Tessella

Tessella is a simple but addictive two player abstract.

Easier to learn than checkers
Has a strategic depth similar to chess or go
Uses a completely novel board layout and capturing mechanic

Each player has 7 pieces displayed along opposing corners of the board, the goal is to capture 4 pieces of the opponent.

On your turn, you can either:

MOVE to any empty adjacent spot (be it a square or an octagon) or
CAPTURE an opponent's piece.

To make a Capture, two of your pieces must be in a line with no other pieces between them. Following this line, you can then capture an opponent's piece, no matter how distant it is, by "shooting" (sliding) the nearer of the two pieces to take its spot.