Fanorona
BGG rank
BGG #9,857
BGG rating
6.4

Fanorona

1680

Rules assistance for Fanorona

Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

  • 2 players
  • 20 min
  • 7+
  • Complexity 2.4/5

For 2 players

Rules assistant for Fanorona

What would you like to know?

Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.

Fanorona is a board game released in 1680 for 2 players, 20 minutes per game, and ages 7 and up. Its main mechanics are Square Grid and Grid Movement.

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About the game

Fanorona is a classical two-person strategic abstract game that comes from the island of Madagascar and is still popular there today. It is played on a rectangular board made up of two Alquerque boards with 22 plain black and white pieces. Capturing is compulsory and a series of captures may be made by the same piece on a turn, as in checkers. Unique aspects of the game include its method of capture (either approaching or withdrawing your piece from a line of enemy pieces), and the "vela partie" (debt game) after winning a decisive game (the winner must let the loser "eat" one man each turn for 17 consecutive moves). Because of the density of the board (only one open spot at the games beginning) and the unique method of capture, strategy is complex and enigmatic, with fewer pieces often beating more pieces. (While very different, the game feels somewhat like Zertz due to the above.) Historical note from one game box: Some Fanorona matches were devoted to the Gods and last but not least the fate and colonialization of Madagascar (1895) supposed to be solved unbloody with Fanorona on the game table.

Publishers

  • Parker Brothers
  • (Public Domain)
  • Dujardin
  • Fratelli Fabbri Editori (Fabbri Editore)
  • Mitra
  • Northwest Corner, Inc.
  • L. P. Septímio
  • 3Joy Games

Questions and answers

Fanorona supports 2 players according to the catalogue. This is the publisher’s listed player count, so the game is designed for exactly that number of participants. Variants for other group sizes, if any, are described in the rulebook of your edition, so check it before setting up a different configuration.