Cross the River, Patriot!

What You Do:

1. This is a game for two players. One will be a “patriot” (blue star) and one will be a “redcoat” (red asterisk star).
2. The first player—let’s say it’s the patriot—will draw a “bridge” line between any two adjacent blue stars, either across or down, like this:
3. Then the redcoat may connect any two adjacent red stars either across or down, like this:
4. Neither patriot nor redcoat may draw a diagonal line (this would go through the other side’s symbolic “territory,” and neither one may draw through a line that has already been made on the board.
5. Keep going, with patriots and redcoats alternating moves.
6. The patriot wins if she can make a successful bridge from the top row of stars to the bottom, but the redcoat wins if she can make a bridge from the left to the right. Whoever can make their bridge and get their soldiers over to their other side, wins the game!