🎲 StackWorks — Lasca Help & Rules (7×7 and 8×8)

A strategic board game invented by World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker in 1911

About Lasca
Game Setup
Game Rules
Using the Interface
Features
Strategy Tips

About Lasca

Lasca (also known as Laska) is a checkers variant that combines elements of checkers and chess. This app supports both the classic 7×7 Lasca board and an 8×8 board (Lasca rules on a Dama-sized board).

        Key Innovation: When you capture an opponent's piece,
        it doesn't leave the board—it goes under your piece forming a stack (or
        "column"). The top piece controls the stack, and captured pieces can be
        liberated if their stack is captured!
      

Game Setup

Lasca rules are the same on both board sizes. The difference is the board and starting piece count.

Classic Lasca (7×7): 11 soldiers per side
Lasca on 8×8 board: 12 soldiers per side
⚪ Light starts at the bottom; ⚫ Dark starts at the top
Light moves first
All pieces start as soldiers (simple pieces)

Game Rules

Movement

Soldiers: Move forward diagonally one square (like checkers pawns)
Officers: Move diagonally in any direction one square (like chess kings)
You can only move to empty squares (no jumping over your own pieces to move)

Capturing

Jump over an enemy piece diagonally to an empty square two spaces away
The captured piece goes underneath your piece, forming or extending a stack
Soldiers can only capture forward (like normal moves)
Officers can capture in any diagonal direction
You can only capture enemy pieces (the top piece of enemy stacks)

Multi-Capture

If after capturing you can make another capture, you must continue
Multi-captures happen in a single turn
Anti-loop Rule: You cannot jump over the same square twice during one turn
If you promote to an officer during a capture sequence, the turn ends immediately

Promotion

Soldiers reaching the opposite end of the board promote to Officers ⭐
Light soldiers promote on row 6 (top of board), Dark soldiers on row 0 (bottom of board)
Light officers are displayed in green, Dark officers in red
Officers can move and capture in all four diagonal directions
Only the top piece of a stack determines movement—officers control their entire stack

Stacks

When you capture, the enemy piece goes under your piece
Multiple captures create taller stacks
Only the top piece determines who controls the stack and how it moves
If a stack is captured, the top piece is removed and the next piece takes control
Pieces of the same color can be in the same stack (from multi-captures)

Mandatory Capture Rule: If you can make a capture, you must make a capture. You cannot make a quiet move when captures are available.

Winning the Game

You win when your opponent:

Has no pieces controlling any stacks (all their pieces are captured and under your pieces)
Has no legal moves available (all pieces are blocked)

Using the Interface

Online play (2 players)

You can play online via the Start Page by choosing Play mode → Online. Player 1 creates a room, then shares the Room ID with Player 2.

Room visibility: when creating a room, choose Public (spectators allowed) or Private (no public spectating).
Room ID is shown in-game in Info → Online with a copy button.
When you create a room, the game shows a sticky Waiting for opponent… toast; tap it to copy an invite link to share.
Player 2 joins by pasting the Room ID on the Start Page.
Online input is blocked until both players have joined (prevents one client from playing “both colors” while waiting).
Spectating: you can spectate public rooms from the Start Page. Private rooms require a secret watch link.
Private watch links: seated players can copy a private spectate link from Info → Online using the Ⓦ button.
Connection toasts: the game may show Connecting…, Reconnecting…, and Reconnected. These respect the “Show toast notifications” setting.
Opponent presence: the Online panel shows opponent status, and the board also shows a small opponent badge under the turn indicator (green=connected, yellow=in grace, red=disconnected, gray=waiting).
Report issue: open Info → Online and click ⓘ to view/copy debug info (and it will also be uploaded to the server for this room).
Disconnect grace: if one player disconnects while the other stays connected, the disconnected player may lose after a short grace period. If both players disconnect, the game stays paused and does not time out.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcuts use Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or Cmd (macOS). Shortcuts are disabled while typing in a text field.

Undo: Ctrl/Cmd+Z
Redo: Ctrl/Cmd+Y or Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Z
Save: Ctrl/Cmd+S
Resign: Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+X
Full Screen: Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+F (or the Full Screen button)
Bot speed: Alt+↑/Alt+↓ (when the AI speed control is available)
Playback speed: Alt+Shift+↑/Alt+Shift+↓
Show keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+? (also works as Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+/)
Right-click menu: Right-click outside the board → Show Keyboard Shortcuts

Sound effects

The game can play subtle sounds for moves/captures. You can toggle this from the Start Page (startup option) and in-game from the Options panel.

Making Moves

Click on one of your pieces to select it
Valid destinations appear as highlighted circles
Click on a destination to move there
If continuing a multi-capture, the piece remains selected—click the next destination

Move Hints

Move preview hints can be toggled in-game via left panel → Options → Move preview hints.

Stack Inspector

The right panel shows the composition of stacks:

Click any stack to see all pieces in it from bottom to top
The top piece is marked with a star
Pieces are colored by their owner

Board Height Button

When enabled, an on-board button (↕️) appears near the bottom-right of the board to help when the browser’s bottom navigation bar overlaps the play area. You can enable this from the Start Page, or in-game via left panel → Options → Show resize icon.

Tap: toggle reduced board height on/off
Touch-hold + drag: move the button if it blocks something (its position is remembered)

Board Notation

Lasca uses a standard coordinate system to identify positions:

Rows: Numbered 0-6 from bottom to top (0 is bottom, 6 is top)
Columns: Numbered 0-6 from left to right
Format: Positions are written as {Column}{Row}, e.g., A1 is the bottom-left corner, G7 is the top-right corner
Light starts on rows 0-1, Dark starts on rows 5-6

While not displayed in the UI, this notation is standard for recording games and discussing positions, similar to algebraic notation in chess.

