Introduction

The RinneTensei was invented by Masahiro Nakajima, the Curator of 'The Museum of Abstract Strategy Games', in 2009.

RinneTensei is a collective name for two different games: Rinne and Tensei.

Rinne is an abstract game for two players, based on FlipFlop that was designed also by Masahiro Nakajima in 2009, with more strategic characteristics. You will experience rugby or American football-like dynamic gamesmanship on a 5x6 small game board. The game's playing time is rather short (only 10-20 minutes), but you will be amazed with the game's strategic depth realized with the unique design of the movements of the pieces.

Tensei is a variant of Rinne with a random factor.(Thus, Tensei is not an abstract strategy game.)

Setup

Rinne and Tensei are played between two opponents on a 5x6 square board. 6            5            4            3            2            1               a   b   c   d   e  Grids of the board are described as above following the Chess notation.

5x6 Board used for a standard Rinne and Tensei (Checker patterns are reversed in this figure as this has been picked up from the Zillions' default 5x6 boards)

Pieces

Each player has 5 pieces, which move as King, Knight, Bishop, Rook, and Queen. With the Penta-pieces, you will see the current status of the piece on the corner that faces the moving direction.

Rules

Goal

You win when any of your pieces is placed in the middle square in the last row, your goal square (i.e., the 6th row center file for white, and the first row center file for black when played on 5 x 6 boards) for two consecutive turns, or when there is no legitimate moves left for your opponent.

The game ends in a draw if the identical position appears on the board for three times.

Movements

All pieces start as King, one piece in the goal position on your end, then the four others on a M-shaped line on the 2 and 3 ranks.

Pieces move exactly the same as in normal chess games, except that they cannot be captured as in normal chess. Pieces can be captured, only when they are either in your or oppnent's goal square.

The player with the white pieces commences the game.

After each move, pieces are promoted:
In Rinne, in a fixed order: King -> Knight -> Bishop -> Rook -> Queen -> King...
In Tensei, promotion of pieces are determined by rolling a dice.

Playing Tips

Always watch how many pieces are aiming at your/opponent's goal from each side. Even if, you have more armies that are aiming at a goal than opponent's, make sure your opponents' pieces are not interfering your paths.

Equipment

When you play the game on a real board, you can use two different-color sets of dices as pieces: The spot '1'=K, '2'=N, '3'=B, '4'=R, '5'=Q. The spot '6' is invalid.

When using dice pieces for Tensei, in each turn, you move the piece to the designated square, place it '6' up to show that the next promotion being decided, then roll the dice, which is separately prepared for rolling, to determine the next transmigration. Your piece transmigrate on the cast of the dice. When getting '6,' roll the dice again, as '6' is not used here.

When getting 6 in Tensei, roll it again as 6 is invalid here. In each turn, you move the piece to the square, turn 6 up, then roll the dice to determine the next transmigration. And then you turn the piece face as the dice rolled

Sample Games

• VariantName=Rinne (5x6) Standard
• 1. King e2 - e3 = Knight
• 1. King e5 - d5 = Knight
• 2. King a2 - b2 = Knight
• 2. Knight d5 - b6 = Bishop
• 3. Knight e3 - d5 = Bishop
  
• 3. Bishop b6 - c5 = Rook
• 4. King c1 - c2 = Knight
• 4. King c6 - d6 = Knight
• 5. Knight b2 - a4 = Bishop
• 5. Knight d6 - b5 = Bishop
  
• 6. King d3 - e2 = Knight
• 6. Bishop b5 - a6 = Rook
• 7. Bishop d5 - e6 = Rook
• 7. Rook a6 - d6 = Queen
• 8. Knight c2 - e1 = Bishop
  
• 8. King b4 - c4 = Knight
• 9. King b3 - b4 = Knight
• 9. King d4 - e5 = Knight
• 10. Bishop e1 - c3 = Rook
• 10. Rook c5 - d5 = Queen
• 11. Knight e2 - d4 = Bishop
• 11. King a5 - b5 = Knight
• 12. Bishop d4 - b6 = Rook
• 12. Knight c4 - e3 = Bishop
  
• 13. Knight b4 - c6 = Bishop
• 13. Knight e5 x c6 = Bishop
• 14. Rook b6 x c6 = Queen
• 14. Queen d5 x c6 = King
• 15. Rook c3 x c6 = Queen
• 15. Queen d6 x c6 = King
• 16. Rook e6 x c6 = Queen