Atoll

Introduction

Atoll is a two player game played on a hexagonal pattern grid. The game starts with eight "islands" of stones surrounding an empty grid as shown in Figure 1. Each player takes possession of an entire set of stones of one color, black or white. Each player owns the islands of his stones' color. Draws and ties cannot occur in Atoll. Mark Steere designed Atoll in January 2008.

Stone Placement

Players take turns adding their stones to the board, one stone per turn. Black makes the first placement of the game. Each player will always have a placement available on his turn and must make one.

Object Of The Game

To win, you must connect two of your islands which are exactly opposite each other, with a contiguous sequence of your stones. The stones of your islands can be included in the sequence. In Figure 2, Black wins by connecting his North and South islands. In Figure 3, Black wins by connecting his West and East islands. Note that stones in Black's South island comprise part of the winning sequence.

Pie Rule

As noted earlier, Black makes the first placement. White then has the option of switching colors with Black, and claiming Black's first move as his own. If White chooses to exercise the Pie rule, Black then becomes White and now makes the second move of the game. The Pie rule can only be used once and only on the second move of the game.

Playing online

Choose one of the three small skin previews to change the stones. The selection is remembered in this browser.

Click an empty space, then confirm with the standard finish-turn button. You can undo your choice until confirmation.

On the second turn, choose “Swap sides” or click the first placed stone to use the pie rule. All stones and islands change ownership. This uses the entire turn.

The framework color preference changes only the display, never the rules. The star identifies the original starting player; your player information always appears first. A dot marks the last placed stone, and a golden glow marks the winning connection.

The four atolls