The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
OBJECTIVE Reduce your opponent's dice on the board to fewer than 4 through attacks.
SETUP Both players receive 8 dice of their color. All dice begin in the Statue of Zeus reserve (off the board). White moves first.
GAMEPLAY On each turn, choose one of three actions:
1 — PLACE A DIE Place one die from your reserve onto any unoccupied field. Newly placed dice always start with a face value of 1. Stones with a value of 1 are indestructible.
2 — STRIDE WITH A DIE Move one of your dice horizontally or vertically a number of spaces equal to its face value. If it lands on an opponent's die, that die is removed. Stones with a value of 1 are indestructible and cannot be captured. After each move, the die's value increases by 1. After a 6 has moved, it becomes a 1 again.
3 — DIMINISH Reduce the face value of any of your dice that shows more than 1 by one pip. The opponent is then forced to move any of their dice currently showing a 1. This action can only be used if the opponent has dice showing 1 that are able to move.
WINNING The game ends immediately when a player is reduced to fewer than 4 dice on the board. That player loses.
4 PLAYERS Two boards are joined into one arena, each player holding a quarter: White (near) and Black sit diagonally opposite, as do Red and Blue, with the twin thrones facing each other across a narrow 5-row no-man's-land. Its central divider row cannot be built on by anyone, but stones may pass through it. Turn order runs clockwise: White → Red → Black → Blue. You may only PLACE dice in your own home quarter, but you may STRIDE and capture anywhere — run your stones across to the far board. Drop below 4 dice and you are eliminated; the last player standing wins. When you DIMINISH, you choose which opponent is forced to move a value-1 die.