Qast

Qast (Arv. /ˈkʰæst/), also known as hariqos (Arv. /hæɾ.ˈikʰos/), is a peasant's boardgame popular among the Arventiri people of the Pāll-tanír. Qast is played with the same board and pieces as kharjamitil (Arv. /xæɾ.dʒæ.ˈmiː.tɪl/), which was, in contrast to qast, the "game of kings." Playing a game of Qast involves not just luck, but also strategy.

History

For much of history prior to the arrival of the Dominion on the shores of the desert continent, kharjamitil, the game from which qast is descended, was exclusively the province of wealthy merchants and nobles. This was due to the fact that the board and pieces were traditionally made of high-quality wood which was prohibitively expensive at the time. Knowledge of the game spread to the general populace through stories from members of noble households, though it was never played in public.
As settlements around the Shar, such as Qesrir, grew in economic strength thanks to the lumber trade, and high-quality wood became cheaper as a consequence, kharjamitil became more affordable for the common man. Many communities would buy one or two sets which were kept and played in a public venue, usually where villagers would gather to watch the spectacle of the game being played. It is believed that qast was born at around this time as most of the communities that purchased the game set did not actually know the rules and had to guess or make them up entirely. As a result, early qast had extreme regional variations, and the game in one community would be completely different from a neighboring one.
This was the status quo for qast until Hariq Qilaros, styled the "Father of Qast", created a ruleset that he spread to as many communities as he could, and was largely adopted by many of them. Hariq's ruleset would form the foundation of what would come to be known as Madresha Qast, one of the two major rulesets of modern qast. The other major ruleset, Ayyaneshi Qast, came about when a diplomat from Tan'Ayya visited the royal court of Madras and discovered the palace servants playing what he thought was kharjamitil. Finding the gameplay compelling, the diplomat took note of the rules and played around with them on his way home, where he introduced the new way of playing to the royal court of Tan'Ayya.

Execution

Games of qast always begin with a friendly handshake, followed by a coin toss to determine which of the players goes first. Once the starting player is decided, they get the black pieces and the coin, while the second player gets the white pieces. Each player places one disc on one of the circles of their respective color in the middle of the board. The black player starts by placing one disc on any of the colored spaces on their side of the qast track, then the white player gets to place one of their discs on one of the colored spaces on their side of the track. This process is repeated for the second disc. For the third disc, the black player may choose to either place their disc on the track or place it in one of the golden circles in the middle of the board, while the white player places theirs on their side of the track. Once all discs are placed on the board, it is time to start the game of qast.
The black player takes all three of the black sticks, while the white player takes only the white sticks with the numbers 2 and 3 on them. Both players roll the sticks between their hands and let them drop onto the ground. Then, each player will place each stick on one of their discs, taking care not to change which edge was on top. Multiple sticks can be placed on a single disc, but each stick can only be placed on one disc. Note that this means the white player places only two sticks on only up to two discs. The black player will move the disc that has the stick with the number 1 on it first. Based on the number of dots painted on the edge, 1, 2, or 3 (the number of dots in each group on the edge is what matters, not the total number of dots), the black player moves the disc up to that many spaces in a direction of their choice.
Then, the white player moves their number 2 disc, after which the black player moves their number 2 disc, and so on until the black player moves their number 3 disc, at which point the round is considered completed. At the end of the round, each player may choose to place a disc from the middle of the board onto the track. The white player places their disc first, and then the black player does. Once this process is completed, the black player passes the coin to the white player, and gameplay resumes again, only this time, the white player rolls three sticks and the black player rolls two sticks.

Rules of Play

• Once a disc starts moving in one direction around the track, it must keep moving in that direction. (i.e. no doubling back).
• Discs of the same color may not move past one another, unless:
  • The disc to be moved is next to the disc to be moved past, and;
  • The disc to be moved can move 3 spaces
  In which case, the disc to be moved will move to the space after the disc to be moved past and stop its movement there.
• When a disc moves on top of or moves past a disc of the opposite color, the disc of the opposite color must be taken off the track and placed in one of the opposite color's circles in the middle of the board unless that disc is the last disc of that color on the track.
• When a disc moves on top of or moves past the space where it entered the track after going around the track at least once, that disc's player may do one of three things:
  • Place that disc on one of the golden circles in the middle
  • Move one disc of the opposite color from the golden circle in the middle of the board to one of the opposite color's circles in the middle of the board
  • Return one disc from a circle of the same color in the middle of the board to one of the spaces of the same color on the track
• If a player rolls three threes on their sticks, they may move each of their discs up to four spaces instead of three for that round.

Objective

The objective of the game is to get three discs of your color onto the golden circles in the middle of the board.

Components and tools

Qast is played on a long, thin rectangular plank of wood. The middle section of the board has nine circular regions painted on it, three white, three black, and three in either green or gold, depending on the quality of the board. The outer edge of the board is occupied by a long track that wraps around the central area, which is divided into square spaces. Eighteen of the track spaces, nine on either side, are painted either white or black depending on which side they are on. Traditionally, when facing the board such that the nine circles in the middle go from white to gold to black from nearest to furthest, the white spaces are on the left, and the black spaces are on the right.
Of the nine painted spaces on either side of the track, three are placed in the middle of their side of the track, three more are placed four spaces away from the bottom of their side of the track, and the last three are placed four spaces away from the top of their side of the track.
Eight discs are included with the board. Four are painted white or made of sun-bleached wood, while the other four are painted black or are made of charred wood.
Six three-sided sticks are also included. Similar to the discs, three of the sticks are sun-bleached or painted white, while the other three are charred or painted black. Each stick has a numeral carved or painted on all three of its sides. There are two sticks with the number 1, two sticks with the number 2, and two sticks with the number 3. Each stick has one edge with a single dot painted on it in the middle, at the top, and at the bottom, one edge with two dots painted in the middle, at the top, and at the bottom, and one edge with three dots painted in the middle, at the top, and at the bottom.
Though it is not included with the set, games of qast also involve the use of a single coin, both for determining who goes first, as well as for determining which player is currently making a move on the board.