Plink and Plonk

A strategy board game on a five-by-five board, revived from a nineteenth-century contest. Player 1 has 12 yellow Plinks, player 2 has 12 green Plonks. First the players take turns placing one piece at a time on any empty cell except the centre, the forbidden zone, until the board is full around it. Then, Plinks first, each turn moves one of your pieces one cell in any of the eight directions into an empty cell. The move captures: in each direction from where you land, one enemy piece, or two in a row, with one of your pieces just beyond them, is removed. Only the mover captures, so stepping between two enemies is safe. A player left with one piece loses; after 50 moves without a capture, more pieces wins. Play a friend or the computer.

Controls: The stick moves the cursor one cell (hold to repeat), and either button picks. One player: either controller plays the Plinks. Two players: controller 1 plays the Plinks and controller 2 the Plonks. On the title, up and down choose and a button starts.

ColecoVision version credited in the source to Claude (an AI made by Anthropic) for Amy Studio, in Amy, the language by Amy Bienvenu, 2026: a reimagined adaptation of the published rules. From Ahoy! No. 43, July 1987, page 15: original Commodore 64 program by Walter E. Meyers. Published in the magazine as "Plink & Plonk". This is a modern homebrew adaptation, not a commercial Coleco release.