- Konane was not elitist—everyone played it, all the time
- In konane who takes the most pieces is irrelevant–you win by making your opponent powerless, not by conquering (as in chess) or destruction (as in checkers).
- The complexity of konane is in the control of paths through space: this makes it radically different than chess, which is basically a wargame, or checkers
- The look and feel of the board and pieces reflects the importance of all the senses
- My personal set is seen below: the white are turbo shell operculums from Hawaiian archaeological sites; the black are waterworn stones from Kahikinui Maui beaches
- The Hawaiian world view is dominated by dualism—every aspect of existence has an opposite
- In konane the contrasting sets of pieces and their relationship (visually) with the board reflects this principle
- Konane pieces must contrast both in texture and color
- Konane boards varied in size from 6×6 rows up to 15×12 rows; the most common patterns were 7×6; 9×7; 9×8; 9×9; 11×10; 12×11 and 14×11
- The board below is made from mango. Notice how two different sets of pieces look on this wood, in contrast to the bamboo or mahogany boards in the other pictures.
Konane Rules
- All pieces are laid out in alternating order
- Black player starts—must remove one piece at the board center [see below]
- White player then removes one piece next to the missing black piece [see below]
- Black then moves and so on
- All moves are in a straight line, NO diagonals
- You can NOT change direction during a move—straight line only
- In each turn you MUST huli [hop over] at least one of your opponent’s pieces—which is then removed. You DO NOT have to make multiple huli if you don’t want to
- You cannot move through empty spaces, nor can you jump over your own pieces
- The 1st player who can’t huli looses [immobilized]
- White below still has several moves (huli) possible, black does not–black has lost
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