Rules & guided practice
How to play.
Tahni Arena is a free strategy board game for two sides. Move along the board's connections, jump to capture, and win by removing every opposing piece or leaving your opponent without a legal move.
Try it here · no match to load
Three moves to get the idea.
A small practice board, using the real game rules. Take your time. You can retry each step.
- Follow a connection
- Read the lines
- Take the required jump
Step 1 of 3 · Follow a connection
Select C3, then move to any connected neighboring point.
C3 has eight routes. You can move forward, backward, sideways or along a drawn diagonal.
Your turn. Select C3, then move to any connected neighboring point.
Tap a piece, then a ring. Keyboard: Tab onto the board, arrow keys to explore, Enter or Space to select.
Cyan circles: player 1 Amber diamonds: player 2Arrows show the described route.
25 points. 12 pieces each.
Pieces sit on the intersections of a 5-by-5 board. Each side begins with 12 pieces; the center point, C3, is empty. Cyan is player 1 and moves first. Amber is player 2.
Cyan fills the upper two rows plus A3 and B3. Amber fills the lower two rows plus D3 and E3. The diagrams use letters A–E from left to right and rows 5–1 from top to bottom, just like the arena.
Choose AI for a computer opponent, or two players on the same device to take turns with a nearby friend. Both sides follow the same rules.
Follow one connected line.
On a turn without an available capture, select one of your pieces and move it to an empty neighboring point joined by a line. An ordinary move travels one connection.
Movement can go forward, backward or sideways. A diagonal move is allowed wherever a diagonal connection is drawn. There is no promotion row: reaching the far edge does not change a piece's movement.
Here, the cyan piece on C3 has eight connected destinations. The pale rings show those empty neighbors; a piece cannot move to a point with no connecting line.
Not every point has diagonals.
Diagonal connections appear at alternating intersections. Use the drawn lines to check a route instead of assuming every neighboring point is reachable.
B3, shown here, has four connected neighbors: A3, C3, B4 and B2. B3 → C4 is not a legal move because no line joins those two points. Compare this with the eight-way C3 intersection above.
Captures follow these same connections. A diagonal jump needs a real diagonal route, an adjacent opponent and an empty landing point beyond it.
When you can jump, you must.
Jump over one adjacent opposing piece and land on the empty point immediately beyond it, continuing in a straight line. The jumped piece is removed. You cannot jump your own piece or land on an occupied point.
In this position, A3 → C3 captures the amber piece on B3. Because that capture exists, cyan cannot make an ordinary move with either piece—even though the cyan piece on E1 has empty neighbors.
If several first captures are available, choose any legal one. Tahni does not require you to choose the longest possible chain.
Keep jumping with the same piece.
After a capture, inspect the piece's new position. If that piece can capture again, continue with it before ending the turn. You cannot stop early or switch to another piece.
This route is A3 → C3 → E3 → E5. The jumps remove B3, D3 and E4 in order. A chain may turn a corner: each individual jump follows a straight connected route, but the next jump can use another direction.
If the landing creates a choice of captures, pick one and continue until that piece has no further jump. Then the opponent's turn begins.
Capture them all—or close every route.
You win when the opponent has no pieces left, or when it is their turn and they have no legal move. More pieces alone do not decide the winner.
Here it is cyan's turn. Cyan has one piece on A5. Its neighboring points B5, A4 and B4 are occupied by amber, while the potential jump landings C5, A3 and C3 are also occupied.
Cyan cannot move or capture, so amber wins even though a cyan piece remains. This is immobilization, not a draw.
Play by touch, mouse or keyboard.
Touch or mouse
Tap or click one of your pieces, then a highlighted legal destination. Use the 2D command grid when you want a direct top-down view of the points and routes. A capture cue means ordinary moves are unavailable.
Keyboard & calmer play
Focus the command grid, use arrow keys to move between points, then Enter or Space to select a piece or destination. Choose Minimal motion in the game settings for a calmer presentation while learning.
Your first turn
Learn one capture. Then play a match.
Begin with guided practice, face the AI, or share one device with a friend. Guest play is free. When you are ready to look one move further, the strategy guide explains exposed landing points, center access and choosing a capture chain.