Features

Game Controls

New Game: Start a fresh game (with confirmation)
Resign: Forfeit the current game (with confirmation)
Leave room (forfeit): Online-only. Leave the room and forfeit immediately (counts as resign), then return to the Start Page.
Undo/Redo: Navigate through your move history
Save Game: Export your game to a JSON file
Load Game: Import a previously saved game
Move History: See all moves made in the current game (shown in the Info panel, below the Stack Inspector). Quiet moves use → (e.g., "A1 → B2"), captures use × (e.g., "C3 × D4"). Multi-capture chains show the full path (e.g., "A1 × B2 × C3"). The list auto-scrolls so the latest move stays visible. You can also click any entry (including "Start") to jump to that point in the game; when you Undo/Redo or jump, the list scrolls to keep the current entry visible.
Export Move History: Download a JSON file containing all moves from the current game with timestamps. Useful for recording games for publication or analysis

Options

The Game Panel (left sidebar) contains an Options section with display and gameplay settings:

Layout: Choose Panels (sidebars) or Menu (hamburger menu that opens panel sections as dialogs). On small touch screens, StackWorks may default to Menu until you choose otherwise.
Show board coordinates: Display column letters (A–G) and row numbers (1–7) along the edges of the board
Use checkered board (8×8): For 8×8 variants, switch to a chess-style square grid. When enabled, the Board & Pieces panel includes a Board selector (Classic/Green/Blue/Stone/Burled Wood) to change the checkerboard colors.

In Menu mode, tap ☰ to open the panel section list. After the first tap, a top bar appears with Start Page and ? (help). If you choose Start Page after a game has started, StackWorks will show a warning to prevent accidental loss of the current game.

Repetition draws are enforced by the ruleset (not a UI option). When a threefold repetition is available, the current player may claim a draw; fivefold repetition is an automatic draw.

Option Actions

Below Options, the Option Actions section contains game control buttons:

New Game: Start a fresh game (with confirmation)
Save Game / Load Game: Export or import game state as JSON
Export Move History: Download move history as JSON
Undo / Redo: Navigate through move history
Resign: Forfeit the current game (with confirmation)
Leave room (forfeit): Online-only. Leave the room and forfeit immediately (counts as resign), then return to the Start Page.

AI

The Game Panel (left sidebar) includes an AI section that lets you choose who is controlled by the computer.

Light / Dark: Set each side to Human, Beginner, Intermediate, or Expert.
Both sides AI: If you set both to AI, the game can play on its own.
Speed: Adds a pause between AI moves so play is easier to follow.
Pause / Step: Pause AI play, or step a single move (useful for AI vs AI).

Evaluation

The Info panel (right sidebar) includes an Evaluation section showing a quick “who is better” style indicator. Click an icon to choose what to display (hover to see the tooltip):

⚖ Advantage (estimate): A heuristic evaluation of the current position
▦ Controlled stacks: Count of stacks controlled by each side (top piece)
⛀ Material (all pieces): All pieces currently on the board, including buried

Themes

The Theme panel lets you change how pieces look (piece theme). On 8×8 games using the checkered board option, it also includes a Board selector (Classic/Green/Blue/Stone/Burled Wood) for the checkerboard colors.

Choose between different visual themes:

Classic: Traditional tan and brown board
Wooden: Natural wood grain textures with light maple, dark walnut, and cherry wood pieces on a warm wooden board
Copper & Steel: Modern metallic theme with polished stainless steel and copper pieces featuring brushed metal textures and realistic metallic shine
Granite & Marble: Elegant stone theme with polished white marble and black granite pieces featuring realistic veining, bright reflective speckles, and rounded beveled edges for a dimensional 3D appearance
Semi-Precious Stones: Gem-like theme with semi-precious pieces (11 light + 11 dark) and enhanced shine (strong speculars/glints) to make stones easier to identify at a glance
Glass: Sleek translucent glass pieces in light yellow and dark blue with shiny reflections, rounded edges, and glossy highlights for a modern appearance. Includes optional piece color-pair presets (Glass colors) and background variants (Original / Felt / Walnut), selectable from the Board & Pieces panel or the Start Page.
Turtle: Turtle-shell patterned pieces with Dark in green and Light in a light yellowish orange-brown
Porcelain: Smooth glazed ceramic pieces with a clean, polished look
Luminous: Incandescent-style pieces with a warm glow and strong halo

Developer Tools

In development mode (console):

__random() - Generate a random game state
__random(11, "B") - Random state with Dark to move
__random(11, "W", "R") - Test scenario for anti-loop rule

Strategy Tips

Control the Center: Like chess, controlling central squares gives more mobility
Build Stacks: Taller stacks are harder to eliminate completely
Promote Carefully: Promoting during a multi-capture ends that turn immediately, but officers can make multi-captures in future turns
Force Trades: If you have more pieces on top, trading stacks works in your favor
Watch for Traps: Setting up forced captures can win material
Liberation: Capturing opponent stacks can liberate your own pieces buried inside

About the Implementation

This is a modern web implementation built with TypeScript, Vite, and SVG rendering. The game includes:

Complete rule implementation with validation
Comprehensive test coverage
Undo/redo with full game history
Save/load functionality
Anti-loop protection for multi-captures
Responsive design

Version: 1.0
Released: December 2025

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