Ketchup

Nick Bentley - ©2010 - nickobento@gmail.com

Ketchup is a game for 2 players played with red and black stones on
the board pictured in Fig. 1.

Terminology
 Group – a set of stones on the board, all of the same color, for
which it is possible to trace a continuous path between any
two of them by stepping between adjacent stones of that
color.
 Group Size – the number of stones that a group contains. The
smallest possible group has a size of 1. Fig. 2 shows three
groups with sizes 1, 3, and 12.
Fig. 1 – the board
Rules
1. The board begins empty. One player owns the red stones,
and the other owns the Black stones.
2. On the first turn of the game, Red must place 2 stones onto
any 2 empty spaces. Red now has the largest group, the size
of which is either 1 (if the two stones aren’t adjacent), or 2 (if
they are adjacent).
3. From then on, starting with Black, the players take turns, but
their turns differ depending on which player currently has the
largest group, as follows:
a. On her turn, the player with the largest group must
place 2 stones onto any 2 empty spaces.
b. The player without the largest group must either
place 3 stones onto any 3 empty spaces, or pass. She
Fig. 2 – three groups,
may not place the stones such that, at the end of her
turn, her largest group is the same size as her with sizes 1, 3, and 12
opponent's largest group.
4. The game ends when there aren’t enough empty spaces on
the board for a player to complete her turn.
5. The player with the largest group at the end of the game wins.

Note: Record the size of each player’s largest groups on a sheet of

paper, as they’re formed. This will make it easier to think.
 Print this page and play Ketchup using colored pencils or markers.
Use the grids to mark of the size of your largest group as the game progresses.

P1 P2 P1 P2 P1 P2
1 11 20
2 12 21
3 13 22
4 14 23
5 15 24
6 16 25
7 17 26
8 18 27
9 19 28

P1 P2 P1 P2 P1 P2
1 11 20
2 12 21
3 13 22
4 14 23
5 15 24
6 16 25
7 17 26
8 18 27
9 19 28

P1 P2 P1 P2 P1 P2
1 11 20
2 12 21
3 13 22
4 14 23
5 15 24
6 16 25
7 17 26
8 18 27
9 19 28

P1 P2 P1 P2 P1 P2
1 11 20
2 12 21
3 13 22
4 14 23
5 15 24
6 16 25
7 17 26
8 18 27
9 19 28