Games

Games are an important part of life in Sicinia, from gambling to taverns to parks to the kitchen table at home. Both board games and card games are played, the most popular of which are explained here.

Board games

les dames: Les dames is a Sicinian game popular in the Coté d'Sur, although it enjoys some following in the north and in the Borriaderre. It can be played by two people, but more commonly by four. The board, often an actual table, resembles five chess boards placed together to form a cross. Each side of the cross is eight tiles by eight tiles, with the entire board twenty four tiles in length and width. Each player has sixteen pieces, which are usually handmade and entirely unique to that particular player.

The pieces consist of: six "levy", which can move one place forward and attack diagonally, two "scouts", which can move many spaces along a straight line but can only attack diagonally, four "knights", who can attack three tiles away in any direction and can leap over other pieces, two "catapaults", which can remain stationary on a tile and still attack two tiles away, a "General", who can move many tiles in any direction, and the "Standard" which cannot attack and can only move one tile at a time in any direction. Although the more prestigious les dames clubs prescribe to specific piece design, out amongst common players pieces are personal and often the difference between them can be told only by the player themself.

The goal of the game is get one's own standard into the five tiles (in the same configuration as the board) in the center and prevent any opponents' standards from doing the same thing. If your standard is captured, then you are automatically defeated and all your pieces are automatically removed from the game. Rarely, even with four people, does it enter a free-for-all. Most skilled players speak with another player to form an ad-hoc alliance to eliminate rivals, and sometimes even three players will gang up on the unlucky remainder. However, once all opposing players are eliminated the alliances will invariably dissolve, into a desperate "king of the hill" struggle.

Card games

Note: all card games in Sicinia Salis are played with the deck from queens, even if the game being played is not queens.

• queens: far and away the most popular game in Sicinia, it is played for both gambling and for recreation. to be continued...
• massi: another popular game, it is played almost exclusively as a wagering game.