Chameleon rules

Chameleon is played on a 5×5 board with the following setup:

A B C D E 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 A B C D E

Players take turn to move one of their or :

  • A moves like a chess knight or a chess king
  • A moves like a chess bishop or a chess king

Both units capture opponent units by replacement.

Here's the twist:

  • When you move from a light square to a dark square or vice versa, the unit will become a
  • When you move from light to light or dark to dark, the unit becomes a

This can also be phrased like this:

  • A becomes a when it takes a diagonal "king" step
  • A becomes a when it takes an orthogonal "king" step

There are three win conditions:

  • persistentInvader: if you move a unit into the opponent's base, and she cannot kill it in her subsequent turn, you win!
  • loneInvader: if you have only 1 unit left and move it into the opponent's base, you immediately win even if the unit can be subsequently captured.
  • starvation: if you kill all opponent units, you immediately win

Draws are not possible, nor are long games!