Tékumel Board Games: Ssansh

(Turncoats is a game by Matilda Simonsson. This is an imaginary adaptation of how the game might exist on Tékumel.)

Ssansh comes from the eastern lands. Some sages say it traces back to the Mihalli, but this is not known. The version below is the one known in Jakálla.

Ssansh is played on a board consisting of several discs. These often have a hole in them so they can be bundled up with a string. Traditionally the discs marked white and black below are often the lids for the whole set and are rimmed and bowl-like. They are called the King (black) and the Weather (white). They have special rules and are not "spaces" like the other discs. The red, green, and blue discs are normal spaces but are painted or are different materials. The discs are always arranged like so:

Along with the discs, there is a bag of 63 figurines: 21 each of each material matching red, green, and blue. The figurines are usually chlén beasts and are quite detailed in finer sets.

To set up the game, 2 figurines are placed on each colored space that match their colors, then the neutral (gray above) spaces are given two randomly drawn figurines each. Finally, each player (up to five may play) takes 8 figurines from the bag; these are kept hidden from other players, often in leather cups.

On a player's turn, they may Parley, which involves drawing a figurine from the bag into their hand; then the player takes any figurine from their hand, shows it to other players, and puts it back in the bag. The other option is to Act by placing a figurine from hand onto any disc.

• If the disc is a normal space (i.e. not the King or Weather), the player's turn is done.
• If disc is the King, the player may then pick a space, and for each same-color figurine in that space, they may remove a different-color figurine from that space to the bag.
• If disc is the Weather, the player may transfer any number of same-color figurines from one space to an adjacent space. 

Note again that the King and Weather are not "spaces".

The game ends when all players Parley in a row.

To determine the victor, it is first important to determine which color has dominance over each disc. This is simply the color with the most figurines on the disc. In spaces, ties are broken first by which color has dominance on the King, and further ties are broken by the Weather. If that does not break the tie, or if the disc was empty, there is no dominance on the disc by the involved colors.

The color that has dominance over the most spaces (not discs) is the "winning color", and the other two are "losing colors". The winning player is the one who has the most figurines of the winning color left in their hand, with ties being broken by who has the fewest losing color figurines, and ties there broken by whose turn was longest ago.