Manoeuvre and merge stacks of checkers while attempting to be the one on top when the stack reaches a certain height.

• Designer: Mark Steere, 2005
• Byte at BoardGameGeek
• Byte at Mark Steere Games

Byte is a board game which is played with a Checkers set. More than just “new rules for an old game” Byte is a unique, robust alternative to Checkers. Draws and ties cannot occur in Byte. While standard Byte is played on an 8 x 8 checkerboard, the international version uses a 10 x 10 board. At the start of the game, white and black checkers are placed on dark squares (except on the first and last rows) in an interspersed pattern.

A stack can be any height from one to eight checkers and can be made up of any combination of colors in any order. When a stack of eight is formed it is immediately removed from the board and the top checker of that stack is placed next to the board, indicating the winner of the stack. During the game three stacks of eight will form. The player who wins the majority of the three stacks wins the game. In the larger international Byte five stacks of eight are formed.

Only the dark squares are used in Byte. If a stack is not adjacent to any other stack, and if you own the bottom checker in that stack, you may slide the entire stack to an adjacent square (one square in any diagonal direction). You must move the entire stack. The only time you can break a stack is when you’re merging two stacks together (see Merging Stacks below).

The distance between two stacks is measured by the number of moves it would take to get from one stack to the other. When making a basic move, as described in the preceding section, you must move the stack closer to its closest stack. If two or more stacks are equally close (and nearest) to a stack you wish to move, pick one and move closer to it.

In summary: If there is a stack which is not adjacent to any other stack on the board, and you own the bottom checker in that stack, then you can move that stack. But you must move it one square closer to its closest stack.

Assume there are two adjacent stacks on the board. Call them stack A and stack B. If you have a checker in stack A, at any level, you may pick up your checker, carrying all of the checkers on top of it, and place it on stack B. Two conditions: 1) Your checker which you pick up must be moved to a higher altitude - not to the same level or a lower level. 2) You cannot form a stack of nine or more.

If two stacks on the board are adjacent, you cannot move either stack to an unoccupied square.

If you have any moves available you must make one, even if you benefit your opponent by doing so. If you have no moves available you must forfeit your turn and continue to forfeit your turn until you can move again. White moves first in the game.

First to 3 height-8 captures.

• Current engine version: 20231223 (2023-12-23). On Abstract Play since 2023-12-24.

• Diagonal graph only; stacks never mix files of the other colour of square.