View source for Sz'kwa

{{Short description|Chinese abstract strategy game}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2024}}
[[File:Watermelon chess board.png|thumb|Playing board used in sz'kwa]]
'''Sz'kwa''' is a two-player [[abstract strategy game]] from China.  It is a [[Go (game)|go, weiqi, or baduk]] variant.  The sz'kwa board is not an n x n square board like go or weiqi.  Instead, the board is circular in design.  The same board is used by [[watermelon chess]] and one of the ancient [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[bear games]].
It is a [[children's game]] played in China.<ref name="Bell2004">{{cite book |last1=Bell |first1=Max |last2=Bell |first2=Jean |last3=Bretzlauf |first3=John |last4=Dillard |first4=Amy |last5=Hartfield |first5=Robert |last6=Isaacs |first6=Andy |last7=Leslie |first7=Deborah Arron |last8=McBride |first8=James |last9=Pitvorec |first9=Kathleen |last10=Saecker |first10=Peter |date=2004 |title=Everyday Mathematics |url=https://archive.org/details/everydaymathemat00ever_0/page/253/ |location=Chicago |publisher=[[McGraw Hill Education]] |via=[[Internet Archive]] |page=253 |isbn=0-07-600013-3 |accessdate=2024-01-10 }}</ref><ref name="">{{cite book |last=Pickover |first=Clifford A. |author-link=Clifford A. Pickover |date=1992 |chapter=Hyperdimensional Sz'kwa |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/mazesformindcomp00pick/page/155/ |title=Mazes for the Mind: Computers and the Unexpected
|url=https://archive.org/details/mazesformindcomp00pick/ |location=New York |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] |via=[[Internet Archive]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mazesformindcomp00pick/155/ 155]–[https://archive.org/details/mazesformindcomp00pick/156/ 156] |isbn=0-312-08165-0 |accessdate=2024-01-10 }}</ref> The game's name means "the game of four directions".<ref name="Bell2004"/><ref name="Bell1988">{{cite book |last1=Bell |first1=Robbie |last2=Cornelius |first2=Michael |date=1988 |title=Board Games Round the World: A resource book for mathematical investigations |url=https://archive.org/details/boardgamesroundw0000bell/page/14/ |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |via=[[Internet Archive]] |pages=14–15 |isbn=0-521-35924-4 |accessdate=2024-01-10 }}</ref> Players typically use gravel or dirt as the board and represent the pieces using shells, nuts, or pebbles.<ref name="Bell2004"/> The author [[Clifford A. Pickover]] rated a "Hyperdimensional Sz'kwa" challenge as "extremely difficult".<ref name="Pickover1997">{{cite book |last=Pickover |first=Clifford A. |author-link=Clifford A. Pickover |date=1997 |chapter=Hyperdimensional Sz'kwa |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/alieniqtest00pick/page/20/ |title=The Alien IQ Test |url=https://archive.org/details/alieniqtest00pick/ |location=New York |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/alieniqtest00pick/page/20/ 20]–[https://archive.org/details/alieniqtest00pick/page/21/ 21] |isbn=0-465-00110-6 |accessdate=2024-01-10 }}</ref>
== Goal ==
To capture the most enemy pieces.
== Equipment ==
The board is composed of a large circle with an inner middle circle.  Four semicircles form a north, south, east, and west arrangement in the interior of the larger circle.  The large circle and the smaller middle circle are divided equally into four pie slices.  This creates for twenty-one intersection points where the pieces are played upon.
Each player has 20 pieces.  One plays the black pieces, and the other plays the white pieces, however, any two colors or distinguishable objects will do.
== Game play ==
The board is empty in the beginning.
Players decide what colors to play, and who starts first.
Players drop one of their pieces on any vacant intersection point on the board.  Only one piece can be dropped per turn.  Players alternate their turns.
Enemy pieces can be captured as long as they are surrounded completely by the player's pieces.<ref name="Topping1998">{{cite book |last1=Topping |first1=Keith |author1-link=Keith Topping |last2=Bamford |first2=Judi |date=1998 |title=Paired Maths Handbook: Parental Involvement and Peer Tutoring in Mathematics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lDkVAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT58 |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]] |via=[[Google Books]] |isbn=978-1-85346-497-3 |accessdate=2024-01-10 }}</ref>
The game ends when there are no more vacant intersection points to drop a piece onto, or when one player has exhausted all their pieces.
== Related games ==
* [[Go (game)|Go]]/[[weiqi]]/[[baduk (game)|baduk]]
* [[Watermelon chess]]
* [[Bear games]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=1196
[[Category:Abstract strategy games]]
[[Category:Chinese games]]