Surakarta — an honest story about a game that owns your evening

Sometimes the simplest-looking game hooks you harder than a blockbuster. This is exactly that case: the rules take a minute to learn, and putting it down is much harder.

What this game is

Surakarta is an Indonesian board game on a 6×6 board. Each side has 12 pieces on two starting lines. Move: step one cell orthogonally, or capture an enemy piece by looping around 2+ ring corners. First to capture all opponent pieces wins.

How to play, in short

1. Surakarta is an Indonesian board game on a 6×6 board.

2. Each side has 12 pieces on two starting lines.

3. Move: step one cell orthogonally, or capture an enemy piece by looping around 2+ ring corners.

4. First to capture all opponent pieces wins.

Controls

Controls: click your piece (red/blue border), click adjacent empty cell to step, click enemy reachable through a ring loop to capture. AI prefers captures.

A few final tips

• Check out the demo mode on the game page — the AI shows how it is played, and repeating it yourself gets much easier.
• Play in short sessions: the best results come with a warmed-up head.

Simple on the surface, deep underneath — exactly the kind of game that never ages. Ready to try? "Surakarta"