The Grug

The Grug is a duel for two, and only the towers count. One of you is the barbarian, alone. The other is the moon side: the wizard on his tower and the star heads who work for him. The barbarian charges in straight lines and knocks the towers down. The moon side burns the forest, takes the snakes it leaves behind, and turns them into new towers. Six towers stand at the start: at eight the night has won. Each time the wizard's tower falls he flees to the nearest one, and when there is none left the day has won.

The world belongs to Luca Boni's wordless story THE GRUG, and the board and pawns on the play page are his first concept. The rules are a first playable version: every number in them comes from computer simulations that still have to be confirmed by people at a table.

What is in the box

Set-up

Toss a coin to decide who is the barbarian in the first game. You swap sides for the second.

1. The barbarian places 8 forests. On green squares.
2. The barbarian places himself. On an empty square beside one of his forests, with at least one empty square beside him.
3. The moon side places 6 towers. On white squares, never on the edge of the board.
4. The moon side places 6 star heads. At least one beside each tower, never beside a forest.
5. The moon side puts the wizard on one tower.

The moon side takes the first turn.

One possible set-up, on Luca Boni's concept board. The orange pawn is the barbarian, the yellow stars are star heads, the pale blocks are towers and the blue moon is the wizard on his tower.

The barbarian's turn: the day

You have 3 actions. Each one is a charge or a planting, in any mix.

Charge

Pick a direction. You slide in a straight line and you do not choose where to stop: you keep going until the next square is occupied or the board ends. Then you hit whatever stopped you.

Plant

Every forest the moon side burns comes back to you. As an action, put one of them on any empty green square. Forests are how you stop where you want, because you only stop against something.

Being surrounded

The moment the moon side leaves all four squares beside you occupied or off the board, you lose. It does not wait for the end of the turn. Your own forests count, and so does the edge.

The moon side's turn: the night

You have 3 actions. A piece can do each kind of action once per turn, so one star head can move, burn and collect in the same turn, but it cannot move twice. A star head that was just created can act.

What a star head can do

• Move one square onto an empty square.
• Burn a forest beside it. The forest goes back to the barbarian and a snake is left on that square.
• Collect a snake beside it. You hold one snake at most, so a second one waits on the board until the first is spent.
• Build, by spending the snake you hold: put a new tower on an empty square beside the star head, then ask the star.

What the wizard does

• Create a star head on an empty square beside his tower, if one is left in the box. The wizard does not move by himself.

The star

The star is asked every time a new tower is built. The tower always gets built. The star only adds something for one side.

The barbarian never asks the star: nothing he does depends on luck.

Winning: eight towers or none

A match is two games

Play once, swap sides, play again, so each of you is the barbarian once. If one player wins both games, that player wins the match. If you win one each, the faster win takes it: count the rounds.

The tie-break is a proposal and has not been tested.

Earlier versions

Three earlier versions can still be played from the play page, for comparison. The main version above replaced them on 13 October 2026.

First to five

• The chequered board of the main version, with 3 towers and 6 star heads at the start, two beside each tower.
• The barbarian keeps the block of every tower he knocks down and wins with 5 blocks, or when the wizard has no tower left to move to.
• The moon side wins with 5 towers, or by surrounding him.

Two halves

• The top half of the board is nature and the bottom half is the city.
• The moon side sets up first: 3 towers in the two middle rows of the city, not touching, then 6 star heads. The barbarian places 4 forests on each half, never beside a tower or a star head in the city, then himself on his half. The wizard goes on last.
• The barbarian wins by knocking down the wizard's tower. A snake can also put a block under the wizard, up to 3, and each hit removes one.
• The moon side needs 8 towers. Planting is in the half he is not standing in.

Chequered, wizard on blocks

• The chequered board, with the set-up of "first to five".
• The way to win of "two halves": the wizard's tower, with up to 3 blocks under him, against 8 towers.

Playtest notes

These rules are version D.5 of 13 October 2026. The numbers come from 400 games between two computer players that each plan a whole turn.

The computer players are crude, so the real balance may sit several points either way. What the numbers cannot say is whether the game is fun, and that is what the table is for.

What to watch for

• Is the city too crowded? Six towers and six star heads stand on the board at the start. The computer still finds lines to charge along, but a person may feel boxed in.
• Is it too long? About eleven rounds, twice the previous version, which Andrea found too fast.
• Does anyone win by removing every star head? The computer does in about one game in twenty. It is there so that the moon side cannot let its workers run out.
• Is burning every forest a real plan? The computer players do not aim for it or defend against it, and it still happens in one game in twenty-five. People who try for it may make it much more common.
• Does the barbarian have a real choice each turn? Knocking down a tower, or hunting the star heads that carry the snakes.

What was tried and dropped

• First to five, with blocks as trophies (C.2). Balanced, but over in about five rounds, which Andrea found too fast.
• Eight star heads, at most two beside any tower (D.1). 54%, but the rule was awkward and often left room for only seven. With seven star heads and the rule of today the barbarian gets 49%.
• Two star heads beside every tower, all twelve on the board. Easier to remember, but the moon side wins too often: the barbarian drops to 38%. With the night at 9 towers he gets 58% in 13 rounds.
• Free placing: 6 towers and 6 star heads anywhere on white squares, away from forests and the barbarian. The barbarian won 73 to 84% against the computer's set-up, and one tower more or less in the goal swung it from 31% to 79%.
• A forest race. The barbarian wins with a set number of forests, planted by spending the star heads he removes. A fixed target was either short or one-sided, and "have double the other side" worked but meant counting two piles every turn.
• A wizard who is removed for good when his tower falls (C.1). A barbarian who plans his turn took him out first and then dismantled the moon side: 74%. Asking him for more blocks or giving the moon side more star heads changed nothing.
• Placing the wizard before the barbarian. Andrea won on turn one in the first real game. A barbarian who sets up cleverly could do that in about two games out of three, so the wizard now goes on last.
• The moon face of the star creating a star head. Replaced by one extra action, so both faces work the same way.
• Free building and stacked towers. The moon side won 70 to 97% of games.
• Star heads that slide like the barbarian. Balanced, but it took away what makes him different.
• A wizard who teleports between towers. The barbarian dropped to about a third of the wins, with or without conditions on the jump.
• A wizard who steps to an adjacent tower. It changed almost nothing and tempted players into building roads for him.
• Nine star heads at the start. The barbarian dropped to about 30%.