THE GAME

This game is played on a 5x5 square board with this starting position:

• Starting Position:
  

  | A B C D E
--+---------- 
1 | O O O O X 
2 | O O O O O 
3 | O O X O O 
4 | O O O O O 
5 | X O O O O 

RULES

• TURNS - The Musketeers always go first. Each player makes one move before passing to their opponent.
• MUSKETEER - On the Musketeers’ turn, a musketeer can move to an adjacent orthogonal (neighboring, non-diagonal) cell occupied by a guard, capturing it and occupying that cell.
• GUARD - On the Guards’ turn, a guard can move to an adjacent orthogonal empty cell.
• GOALS -
  – The Musketeers win if they cannot capture any guards AND if they are not on the same row or column.
  – The guards win if all the musketeers are on the same row or column at any point in the game.

AN EXAMPLE

The Guards’ turn:

  | A B C D E 
--+---------- 
1 |   X 
2 |       O 
3 |   X   O O 
4 |       O 
5 | O   O X 

– Guard moves D4 → E4

  | A B C D E 
--+---------- 
1 |   X 
2 |       O 
3 |   X   O O 
4 |         O 
5 | O   O X 

– Musketeers’ only move is to capture the guard on C5

  | A B C D E 
--+---------- 
1 |   X 
2 |       O 
3 |   X   O O 
4 |         O 
5 | O   X 

– Guard moves A5 → B5

  | A B C D E 
--+---------- 
1 |   X 
2 |       O 
3 |   X   O O 
4 |         O 
5 |   O X 

– Musketeers can only capture the guard on B5

  | A B C D E 
--+---------- 
1 |   X 
2 |       O 
3 |   X   O O 
4 |         O 
5 |   X 

– Guards win because 3 musketeers are all on the B column