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For other uses, see Clobber (disambiguation).
a6 white circle b6 black circle c6 white circle d6 black circle e6 white circle
a5 black circle b5 white circle c5 black circle d5 white circle e5 black circle
a4 white circle b4 black circle c4 white circle d4 black circle e4 white circle
a3 black circle b3 white circle c3 black circle d3 white circle e3 black circle
a2 white circle b2 black circle c2 white circle d2 black circle e2 white circle
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Starting position for 5×6 Clobber

Clobber is an abstract strategy game invented in 2001 by combinatorial game theorists Michael H. Albert, J.P. Grossman and Richard Nowakowski. It has subsequently been studied by Elwyn Berlekamp and Erik Demaine among others. Since 2005, it has been one of the events in the Computer Olympiad.

Players take turns to move one of their own pieces onto an orthogonally adjacent opposing piece, removing it from the game. The winner of the game is the player who makes the last move (i.e. whose opponent cannot move).


Clobber is best played with two players and takes an average of 15 minutes to play. It is suggested for ages 8 and up. It is typically played on a rectangular white and black checkerboard. To start the game, all of the squares on the checkerboard are occupied by a stone. White stones are placed on the white squares and black stones on the black squares. To move, the player must pick up one of his or her own stones and "clobber" an opponent's stone on an adjacent stone, either horizontally or vertically. Once the opponent's stone is clobbered, it must then be removed from the board and replaced by the stone that was moved. The player who, on their turn, is unable to move, loses the game.[1]


In computational play (e.g., Computer Olympiad), clobber is generally played on a 10x10 board. There are also variations in the initial layout of the pieces.


  1. ^ "Clobber | Board Game". Board Game Geek. Retrieved 12 February 2013. 

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