ZERTZ is the third game of the GIPF series. Two basic actions characterize ZERTZ: moving by jumping and removing parts of the board. The potential that ZERTZ adds to an expanded game of GIPF is that of jumping. The goal of the game is to capture (by jumping) either 3 white marbles, 4 grey marbles, 5 black marbles, or 2 marbles of each color.
To begin the game, the players arrange 37 rings into a hexagon, four rings to a side. These rings will become pedestals for the white, grey, and black marbles.
Players take turns selecting a marble from the cache, placing it on any vacant pedestal, and then removing a vacant pedestal from the edge of the board. At this point, if any of the marbles are adjacent, and one could be moved over one occupied pedestal to land on a vacant pedestal, this move must be taken, thereby capturing the jumped marble (as in checkers). If this move would allow a second jump and capture, that must be taken.
If removing a pedestal would isolate any other pedestals from the rest of the board, those isolated pedestals must be removed as well. It might be possible to isolate an occupied pedestal, in which case, the active player has captured that marble.
The game ends when one player has captured the requisite number of marbles.
ZERTZ is packaged in a blue box with an image of rocks standing in water. An expansion, which includes enough pedestals to make the board 5 on a side, is available separately. Like all the Project GIPF games, rules in Espanol, Italiano, Francsis, Nederlands, Deutsch, and English are included.
More information on Project GIPF can be found at www.gipf.com