Chek-ro (1957)

Rules excerpt: OBJECT OF GAME There are two distinct and different ways to win the game. The first is by getting five of your tokens in a row consecutively. Second way is by capturing ten of your opponent's tokens. RULES FOR PLAY One player selects all the tokens of one color. The second player takes all the tokens of the other color. Players choose for first play. The starting player places a token on one of the four circles reading, START. Tokens are not moved from spaces once they are placed on board. Play then alternates between players who then place tokens anywhere on the board. (However, to work out successful patterns of play, do not place your tokens too wide apart. By concentrating your tokens in definite areas, you will be better able to fulfill the objective of the game–5 tokens in a row.) Your 5 tokens must be placed consecutively in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row. If you succeed in accomplishing this, you are declared the winner. The other method of winning is to capture ten of your opponent's men. A capture is performed by surrounding two of your opponent's tokens by placing two of your tokens one on each side of his. If a player places his tokens in a position so as to become out-flanked, he loses the out-flanked pair of tokens to his opponent. When a capture is completed, the captured tokens are removed from the playing field and placed in the "CAPTURED OPPONENTS" area of board. In this way, both you and your opponent can readily see how the game is progressing. Five pairs (10) of captured opponents constitute a win. Included in the set are more tokens than are necessary to complete the game. However, it is possible that a game could be played out without anyone winning. In this case, the game ends in a draw. Chek-ro is similar to ninuki-renju and Pente