Hawaiian stone game. Run out of moves and you lose.
The board starts filled with black and white stones in a checker pattern. Two stones are removed to begin. After that every move is a jump: hop your own stone over an adjacent enemy stone and take it. Straight lines only, never diagonally. The first player with no jump left loses.
Played by native Hawaiians long before Captain Cook's crew recorded it in 1778. Chiefs are said to have competed on slabs of lava, using black lava pebbles and white coral. What makes it unusual is the ending: you do not count stones — whoever can still move last wins.
Captured stones do not count. What matters is keeping a move that only you can make. Hold one quiet line in reserve for the endgame and your opponent runs dry first. Take too much early and the board empties — and your own moves vanish with it.
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