Cordots

1. Overview

Cordots is a 2-player spatial abstract strategy game played on an 8×8 grid. Players command armies composed of two distinct piece types to control space, sacrifice units, and dismantle the enemy's back line.

Pieces & Armies

Each player commands an army of 16 pieces (32 total on the board):

Player Alignment

• Player 1 (White): Base Row Rank 1 → targets the opponent's Rank 8.
• Player 2 (Black): Base Row Rank 8 → targets the opponent's Rank 1.

2. Board Setup

The board uses an 8×8 grid where Rank 1 is Player 1's back line and Rank 8 is Player 2's back line.

Initial Row Assignments

3. Turn Structure

Piece Movement

• Grid Mechanics: All moves are orthogonal (up, down, left, right). Diagonal moves are illegal.
• Distance: A piece moves 1 unoccupied square per turn in any orthogonal direction.
• No Jumping: Pieces cannot jump over other pieces (friendly or enemy).
• Movement Direction: Capturers and Victims can move forward, backward, left, or right.

Capture Mechanics & Elimination Priorities

Captures occur through Custodial Bracketing (Sandwiching) along orthogonal lines (horizontal or vertical). A sandwich exists when an opposing piece is bracketed between two of your pieces on adjacent squares.

A. Universal Rule of Bracketing (The "Self-Sandwich" Trap)

• Strict Resolution: After any move by either player, any piece currently enclosed in an enemy sandwich is immediately eliminated, regardless of whose turn it is.
• Suicide / Step-In Capture: If you voluntarily move your piece into a square bracketed by two opponent pieces on your turn, your piece is immediately captured and removed from the board.

B. Multi-Sandwich & Shared-Piece Cascades

• If a single move creates multiple sandwiches simultaneously, all bracketed pieces in every valid sandwich are eliminated instantly at the end of that move.
• Chain Reactions: If removing an eliminated piece breaks another potential sandwich before it resolves, only the fully formed sandwiches at the moment of completion are removed.

C. The Priority Exception: "Capture Within a Capture"

When a player's active move simultaneously creates a capture for themselves while stepping into a position that would otherwise sandwich their own moving piece:

• Rule of Priority: The Active Player's capture resolves first.
• Execution: If the Active Player's capture removes one of the opponent pieces forming the threat against the active piece, the threat disappears before it can resolve. The active piece survives, and only the target enemy piece is eliminated.
• Condition: If the active move captures an enemy piece elsewhere on the board, but does not break the sandwich surrounding the active moving piece, the active moving piece is still eliminated.

Special Mechanics & Infiltration

A. Back-Row Sacrifice (Promotion Swap)

Condition: When a player successfully moves a Victim to the opponent's starting Base Row (Rank 8 for White, Rank 1 for Black):

1. The reaching Victim is sacrificed (removed from the board).
2. The active player selects one captured Capturer from their reserve and replaces any existing friendly Victim anywhere on the board with that restored Capturer.

Restriction: If you have no captured Capturers in reserve, the Back-Row Sacrifice cannot be triggered.

B. The Burnout / Depleted State

• If a player loses all of their Victims, they enter a Depleted State. They may continue playing with their remaining Capturers.
• If a player loses all of their Capturers, their remaining Victims can no longer trigger Back-Row Sacrifices.

Quick-Reference Edge Cases

4. Scoring & Match Timing

Cordots has no running point score during a match — outcomes are decided by board state or the clock, depending on the mode selected before the match begins.

Main Competitive Mode (Overall Time Cap)

• Game Clock: Selectable options — 20:00, 25:00, or 30:00 minutes total per match. This is a single continuous match clock, not a per-turn timer — it runs for the whole game regardless of whose turn it is, and a player may take as long as they need on any individual move.
• Expiration Resolution: If time expires before a standard board win, evaluate the Tie-Breaker Hierarchy: Victim Majority first — unless the game is in the Burnout stage (no Victims remain for either side), in which case Capturer Majority is used instead.
• Overtime: If piece counts across the evaluated category are identical, an automatic +5:00 Minute Overtime Clock is added and play continues. If piece counts remain tied when overtime expires, the match is declared a Draw.

Blitz Mode (45-Second Shot Clock)

• Turn Limit: Each player has 45 seconds per turn.
• Time Expiration (Instant Loss): If 45 seconds expire without a move being made, the player on the clock immediately loses the match — this is not a forfeited turn, it ends the game.

5. Victory Conditions

A player wins a match of Cordots immediately if any of the following occur:

• Total Elimination: The opponent is reduced to 1 total piece remaining on the board.
• Capturer Elimination: The opponent is reduced to 1 Capturer while having no Victims left to execute a Back-Row Sacrifice.
• Timer Expiration (Mode 1): Higher piece count upon clock expiration, or after post-overtime evaluation.

If neither side meets a victory condition when Overtime expires in Competitive Mode, and piece counts remain perfectly tied under the Tie-Breaker Hierarchy, the match ends in an official Draw.