Shuriken Duel

Goal: Strike the enemy's hidden flag, or fell all his shuriken. The flag is carried by a warrior who looks like the others but never throws. You see your own as a back banner.

Your shuriken are bronze with blue blades. The enemy's are dark red iron with red blades.

Your turn: Tap a warrior to throw. Or drag him to glide in a straight line, anywhere on the board, even into enemy ground: if he can hit something from where you let go, he throws at once. Hold a warrior to see his lines of fire and where he can glide.

Throws: Each filled blade hits the first piece in its direction. Your own pieces block, and a throw must hit at least one enemy. Throws fly over the gaps outside the diamond.

Stones stand in no man's land from Chūnin on and on the master ground. A straight throw that meets a stone turns 45° on its slanted face and flies on. Stones never fall and stop gliding.

The journey: Beat each opponent twice to rise in rank and reach new ground. Each rank teaches one rule of the master ground: stones from Chūnin, a flag that takes two hits from Jōnin, a bow from Kashira, and the Mystic adds a bo-shuriken. Honour seals: 無傷 win without losing a shuriken, 盾 win without striking an enemy shield, 速 win in fewer than 8 of your turns. The Mystic only accepts a challenger with 5 seals.

Dan grades (단): on the master ground you climb seven grades, from 1st dan (초단) to 7th dan (칠단). Three wins fill the meter and take you up a grade; a loss takes a point, and a loss with an empty meter takes you down one. Each grade's opponent plays better; from 6th dan he always strikes first, and at 7th dan you see no lines of fire.

Master ground (명인): you set up all 13 pieces and your flag yourself, plus a volley that throws two spikes straight down its column and pins up to two enemies (they cannot move on their next turn; then it must reload for two turns), and one of them a bow whose arrow strikes the first enemy in line and can fly over one of your own pieces, or a stone to get there (in a shield it sticks and unmasks it, a second arrow breaks it); here the flag is a piece of its own. His army is the same as yours and you see his blades, but his flag and his two shields pass for single-blade stars; his X-star, with the red dot, throws on the diagonals and is the prize. Fell it and you capture a star of your own: placing it uses a turn. Stones turn a straight blade 45° on their slanted face. A flag must be hit twice: the first hit only reveals it, the second wins.

Bronze shields: Each side hides two shields. Before the duel you can tap or drag yours to any field of your ground; they must stand in different columns. They never throw. A throw that hits a shield breaks it and flies back to fell the thrower. The bronze dots under the counters show how many are left.