Gounki

Gounki is an abstract strategy board game invented by French designer Christophe Malavasi in 1997, in which pieces can combine into stacks and disperse again, changing their movement options as they do. It is played on an eight by eight square grid. Each player begins with eight round pieces and eight square pieces arranged alternately across their first two rows. On a turn a player either moves a piece already on the board or deploys a new piece from their reserve. Round pieces move diagonally forward one step at a time, while square pieces move one step forward, left or right. When pieces of the same or different shape land together they can stack, up to three elementary pieces high, and the mix of round and square pieces in a stack changes what directions the stack is allowed to move. The objective is to move one of your own pieces off the far edge of the board while preventing your opponent from doing the same, so play balances advancing a runner with blocking the opposing side.