Description

Rotation is a pure strategy game for two players. An average game takes between
thirty minutes and an hour.

Components
• 32 pieces, 16 white and 16 black
• 1 game board
• 1 rulebook

Setup
Place the 32 pieces onto the gameboard in the positions depicted on the front cover
of the rulebook. The orientation of individual pieces does matter; they should be
pointing the same directions that they point on the front of the rulebook.
Note that the pieces aren’t set up against the very back of the board, but shifted a
space toward the middle, so there should be two spaces between the armies in the
middle of the board, and an empty row on the front and back edge.

Rules
Each player controls the 16 pieces of one color. Gameplay is turn-based, with white
moving first. On a turn, a player performs a single action: either moving or rotating
one piece. Players may only move or turn their own pieces.

Piece description
Each piece has one to four lines radiating from its center. These lines indicate the
only directions the piece can travel. Rotating the piece changes the lines and
therefore changes the directions the piece can travel. These lines also indicate the
directions a piece is defended from enemy attack.

Taking a turn
On each turn, a player may either move a single piece one space, or they may rotate
a single piece 45 degrees (a piece may not be both rotated and moved in a single
turn.)
Moving a piece
• The pieces can only move a single space in the directions indicated by the lines
that radiate out from its center, either straight or diagonally. (If the piece has no
line facing straight ahead, for example, the piece cannot be moved straight ahead.)
• This means many pieces are unable to retreat without first rotating; not all pieces
can easily ‘undo’ their moves.
• A piece cannot make a move into a space occupied by a piece of the same color. It
can only move onto an empty space, or onto enemy space without a defending
line. (see Capturing an Enemy Piece)

This piece can move in any of the three

directions that it has a line facing, but it
cannot move straight forward, since it has
no line in that direction.
Capturing an Enemy Piece
• A piece can be moved onto an enemy piece’s square, capturing the enemy piece
and removing it from the game. The attacker then remains on the square the enemy
piece used to occupy.
• A player may not capture an enemy piece that has a line pointing toward the
space the capture would be made from. In other words, if a white piece and a
black piece are on adjacent squares, and both have a line pointing toward the other
piece, neither can capture the other. Capture requires the piece being captured to not
have a line pointing at the attacker. This means that lines defend as well as attack,
and a piece can’t be captured from a direction it could move in.
• Capturing a piece follows normal movement rules. A piece can’t capture in a
direction that it couldn’t normally move in.

In this diagram, the

capture straight forward
is legal because the
black piece has no
defending line. The
diagonal capture is
illegal, because the
black piece does have a
defending line,
highlighted in yellow.
The capture to the right
is illegal, since despite
black not having a
defending line, the white
piece has no line to
move in that direction
normally.
Rotating a Piece
• Rather than moving one of their piec
es, a player may rotate one of their pieces exactly 45 degrees, either clockwise or
counterclockwise. (This is 1/8th of a full rotation.)
• To turn a piece 90 degrees, two turns are needed.
• Rotating a piece counts as a full player turn. (A player may not move and rotate a
piece in the same move.)
• Rotating a piece changes the directions that a piece can move in (since the lines
are now pointing in a different direction). Rotation can be used to block a potential
attack by turning a line to face back at the potential attacker, preventing the capture.

This diagram
shows both ways
that the white
piece could rotate.
Rotating
clockwise results
in the top image,
rotating
counterclockwise
results in the
bottom image.
Note that the
piece does not
move when
rotating.
Winning
• A player wins if at any time, there are two of their pieces in their opponent’s back
row. (The row closest to the opposing player.)
• A single piece being the opposing back row does not count as a win. A single
enemy piece in the back row may be moved, capture, be captured, and rotate like
any other piece. If it moves out of the back row or is captured, it no longer counts
toward the “two piece” count; the pieces have to be in the back row simultaneously.
• The moment that there are two pieces in the back row, the game ends; this means
that even if the opponent has a piece that could capture one of the two back row
pieces, they don’t get a turn to do so. Put another way: if, after a player’s turn, two
of their pieces are currently in their opponent’s back row, they win immediately,
before their opponent’s turn.

Miscellaneous Rules
• If the exact same board state is repeated three times, the game is a draw. (In other
words, if you and your opponent are stuck in an infinite loop, the game is a draw.
This is a very rare scenario.)
• A player must make a move or rotation on their turn; they may not pass. If they
have no pieces remaining on the board, they lose the game.
• Pieces may not move off the board. The edges of the board are impassible.
• Once a piece is removed, there is no way to return it to the board.
• Pieces may not capture pieces of the same color. (You can’t capture your own
pieces, in other words, even if it would benefit you somehow.)
• A piece can always rotate. Movement can be blocked by allies, by edges of the
board, or by an enemy piece with a line facing towards the piece, but rotation can
never be prevented.
• Your own pieces can enter, exit, move, rotate, capture, and be captured within
your own back row, and do not count towards your opponent's victory condition.
(In other words, your back row is treated like any another part of the board for your
pieces.)