Rules in English - Stramash Games

Stramash

The Scottish Board Game

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Rules in English

The whole point of the game:
The point of the game is to become the Muckle Stoater by being the first player to move your five Laddies (markers/marbles) round the board from your Dock (start) to your Castle (finish).

Definitions:
Mashies = board pieces
Laddies = markers or marbles
Dock = the start positions for the Laddies
Castle = the finish positions for the Laddies
Bonnie Fechter = a zealous, disputatious person
Muckle Stoater = the winner!

Setting up the board:
Set up the Mashies (board pieces) as pictured. For two players use four Mashies. For three to six players, use one Mashie for each player.
For two, three or four players use two packs of cards. For five or six players use three packs of cards.
Each player chooses a colour of Laddie. The Laddies are then placed in the player’s Dock ready to start play.
Shuffle the packs of cards together. (Make sure the Bonnie Fechters from each pack are included).
Each player is dealt five cards. Place the remainder of the pack face down in the centre of the Mashies.

Card Values:
The Ace can move one place, or from Dock to the start position.
King/Queen/Jack can move 10 places, or from the Dock to the start position.
2,3,4,5,6,9 and 10 move forward at face value.
7 can move seven places or can be divided between two active Laddies, eg. 2 and 5, 6 and 1, 4 and 3.
8 can only move backwards eight places. (However, it cannot be used to move backwards into the Castle!).

The Bonnie Fechter allows any one of your Laddies to move to take the place of any of your opponents’ Laddies (which are active on the board) sending your opponent’s Laddie back to his Dock. However, you cannot touch any of your opponents’ Laddies if they are already safely in their Castle.

Play:
Each player has five cards. The cards determine your moves according to their card value above.
To play, the first player takes a card from the pack. He must then play one of the cards in his hand by discarding it face up in the centre of the Mashies.
He then moves his chosen Laddie, according to its value, around the board in a clockwise direction.

Note: An Ace, King, Queen or Jack must be played before moving a Laddie out of the Dock and into the start position.
The Laddie can then move to the start position, ready to begin moving round the board at its next turn.