Manhattan

Manhattan is a unification game that always ends with one player (the winner) gathering all their pieces in one group.

The game is played on a 6x6 square board covered in a checkered pattern of pieces of two colors, except the the 4 central squares are empty. On your turn you have two options: Move or remove. If you cannot do either you automatically pass. (One player will always have a move.)

 Move: With one of your pieces that is not part of a group, take the first orthogonal step of the shortest possible walk along a clear path that leads to a friendly piece. That is: Of all clear paths to all friendly pieces, you must choose the one that consists of the smallest number of orthogonal steps, and reduce it by 1 orthogonal step.



 Remove: Remove one of your pieces that belong in a group of same-colored pieces. You may not make a removal that will split the group the removed piece was part of. A group is composed of two or more orthogonally interconnected like-colored checkers.