''Conspirateurs'' () is a two- or four-player

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

said to have been invented in 18th-century France.

Robert Charles Bell Robert Charles Bell (1917–2002) was the author of several books on board games, most importantly ''Board and Table Games 1 & 2'' (reprinted as ''Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations''). This work won the Premier Award of the Doctors' ...

believes the game to date from after 1789, following the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...

, "a period of feverish political activity with factions conspiring against each other". ''Conspirateurs'' resembles other games such as

Halma Halma (from the Greek word ἅλμα meaning "jump") is a strategy board game invented in 1883 or 1884 by George Howard Monks, an American thoracic surgeon at Harvard Medical School. His inspiration was the English game ''Hoppity'' which was ...

, Ugolki, Chinese Checkers, and

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Argentine province of the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the 7th most-populous city in Argentina. The city serves as the cultural and economic ce ...

in that pieces jump without capturing over friendly or enemy pieces, to move more quickly to their destinations.

Equipment

The gameboard comprises 17×17 gridded lines. At the centre is a specially marked or coloured area comprising 5×9 intersection ''points'' representing a "secret meeting place". On the board's perimeter, 39 points are specially marked or coloured to identify ''sanctuaries''. The game pieces (''men'') are always placed on the points, using either marbles or pegs in holes, or flat-bottom pieces. In two-player games, each side has 20 men; in four-player games, each side has 10 men. The sets of men are distinctively coloured.

Rules

Play begins with an empty board. Players choose colour, with Black having the first turn. Players alternate turns. The game proceeds in two phases: # ''Drop phase''. Players place one man per turn on any vacant point on the special 5×9 centre area of the board. Players may not move a man until all their men have been placed. # ''Move phase''. Players move one man per turn to a vacant point one step in any direction orthogonally or diagonally. Or players may leap over an adjacent man (friend or foe) and land on the vacant point immediately beyond. Multiple leaps are allowed in a single turn: a man may continue to leap in any direction as long as there are jumps to be made, and may stop jumping at any point (leaps are not compulsory). A jumped man is not captured (there is no capturing in Conspirateurs). After the drop phase is completed, one of the players shouts a warning that they have been discovered, and the conspirateurs scatter to hide in sanctuaries. A sanctuary may hold at most one man. The first to bring all his men to sanctuary wins the game.

References

Bibliography * *

External links

Conspirateurs
a

Les Conspirateurs
illustrations and rules * {{bgg, 60707, Conspirateurs 18th-century board games Abstract strategy games Culture of France