Kata

The goal

Two dojos, Sun and Moon, face each other on a 5×5 mat. Each has one sensei (the large piece with the double ring) and four students. The square where your sensei starts, in the middle of your back row, is your shrine.

You win in one of two ways:

• Way of Stone: capture the enemy sensei.
• Way of Stream: move your own sensei onto the enemy's shrine.

Technique cards

Only five of the sixteen technique cards are used in a game. Each player gets two, and the fifth goes to the side slot. All cards are face up, so you can always see what your rival can do.

Each card has a small grid. The dark centre square is the piece that moves, and the coloured squares show where that card can send it. The grids on screen are already turned the right way for the player who holds the card: your cards point up the board, and your rival's cards point down.

Your turn

1. Choose one of your two cards.
2. Move one of your pieces (sensei or student) to one of the squares that card shows.
3. You can't move off the mat or onto your own piece. Moving onto an enemy piece captures it.
4. The card you used goes to the side slot, and you take the card that was waiting there. So each card you play will reach your rival after their next move.

If none of your pieces can move with either card, you still have to give up one card: swap it for the side card without moving anything.

On this screen

• Your two cards are at the bottom; your rival's two cards are the small ones at the top.
• Tap one of your pieces, then tap a highlighted square. If only one card allows that move, it is used automatically. If both do, you'll be asked which card to spend.
• Or tap one of your cards first to see only that card's moves. Tap it again to clear.
• The dashed card is the side card. It sits with the player about to move, who receives it after moving.
• The last move is outlined on the board, and the card just spent glows for a moment.
• ⋯ has Undo, Game info (captures and the move list) and New game.

Who starts

Each card carries a small Sun or Moon mark. The mark on the side card dealt at the start decides who moves first.

Draws

The game is a draw if exactly the same position (the same pieces on the same squares, the same cards in the same hands and the same player to move) occurs for the third time, or if 150 moves in total (75 each) are played without a winner.

The sixteen techniques

Shown the way the holder sees them: forward is up.