diagonally forward, either by sliding to an adjacent empty square or by jumping over an enemy piece to a vacant square on the other side. Jumping over a piece captures it. Capturing is mandatory, and you must keep jumping and capturing as long as it is possible.

When one player is unable to make a move, by either having no more pieces left on the Checkerboard, or by having all his pieces blocked from movement, the game ends and the player with the higher score wins. [Note: Zillions occasionally miscalculates the winner.]

Incidentally, through prudent and skillful play the Rat was able to easily defeat the brute efforts of the Ox. On the Chinese Calendar, the Year of the Rat is first, and Year of the Ox second to this very day.

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Game: Chase

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, June 2000


Object: Stalemate the king.

Firstly each player drops a king.
Then each player has a double move: First you move your king, then drop a square.

In the variants another piece is used instead of the king.
Note that King and Bishop move differently from the way they move in chess.


More freeware as well as real puzzles and games under http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz.

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Game: Chase II

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, November 2001


Object: Stalemate the opponent's king. (20 variants)

Firstly each player drops a King. Then each player has a double move: First you move your King, then you drop a blocking square.

If the king is enclosed by eight blocking squares, he is stalemated if he does not have an 'escape route'. An 'escape route' are two adjacent blocks positioned of the same colour pointing in one of the four orthogonal directions of the king's position. The king may then move onto the first of these blocks and capture it.

You lose if you are stalemated.

In variants 2, 3, 4, 5 another piece is used instead of the king. Note that King, Knight and Bishop move differently from the way they move in chess.
In variants 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 you are only allowed to escape three times.
Variants 11 to 20 are like variants 1 to 10, but the escape route has to be of your own colour.


More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz.

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