Quick Start / How to Play
Start here if you want to begin quickly
Objective
In standard play, control 3 corners before your opponent. Extended play uses 4 corners. A player controls a corner by occupying it with one of their stones.
Setup
The recommended game loads a fixed 12-stone formation for each player. Advanced players may instead choose Free placement in rings 2-4, never on corners or the Still Point.
Placement phase
With the standard opening, begin immediately with White to move. With Free placement, alternate until both players have placed 12 stones.
Movement phase
After setup, players take turns. On your turn, move one stone to an adjacent hex.
Corners
To enter a corner, you must have two adjacent supporting stones. Stones in corners cannot move. They may still be captured using the normal support rule.
Still Point
A stone may enter the Still Point only if it has two adjacent friendly stones. A stone on the Still Point may move to any empty non-corner space, but not until its next turn.
Capturing and echo
A capture is completed when a third enemy stone moves in beside a stone already adjacent to two supporting enemy stones. Captured ordinary stones usually move to their Echo Point: the same distance from the Still Point on the directly opposite radial line. Captured Echo Pieces are removed instead.
Echo Pieces
Claiming a corner token gives a red-marked Echo Piece. It may move normally, jump to an empty Echo Point, or capture an opposing stone occupying its Echo Point. If captured, an Echo Piece is removed and does not echo.
Winning
The game ends immediately when a player reaches the selected victory condition. Standard play is first to 3 corners. Extended play is first to 4 corners.
Board legend
The marked outer cells are the six corners.
A visible ring means that corner still has its first-capture token available.
The centre space has unique entry and exit rules.
Green markers show legal destinations when move guidance is visible.
A red-marked specialist stone that may jump to its Echo Point and capture an opposing stone there. It is removed if captured.
What is Akunur?
In the quiet domains of Elisum, the Aesthetes studied pattern, balance, and consequence. They believed every action creates a reflection — not always where it is expected, but always where it matters.
Akunur is their game of echo, patience, and structure: a contest where control is built through support, timing, and the consequences of every move.
Components
- 1 hexagonal board with 6 corner positions and 1 central Still Point
- 12 ordinary starting stones per player
- A supply of red-marked Echo Pieces for corner rewards
- 6 corner tokens
The simulator does not impose a fixed Echo Piece reserve while the new mechanic is being tested.
Objective
This game is currently in active playtesting.
Standard play: first to 3 corners (recommended). Extended play: first to 4 corners (optional).
A player controls a corner by occupying it with one of their stones.
Setup
The board is arranged in hexagonal rings around the Still Point.
- The outermost positions include six corners.
- The centre is the Still Point, a place of unique movement.
- Each player has 12 ordinary starting stones.
- Standard play begins from the illustrated fixed opening position.
- Free placement remains available as an advanced option.
Placement Phase
The standard opening skips manual placement and begins with 12 stones per player in a balanced, rotationally symmetric formation.
When the advanced free-placement option is selected, stones may only be placed in rings 2–4.
- Stones may not be placed on corners.
- Stones may not be placed on the Still Point.
- Each player places 12 stones before movement begins.
Movement Phase
After placement, the game enters the movement phase.
Players then take turns moving one stone to an adjacent hex.
Still Point
The Still Point is a place of balance and sudden change.
Entering the Still Point
A stone may only enter if it has 2 adjacent friendly stones.
Moving from the Still Point
A stone on the Still Point may move to any empty non-corner space.
Important: a stone that moves onto the Still Point cannot move again until its next turn.
Capturing and Echo
Capture
A stone is captured when it is adjacent to two supporting enemy stones and a third enemy stone moves to complete the capture.
What happens next
Captured ordinary stones are not normally removed immediately. Instead, they are moved to their Echo Point. A captured Echo Piece is removed permanently and does not echo.
The Echo Point
- Draw a line from the Still Point through the captured stone.
- Continue the same distance beyond the centre.
- The destination is that stone's Echo Point: the same distance from the Still Point on the directly opposite radial line.
If the echo space is occupied, the existing stone is removed from the board.
Special cases
- Corner captures remove the captured stone with no echo.
- Still Point captures remove the captured stone with no echo.
- A captured Echo Piece is removed with no echo, regardless of what captured it.
Corner Capture and Tokens
Entering a corner
To enter a corner, you must have 2 adjacent supporting stones.
Corner behaviour
- Stones in corners cannot move.
- They may be captured using the normal support rule.
Corner tokens
The first time a corner is captured:
- Gain 10 points.
- Place one red-marked Echo Piece on the board.
Echo Piece placement rules:
- It must follow normal placement rules.
- It does not use a move.
- It belongs to the player who captured the corner; the red marking shows its special type, while its white or black body shows ownership.
- On a later turn it may move normally, jump directly to an empty Echo Point, or capture an opposing stone occupying its Echo Point.
- If it is captured by any opposing piece, it is removed permanently rather than displaced to its Echo Point.
Recaptures give no additional reward.
Winning the Game
The game ends immediately when a player reaches the selected victory condition.
Optional scoring
In this build, standard play is first to 3 corners. Extended play is first to 4 corners.
Notes / Strategy Hints
The Rule of Two
All key actions require two supporting stones: capturing, entering corners, and entering the Still Point.
Triangles
Strong play relies on triangular supports. These help create stable captures, defensive holds, and corner entry.
Flow and corridors
Stones often move in streams across the board, reinforcing attacks and maintaining support structures.
Echo awareness
Every ordinary-stone capture has a consequence elsewhere. Strong players watch the relevant Echo Point and avoid strengthening the opponent unintentionally. Echo Pieces make this geometry an active movement and capture possibility, but their permanent removal when captured makes exposing them a meaningful risk.
Not part of the standard rules
Future Variants
Akunur is described in the rules document as a living system. The following ideas are future forms only and are not part of standard play in this build:
- Scored Play — additional points for captures or positional control
- Expanded Boards — larger “monastic” forms with additional rings
- Further specialist stones — additional stone types beyond the Echo Piece