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My kids are loving all of these traditional games we've been discovering and I hope you have been playing them too! Today's abstract strategy game is from Korea. In English, it is known as Five Field Kono. In Korean, it is called o-pat-ko-no.
If you have ever played Chinese Checkers, the game play will be familiar to you. However, my son and I agreed that we like Five Field Kono a bit better because it does not take as long to play. We are big fans of playing games on the fly, so short games always come in handy.
Watch this video to see it in action or scroll down for the written instructions.
What you need:
- Game board. You need a 5 point by 5 point array. You can draw one yourself using a 4 by 4 grid and marking the corners of each point where the lines intersect with a dot, or download and print our printable game board (see form below).
- 7 counters per player, in separate colors. Make your own like we did by painting small wooden craft blocks, or pilfer them from games in your closet.
- 2 enthusiastic players.
Objective:
To speedily traverse the board and place all of your counters on the points previously held by your worthy opponent.
Instructions
- Place counters in the starting position. Six tokens of each color sit on opposite ends of the board; five on the furthest most points with one each on the outside edge of the next row.
- Decide who goes first. (tip: parents never get to go first)
- Counters may move one point at a time
- Counters may move diagonally only.
- Counters can move forwards or backwards.
- You may not capture or jump any other counter.
- You may not land on an occupied point.
Tip
We've played this games dozens of times now. Occasionally the two teams can both get to a place in which they are able to perpetually block each other from moving; or one player can decide to make moves which don't allow the game to make any meaningful progress. When this happens you can either call it a draw, or one player can decide to make a move which allows game play to continue. It wasn't a frequent occurrence, but it is mathematically possible.
MORE: Korean folktales
More about Five Field Kono
I have shared several types of abstract strategy games. For example, Tapatan is a three in a row game; Pong Hau K'i is a blocking game; Len Choa and Fox and Geese are a hunt games. Five Field Kono belongs to a category known as replacement games.
The game is traditional, but was first recorded in the west by Stewart Culin in his book, Korean games : with notes on the corresponding games of China and Japan, published in 1895. If you are feeling a little nerdy, you can view Culin's book online here.
If you want to invest in a manufactured version of the game, this wooden game set is gorgeous. But honestly, I would just use our printable. Takes up much less space, right?
Fily Davis says
We just discovered this game today and I've been playing it with my 4 year old and she's beat me twice. I love it!