4.8 Exceptional Movements

4.8.1 The Significant Errand

If a piece is entirely surrounded by points of contention - that is, if there are no moves possible for that piece, it is said to be ``locked out''. In this case, the player belonging to that piece may, when his or her turn comes, roll the die (or dice, as the case may be) and request a Significant Errand, based on his or her die roll for that turn. Resolution of Significant Errands proceeds as follows:

1. The player with the locked out piece rolls the die as usual at the start of his or her turn.

2. If the roll is such that the locked out piece could move exactly that number of spaces, disregarding all points of contention and spaces influenced by pieces of the opposing color, the player with the locked out piece may at this point request a Significant Errand.

3. The opposing player rolls the die.

4. If the opposing player's die roll is greater than the locked out player's initial roll, the locked out player must move some other piece, with the normal rules regarding points of contention and influenced spaces still applying.

5. If the locked out player's roll is higher, then he or she must move his or her locked-out piece, provided that the piece, on completing its move of the player's initial die roll, finds itself in a space not controlled by the opposing player, and not on the same space as any other piece.

4.8.2 The Solipsistic Path

It often happens that at least one color will manage to build a ``wall'' of influenced spaces across one and/or both sides of the board, effectively preventing the other player from moving his or her pieces through to the opposite side (which is necessary to achieve Resolution - see Section ).

Although it is possible to play entire games without invoking this rule, if it is entirely impossible for pieces to move through points of contention, then there is also the possibility that the game will never be Resolved. So, if a player wants very much for one of his/her/its/their beloved pieces to reach the opposite half of the board, and if the opposing player has built a wall of influence across the board such that the piece which is to be sent on its way must pass through at least one point of contention to reach its intended destination, then the player who wishes to venture across the point of contention may invoke the Solipsistic Path, by the following procedure:

1. The player who wishes to pass through the Point of Contention declares their intention to do so before they roll the die, and point out which space is being contended.

   The Point of Contention being challenged must have existed for at least one roll of both players' dice before either player may invoke the Solipsistic Path. The rationale here is that each player should have had a chance to ``back down'' before this rule is invoked.

2. The mover (the player of the piece which is attempting to move through a Point of Contention) and the contender (the player whose piece(s) is/are blocking the mover's intended path) roll one six-sided die each.

3. Both the mover and the contender count the number of spaces influenced by any of their pieces whose influence also extends over the Point of Contention to be traversed, discounting any points of contention among those influenced spaces, and add these numbers to their die rolls.

4. If the contender's tally from Step is greater than the mover's tally, then the mover's turn is forfeit: none of the mover's pieces may be moved on this turn, and the die gets passed to the contender.

5. If the tallies are equal, the players should roll again until one player's tally is higher.

6. If the mover's tally is greater than the contender's, then the mover must move the piece for which the Solipsistic Path was declared exactly the number of spaces indicated by his/her die roll, (ignoring the addition of influenced spaces which were used to determine the outcome of the Solipsistic Path), moving first into the Point of Contention which was challenged, and passing through any number of points of contention, provided that the piece, on finishing its move, occupies a space which is not influenced by a piece of the opposite color, or occupied by any other piece.

7. If the mover's tally was greater, but movement of the Solipsistic Piece was impossible (i.e. there was no possible destination under that die roll which was not influenced by a piece of the contender's), then the mover's turn is forfeit.