Mana is an abstract strategy game for 2 players. Each player controls one Damyo and five Ronin and tries to capture the opponent’s Damyo with his own Damyo or one of his Ronin.

Setup

The first player positions the gameboard in front of him choosing which one of the 4 edges he will face. Then he places his 6 pieces in any spaces of his choice located in his first two lines. Other player places his own pieces in the same manner.

Gameplay

Each player in turn moves one of his pieces.

• A piece starting movement on a single square must move one square, a piece on a double square must move two squares and a piece on a triple square must move three squares.
• A piece can move horizontally or vertically but not diagonally.
• A piece can change direction during movement. (Example: a piece located on a triple square must move 3 squares. It may move forward 1 square, then 1 square to the left and finally 1 square forward).
• A piece can not pass over an occupied square.
• A piece can not cross the same square twice during its movement.
• A piece ending its movement on a square with an opponent’s piece captures that piece (the piece is removed from the gameboard). NOTE: If the captured piece is the opponent’s Damyo the game ends!

The use of Mana

Mana is used to restrict the opponent’s movement. When the first player finishes his first move he places the Mana on his just moved piece. The other player must then move a piece (Ronin or Damyo) located on the same type of square as the first player’s Mana carrying piece. When he finishes his move, he places in turn the Mana on his just moved piece restricting other player’s next move, and so on. (So each piece that has just moved becomes a Mana carrier).

Mana exceptions

There are two exceptions:

1. No pieces are located on the same type of square as the Mana carrying piece, or...
2. Pieces are located on the same type of square as the Mana carrying piece but they can not move their full movement (because they are blocked by other pieces).

In both of these cases the player has two choices:

Move another piece (in that case that piece will move according to the type of square that it occupies)

or

Take one of his captured Ronin and place it on any empty square. (Returning a captured Ronin to the gameboard ends the player’s turn).