Corridor rules

Board and goal

The board is 9×9. The red pawn starts at the bottom centre and moves first; blue starts at the top. Your goal is to reach ANY square on the opposite edge before your opponent: red runs up, blue runs down.

Your turn: step OR wall

• A step moves your pawn to an adjacent square horizontally or vertically (no diagonals).
• A wall is a 2-square-long barrier placed into a groove between squares, horizontally or vertically. Walls cannot cross existing walls.
• Each player has exactly 10 walls per game. Once they are gone, all you can do is move.
• The golden rule: no sealing. EVERY pawn must always keep at least one path to its goal edge — a wall that would break this simply cannot be placed.

Jumping over the opponent

• Opponent standing on an adjacent square? Jump straight over them — it counts as one normal move.
• If a wall or the board edge sits right behind the opponent, the jump “bends”: you may step diagonally around them — the only diagonal move in the game.

Clocks

Online games run on Fischer chess clocks. “5+3” means 5 minutes for the whole game plus 3 seconds added after each of your moves. When your flag falls you lose, no matter how close to the finish you are.

Presets: bullet 1+0 and 1+2, blitz 3+0, 3+2 and 5+3, rapid 10+5 and 15+10.

Rating

Online duels are rated with Elo (everyone starts at 1500): beating a stronger player earns more, losing to a weaker one costs more. AI games and hotseat do not affect your rating.

Three tips for beginners

• Don’t spend walls in the opening — run first. Walls are worth more mid-game, once the routes are set.
• Place walls that stretch your opponent’s path but not yours: the best wall works both ways.
• Count tempo: if your path is 2 moves shorter and the opponent is low on walls — just run.