BOARD: Springboard is played on a Chess board with each player's knights in the same starting positions as in Checkers. A player's "end zone" are the two most distant rows from that players point of view.

GOAL:
When either player has placed all of their knights in their end zone, the game ends. The player with the most knights in their end zone wins. In case of a tie, the player whose move ended the game wins.

MOVEMENT:
Players move alternately, white opens. The knights move in an L-shaped fashion as in Chess. A player must make either a simple or a compound move.

1. Simple move:
A simple move consists of the player moving a knight to an empty square.

2. Compound move:
A compound move consists of moving a single knight through three stages: Charge, Pounce, and Finish.

2a. Charge Stage:
During the charge stage, the player moves a knight so that it lands on on either a friendly or enemy knight. This move can be repeated with the same knight landing on other knights. During this stage, a knight may not touch the ground, only another knight. For each enemy knight that the knight lands on, a charge is accumulated. The charge indicator displays the total amount of charges accumulated for the current player. The player ends this stage by pressing the "pounce button" (labeled with a "P"). When this occurs, the pounce stage is entered. Note that the charge stage always ends with the knight ontop of another knight.

2b. Pounce Stage:
The charge indicator now displays the number of remaining moves the player is allowed to make during the pounce stage. It is possible for there to be no remaining moves, if during the charge stage, the player only touched friendly knights (in that case, the charge indicator displays a value of 0). During the pounce stage, there are no restrictions on the landing square. However, if a player lands on an occupied square, the friend or enemy knight occupying that square is removed. The pounce stage ends once the charge count has expired.

2c. Finish Stage:
The finish stage consists of the knight moving onto an empty square. Note that this is not the same as ending the pounce stage on an empty square. The finish stage is mandatory and cannot be skipped. In all cases, the finish stage requires that the knight be moved to an empty square.

During a compound move, players cannot visit the same square twice, even across different stages.

Note: In the relatively rare case where a stage cannot be performed, the only move available is to remove the knight.

If a player finishes a move and the knight is in the end zone, then it becomes "anchored". An anchored knight cannot move, be destroyed, or be jumped on during the pounce stage. However, an anchored knight can be jumped on during the charge stage and when landing on an opponent's anchored knight, a charge is accumulated. During the pounce stage, knights can enter the end zone as long as they are not pouncing on anchored knights, and if a knight finishes in the end zone, it is anchored.

Implementation Note:
In the original game, a player is not allowed to make a compound move which does not complete all three stages (e.g. Charge, Pounce, and Finish). In order to better accomodate a computer implementation of this game, that rule has been modified such that if a stage cannot be completed, the only move available is to remove the knight.