Dablo (also called Dablot Prejjesne) is a family of two-player strategy board games of the Sámi people.
In South Sámi, daabloe may also mean "grid pattern".
This was also done when outside researchers wrote down the rules for the Sámi tafl game now called Tablut.
In North Sámi, Dablo has been known as cuhkka, a word that means "broken" or "destroyed".
In Dablot Prejessne, pieces can only capture each other if they are of the same rank or lower.
The 28 soldiers or warriors and the 28 peasants are the lowest ranked pieces.
However, in Dablot Prejjesne ranks are pre-determined, and never change, whereas, in Italian checkers, pieces must be promoted to King in order to gain higher rank.
There are additional winning conditions common in variants; see the rules section below.
A draw is possible by mutual agreement or after a number of turns made by each player without a capture.
One player traditionally plays the Sami tribe, which can be the red or white colored pieces, and one player plays the landowner party, which are the black colored pieces.
The 28 soldiers or peasants are initially set up on each player's half of the board, on each intersection of the gridlines of the first 5 ranks (including the intersections of the diagonals in between the "main" orthogonal grid).
The Sami Prince is placed on the sixth rank, on the intersection of diagonals to that player's farthest right.
The Sami King is placed on the seventh rank, at the right edge of the board (please refer to the image above and the first external link below for a visual description of the initial setup for both Sami tribe and landowner party).
A piece moves one space along one of the gridlines to any adjacent, unoccupied intersection.
The Sami Prince and the Landowner's Son are the second highest ranked pieces, and cannot capture the Sami King or Landowner; however, they can capture each other, and the other lower pieces.
The Sami soldiers and peasants are the lowest ranked pieces.