Grand Camelot is a four-handed partnership version of George S. Parker's famous boardgame Camelot. The original Camelot was invented by Parker in 1887, and Grand Camelot was released in 1932. To learn more about Grand Camelot and other variations of Camelot, please visit the web site of the World Camelot Federation at http://communities.msn.com/worldcamelotfederation.
 
Grand Camelot is played on a 16x16 board with 19 squares removed from each corner to give the board a roundish appearance. Two spaces protrude from each of the board's four sides. These are called the "castles." There are four players who form two partnerships: Red and Blue versus Green and Yellow. The turn order is Red Green Blue Yellow. The object of the game is for a partnership to move two of its pieces into the opponents' castles. A player can move his pieces only into the castle on the opposite side of the board, called the "goal" castle. For example, Red's pieces can occupy only the castle squares behind Green in the initial array. A partnership wins when any two opponent castle squares are occupied. A victory for the Red-Blue partnership could consist of two Red pieces in the Green castle, two Blue pieces in the Yellow castle, or one in each. You also win by capturing all of the opposing partnership's pieces, provided your partnership has at least two pieces remaining. A draw is declared if both partnerships are reduced to a single piece. If one player loses all his pieces, his partner can continue to play, with the depleted player's turn treated as a pass. A player who has no moves forfeits the turn. The Knight graphic in the upper left corner keeps track of whose turn it is. If it is your turn and you have no move, click the Knight to forfeit your turn.
 
Each player starts the game with twelve pieces, consisting of eight Men and four Knights. A Man has three basic moves. It may move one space in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. This is called the "plain" move. It may jump over a friendly adjacent piece and continue jumping, at its option, as long as friendly pieces remain to be jumped. This move is called "cantering." And it may jump over an enemy piece, thereby capturing it, in which case it must continue jumping as long as captures are available. A Man may not canter and capture in the same move.
 
The Knight has all the moves of the Man plus one important addition, called the Knight's "charge." A charge consists of a cantering move (or series) followed by capturing. Once a Knight makes a capture, it must continue making captures if available and may not return to cantering.
 
Circular canters, i.e., canters that return to an already visited square, are not permitted. Visited squares are indicated by flags, which are cleared at the end of the cantering sequence. To pass on further canters, click the piece and move it to the indicated off-board position in the lower left or upper right corner of the board. The piece will not actually change location.
 
Capturing is compulsory but there is no requirement of choosing a path of maximal captures. A player is not required to make a Knight's charge, with the exception that when a capture is directly available, the player may satisfy the compulsory capture rule through a Knight's charge. When cantering a Knight must make a capture if one becomes directly available but may do so through a charge.
 
Special rules govern the castle. Once a piece enters its goal castle, it may never leave. A piece in a goal castle is permitted to move laterally twice during the game. A piece can enter a non-goal castle only when capturing, in which case the piece must be moved out as soon as possible. If the piece cannot move out through another capture on the same turn, then it must be moved out on the next turn (even if this means declining a capture elsewhere on the board). When moving out of the castle, priority is given to capturing or charge moves.
 
The Green player was White in the original production of Grand Camelot. To make the Green pieces White, and to see a notation key, select Switch Piece Set from the View menu.
 
 
Special thanks to Michael W. Nolan for his help in developing this script.
 
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