The board has 12 pits, 6 for each player, and 4 stones in each at the start of thegame.
On your turn, select a non-empty pit on your side of the board. "Sow" the stones in that pit around the board, dropping one at a time counter-clockwise into each pit.
If you choose a pit with enough stones to go completely around the board (12 or more), the original pit is skipped and left empty.
If the last stone is dropped into a pit on your opponent's side, leaving that pit with 2 or 3 stones, you capture all the stones in that pit. The capture continues with consecutive previous pits on that side which also contain 2 or 3 stones.
If all your opponent's pits are empty, you must make a move that will give the opponent a move. If no such move can be made, you capture all the remaining stones on the board, ending the game.
The game is over when one player has captured 25 or more stones, or both players have taken 24 stones each (draw), or a position is repeated, in which case the remaining stones are divided evenly (including an odd stone).
Each program must display the current position on the screen for the benefit of the tournament director. Programs must be able to retract moves to correct operator errors under the instruction of the TD.
Each program must complete its moves for one game in XXX minutes. (XXX is still to be determined and will depend on number of entrants and available computers as well as participant opinion. If you are entering, or might enter, the computer Awari tournament, please email your opinion, giving the rate of play you would prefer, to olympiad@dcs.qmw.ac.uk. XXX=30 is the organisers preference.)
Each program must produce a file on disc with the moves of the game, to give to the TD after the game.
Each tournament encounter will be a single game - white and black determined by TD according to Swiss tournament rules.
The tournament will be all-play-all if there are 6 or fewer participants. If there are more than 6 participants it will be a 5-round Swiss.
Each game will score 1 points for the winning player, 1/2 point for each player if drawn, and 0 points for the losing player.
Tournament ranking will be by (1) points scored (2) sum of opponents points scored.
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