Form a cluster of pieces at uniform height.

The object of the game is for one player to get all pieces of their color into any connected (contiguous) pattern AND with all of the tops of the pieces at height 2. The winning formation may be a "chain" or a "cluster" of pieces, but all pieces of the same color must be at the "correct" height of 2 and connected to each other.

1. The gameboard is comprised of holes of two different depths, some of which are shallow (no bevel) and some of which are deep (with bevel).
    
   
2. Each player has an equal number of pieces. Half of each player's pieces are short, the other half are tall.
   The number on the top of the piece represents the absolute height of the piece which depends on both the length of the piece and the depth of hole that it currently resides in.
   Specifically:
   Height 3 - Tall peg in shallow hole.
   Height 2 - Tall peg in deep hole - or - Short peg in shallow hole.
   Height 1 - Short peg in deep hole.
    
   
3. At the beginning of the game, each player's tall pieces are in the shallow holes (height 3) whereas the short pieces are in the deep holes (height 1).
    
   
4. The movement of the pieces is as follows:
   JUMP move - A player may jump with any one of their pieces, regardless of location, any number of pieces, regardless of color or height, along a straight line and landing in the first vacant hole in the direction of the jump.
   - or -
   STEP move - A player may move one of their pieces one space into any adjoining vacant hole.
    
   
5. Clarifications:
   1. A player may never jump over an empty hole (the piece must land in the first vacant hole along the line of the jump).
      So if there are four pieces of varying color and heights in a line, all four pieces can be jumped over, but the moving piece must land in the first vacant hole. If there are no vacant holes along the line of the desired jump, then a jump cannot occur in that direction. Short pieces can jump tall pieces and vice versa.
   2. A piece may jump laterally (sideways from side to side) or diagonally along any line which is at 60 degrees to the ends of the board.
      So there are only two kinds of directions in which a piece may jump; sideways (back and forth) AND diagonally (back and forth).
      After making a single jump, the player's turn is concluded.
   3. If a piece is isolated at the end of the board with several empty spaces between another piece on the board, that piece may only move one space per turn in order to join up with the other pieces or before it can jump multiple pieces in a single jump.
   4. Note: the difference in length between a tall piece and a short piece is the same as the difference in the depth between a shallow hole and a deep hole, so when a short piece is in a shallow hole and a tall piece is in an adjoining deep hole, the two pieces will have the same absolute height above the game board.

Variants:
The variants include both the large 64 hole board (with 2 setups) and the smaller 46 hole board.
The diamond pattern variants are not playable, they are simply nice patterns. For a physical game, the pieces can be arranged this way for storage.

For additional information on Cluster, including a stand-alone Axiom version of this game, see http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/22004