Daedalus

An Abstract Strategy Board Game

Objective:

Move your Gladiator from your side of the board all the way across and off the board. Once your gladiator crosses the 1st/8th row, you win! Beware the enemy Minotaur, if he kills your Gladiator it's game over!

Pieces:

• One 8x8 Black and White Game Board
• Two Gladiator figures
• Two Minotaur figures
• Seven Black Walls
• Seven White Walls

Setup:

• Take out the game board and lay it down such that the first row in front of you has a white square on the rightmost square.
• Flip a coin to determine who goes first in the Building Phase. Whoever goes first in Building Phase goes second in Escaping Phase.
• Read the rules concerning Valid Walls
• Read the rules concerning Movement, Minotaurs, and Trapping
• Read the rules concerning Building Phase
• Read the rules concerning Escaping Phase
• Perform Building Phase
• Perform Escaping Phase

Game Phases:

There are two phases, the Building Phase and the Escaping Phase. During the Building Phase players set up the board. During the Escaping Phase they each try to get to the opposite side of the board while preventing the other from doing the same.

Building Phase:

• Flip a coin to determine who goes first.
• Players place a single wall onto a valid square on their half of the board.
• Valid walls can only be on your half of the game board (4 rows).
• The players alternate placing walls.
• After they have placed walls, the players must each place the Gladiator on any square on the nearest row of the game board, then the Minotaur on the same row.

Escaping Phase:

• On their turn, the player must move two different walls one unit and their Gladiator one unit (see valid walls).
• The Minotaur is moved every other turn, starting on the first turn and is moved after the Gladiator.
•  If it is impossible to move your Gladiator, you must use at least one of your two wall movements to move a wall out of the way of your Gladiator.

Valid Walls:

• Every time a player attempts to move or place a wall, they must first check to make sure that is a valid square for the wall.
• Every wall may only have one neighboring wall of the same color where a wall is considered neighboring another wall if it can reach it horizontally, vertically, or even diagonally.
• This means that every wall can only be connected to one other wall at a time. Any move that would cause any wall to be connected to two or more walls is invalid and not allowed to be played.
• These rules only apply to walls and not to Gladiators or Minotaurs. An example is provided below:

Valid Setup:

Invalid Setup:

Movement:

• All of the pieces move in the same way. Pieces can move a single unit horizontally or vertically.
• They cannot move diagonally.
•  Two units cannot occupy the same square, so it is impossible to move through or past another piece.

Minotaur:

• The Minotaur moves one unit every other turn. Keep track of the turn using the coin provided.
• The Minotaur is the only piece that can kill a player’s Gladiator.
• Both players must use their Minotaurs to try and kill their opponent’s Gladiator.
• To kill a Gladiator, a Minotaur must attempt to move into his square. If this occurs, the Gladiator is killed and the Minotaur now occupies that square and the game is over.
• Minotaurs cannot harm or move through each other.

Trapping Rules:

Players are not allowed to move a wall, Gladiator, or Minotaur in such a way that it blocks off a Gladiator’s only current square they can move to. Minotaurs can be trapped.

Game Board & Pieces

Minotaur & Gladiator Close-up

Typical Game Setup

Game & Container