How to Play Seega

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Seega is a two-player abstract strategy game played on a square grid, traditionally a 5x5 board, though 7x7 and larger variants exist. Each player commands a set of identical pieces and must first deploy them before the real battle of movement and capture begins. The game has a pleasing two-phase structure that rewards both planning ahead during placement and tactical sharpness during play.

Players tend to love Seega for the same reasons they love draughts or Alquerque: the rules are simple enough to learn in minutes, yet the positions that arise demand genuine thought. It travels well, needs no special equipment beyond a marked board and two sets of counters, and plays to a decisive conclusion without dragging on.

A little history

Seega is traditionally associated with Egypt, and boards scratched into stone have been found at ancient sites there, though the precise age and unbroken lineage of the game are unclear. It was documented by nineteenth-century observers as a popular pastime played widely in North Africa and the Middle East, and it remains part of living game culture in those regions today. Its exact origins and the route by which its rules stabilised into their current form are not fully established by the historical record.

Setting up

1. Place the board between the two players. On a 5x5 board, identify the 25 squares. The centre square is left empty at the start of play and no piece may be placed on it during the placement phase.
2. Decide which player takes which colour. Traditionally the darker colour goes first, but any agreed method works.
3. Neither player places any pieces on the board before the game starts. All pieces begin off the board and are placed during Phase 1.

How to play

1. PHASE 1: PLACEMENT. Players alternate placing two of their own pieces onto any empty squares on the board, except the centre square. Each turn a player places exactly two pieces. This continues until each player has placed all 12 of their pieces (on a 5x5 board). The centre square remains empty throughout Phase 1.
2. Once all pieces are placed, Phase 2 begins. If a player has no legal move at the very start of Phase 2, their opponent moves one of the trapped player's pieces on their behalf to open the position.
3. PHASE 2: MOVEMENT. Players alternate taking one turn each. On your turn, move one of your pieces one step horizontally or vertically into an adjacent empty square. Diagonal moves are not permitted.
4. CAPTURE: You capture an opponent's piece by sandwiching it between two of your own pieces along a horizontal or vertical line, in a single move. The piece you move must be the one that completes the sandwich on one side; the other piece was already in position. The captured piece is immediately removed from the board.
5. You may capture more than one opponent's piece in a single move if that move simultaneously completes two separate sandwiches involving the piece you moved.
6. A piece is safe if it moves into a square where it is already sandwiched between two enemy pieces: it is not captured merely by stepping into that gap. Capture only occurs when your opponent creates or completes the sandwich by moving.
7. The centre square is in play normally during Phase 2: pieces may move through or rest on it, and sandwiches may be formed across it.
8. If a player cannot move because all their pieces are blocked, their opponent must move one of the blocked player's pieces for them to open up the position. Play then continues normally.
9. Play continues, alternating turns, until one player has captured all of the opponent's pieces, or until one player is reduced to a single piece and cannot escape capture on the next move (some players use this as the trigger for concession rather than playing to the literal last piece: agree this before starting).

Winning and scoring

The winner is the player who captures all of their opponent's pieces. On a 5x5 board each player begins with 12 pieces in play after Phase 1. Some players also accept a win if the opponent is reduced to a single piece with no escape from capture on the following turn, but the strictest ruling requires capturing every last piece. Agree which ending condition you will use before play begins.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns the safe-entry rule. A piece is never captured simply by being sandwiched as a result of its own move: only the moving player's pieces can create a capture, and only against the opponent's pieces. If you accidentally move your own piece into a gap between two enemy pieces, your piece is perfectly safe. This rule is fundamental and must be clear to both players before the game starts, as newcomers frequently expect the opposite.

A second dispute involves a player with no legal move. The standard ruling is that the opponent selects any one of the stuck player's pieces and moves it to an adjacent empty square, choosing where it goes. The stuck player does not get a say in which piece is moved or where it goes. After that, normal alternation resumes. If the position is entirely locked for both players simultaneously, the game is declared a draw, though this outcome is rare and most organised play has no specific protocol for it beyond a shared decision to restart.

How to win more often

• During placement, avoid clustering your pieces in one corner. Spread them to give yourself multiple lines of attack and make it harder for your opponent to form a single wall against you.
• Control the centre early in Phase 2. The centre square connects to four lines and gives your pieces the most flexibility for creating sandwiches.
• Look for moves that threaten two captures at once. A well-placed piece can force your opponent to choose which of their pieces to save, and the other is lost.
• Count your opponent's escape squares before moving. If a piece is nearly surrounded, it may be better to restrict it further than to take an unrelated capture elsewhere.
• Do not race to capture individual pieces if doing so breaks your own formation. A tight, connected group of your pieces is harder to sandwich and easier to coordinate than scattered individuals.

Variations

7x7 Seega

Played on a 7x7 grid with 24 pieces per player, leaving the centre square free during placement. The larger board produces longer, more complex games and gives more room for strategic manoeuvre during placement. The rules are otherwise identical. This size is sometimes cited as the more traditional form for serious play.

One-piece-at-a-time Placement

In this variant each player places only one piece per turn during Phase 1 rather than two. This slows the placement phase and gives each player more opportunity to react to the opponent's developing pattern before committing their next piece. The rest of the rules stay the same.

No Blocked-player Rule

Some players simply count a position where one player has no legal move as an immediate win for the opponent, rather than having the opponent move one of the stuck player's pieces. This makes the game slightly shorter and rewards the player who engineered the blockade without giving their opponent a lifeline.

Custodian Capture Only on Rows or Columns (no diagonal adjacency)

A minor clarification variant that explicitly forbids any capture involving a diagonal relationship, reinforcing that sandwiches must be strictly orthogonal. In standard Seega this is already the rule, but stating it explicitly and penalising any disputed capture as void can help in teaching settings with younger players.

Seega: frequently asked questions