GIPF is the first of a series of abstract strategy board games based on a hexagonal grid, designed by Kris Burm. The goal is to capture the opponent's pieces. The hexagonal board has 4 spaces on a side, and 2 or 3 vectors that lead to each of these edge spaces.
The game begins with three pieces from each player, placed on the corner spaces. The players then alternate moves of placing one of their pieces on a vector and bringing it into play by sliding it (and pushing any pieces along its line) onto the board. If, at any time, four or more pieces belonging to the same player form a line, those pieces and any others in their line are collected by that player. A player may return pieces removed from the board to play, but keeps any of the other player's pieces (a capture).
The game ends when one player has run out of pieces to bring into play. That player loses.
GIPF is the central game of Project GIPF, the game to which potentials are added.
GIPF comes in an elegant black box with a picture of mountains. The folding board is sand-grey. A thick rulebook contains the rules in Espanol, Italiano, Francais, Nederlands, Deutsch, and English.
More information on Project GIPF can be found at www .gipf .com
There is also a computer program for playing GIPF, called "GF1" available through gf1.sourceforge.net