POD

POD stands for "Power Of Direction."

A chess-like game, in that there are pieces with different movement rules moving around a square-grid board. Each player has a "king" (the Communication and Command Pod, or C.C.P.) that must be captured for the opponent to win. The board is 15-by-15 squares, divided into 9 5x5 sections. And there is a repeating pattern of walls that restrict movement. The basic movement mechanic is that each piece (individually called "Pods") moves a given number of segments, called "Direction Changes" or D.C.'s. For example, a piece with 3 D.C.'s could move forward as many spaces as it wants (subject to walls of course), then left as many spaces as it wants, and then forward again. Pods must move their entire number of D.C.'s without backtracking.

In addition to the basic movement mechanic of D.C.'s, many of the pieces have additional movement abilities, such as the Jump Pod (J.P.) that can jump over one piece during its movement, or the Variable Direction Change Pod (V.D.C.P.) which has a choice as to how many D.C.'s it may make when it moves.

There is a basic game (nine pods), and an advanced version which adds four more pods. They give an even more advanced version (which they call "POD Pinnacle") in which the nine board parts are set up in a non-standard way. You can also combine two sets together for a four-player game (assuming the pieces are of four different colors), and presumably, you could combine even more sets together for as many players as you want, as long as you have some means of distinguishing each player's pieces from the others.