# Mū Tōrere — the Māori star game

- From: Mū Tōrere, a game of the Māori of Aotearoa New Zealand
- Players: 2 players
- Time: 5–10 min
- Made by: Traditional Māori game

Made with boardgameBuilder 0.14.4. To design from it, open boardgameBuilder and choose Open game: its blocks go on the canvas, and the feelings are left for you to pick.

Eight points round a star and one in the middle. Each player has four pieces and there is only ever one empty point. The game is about not getting stuck.

## What it shows a designer

A board with a single empty point makes every move a question of who gets stuck. It shows how one restriction, the centre rule, can keep a tiny game from being won at once.

## What you need

- paper with an eight-pointed star and its centre drawn
- 4 coins of one kind and 4 of another

## How to play

1. **The board.** Draw eight points in a ring and one in the centre. Join each point to its two neighbours and to the centre.
2. **Set up.** Put one player's four pieces on four points next to each other, and the other's on the other four. The centre is empty.
3. **A move.** Take turns moving one of your pieces along a line into the empty point. No jumping and no capturing.
4. **The centre.** A piece may move into the centre only if it sits next to an opponent's piece on the ring.
5. **Win.** You win when your opponent cannot move. If the same position comes three times, call it a draw.

## After playing, talk about

- Why does the centre rule exist? What happens without it?
- How quickly can a game be lost?
- What does a board with only one empty space do to play?

## Where the rules are written down

- https://nrich.maths.org/games/mu-torere
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_torere

## Its blocks

- Player interaction: direct confrontation
- Chance or skill: mostly skill
- Theme: abstract
- Information visibility: full information
- Timing: take turns

## Saved state

boardgameBuilder reads this part back when the file is opened.

```json
{"mechanics": {"player-interaction": "direct-confrontation", "chance-skill": "mostly-skill", "information": "full-information", "theme": "abstract", "timing": ["take-turns"]}, "chosenFeelings": [], "previousMechanics": {}, "previousFeelings": [], "turnNumber": 0, "locked": false, "turnHistory": [], "answers": {}, "tests": {}}
```