In 1915, Freidrich Kleissl applied for a U.S. patent for “certain new and useful improvements in games.” At the time, he was “a subject of the Emperor of Austria” and a Lieutenant in the Austrian Navy residing at the city of Pola.
Freidrich was assigned to a Naval Parts Depot and lived there with his wife and kids. He was apparently a musician in the Navy as well. He was also listed as a “casualty” in 1914 during the Great War — which of course includes injuries or disease — not just death.
In March of 1919, the Patent was awarded for the game “Ringo.”
The U.S. Patent was very thorough. The document covered a range of configurations for the game board, as well as designs for the game pieces from imprinted discs to busts of military characters.
The Austrian Navy was disbanded after World War One. After the war, Friedrich was living in Innsbruck and was a “self-employed merchant.” But then in 1940, I found Friedrich listed as a Navy Captain — maybe a wartime promotion. I couldn’t find any records of Freidrich after that related to the game or otherwise.
Most other resources I’ve found speculate that the game was actually invented sometime earlier than the date of Kleissl’s patent. It’s not unusual that a patent lags behind the invention, especially an international patent, so I think Kleissl actually is the inventor of Ringo.
The earliest commercial publication of the game that I could find was in 1915 by Spieleverlag Friedrich Kleißl in Innbsruck — meaning that it was self-published at first. Shortly after that, Sala in Germany produced this version, also dated 1915. Sala had been known for decades for their high-quality games and Froebel kindergarten supplies.
Since then there have been many versions commercially published, and since the game is now in the public domain, it’s all over the Internet, mostly in print-and-play versions. The game is well documented as far as the rules are concerned, found in several reputable resources.
This version of the rules is taken from R.C. Bell's 1973 book, Discovering Old Board Games. They were translated by M. C. Oswald from the original German for Mr. Bell’s book.
It’s a two-player game in the “I go, you go” format.
At the center of the circular grid of spaces is the “citadel” — the space attacked and defended during the game. The most interesting feature is the blue radial segment that’s called “the neutral zone.”
The player who is the Attacker controls seven pieces (usually the darker color) that start one per space on the outermost ring except in the neutral zone. The defender controls four pieces that start on the four light-colored spaces of the innermost ring (also not in the neutral zone).
The attacker wins the game by occupying the citadel with two of their pieces. The defender wins by capturing six of the attacker’s pieces, or by blocking all attacker pieces so they can’t move. The attacker player will move first.
Each space can be occupied by only one piece except the citadel when occupied by two attacking pieces to end the game. The defender’s pieces may not occupy the citadel at all. Any piece can enter the neutral zone. But keep in mind that the number of attacker pieces in the neutral zone cannot exceed the number of remaining defender pieces on the board.
An attacking piece can move either one step sideways to an adjacent space on its ring, or one step inward towards the citadel to the adjacent space on the next inward ring.
A defending piece can move one step sideways on its ring, or one step either outward or inward to an adjacent concentric ring on a radial segment.
In addition, a defending piece can, in a single turn, move any number of unoccupied spaces along a concentric ring. If the piece enters the neutral zone, however, the movement stops and the turn ends.
Both attacker and defender pieces can capture an opponent piece with a short leap, similar to checkers or draughts. For a radial jump to a different ring, attacking pieces can jump only inwards toward the citadel; defending pieces can jump inwards or outwards. A defending piece can capture an attacking piece on the same ring by a long leap (jumping over any number of unoccupied spaces to the empty space immediately beyond its victim).
But wait, there’s more …
Both attacking and defending pieces can ALSO capture an opponent piece by displacement — by ending a move on the same space as the opposing piece.
Capturing is not compulsory, and only one piece can be captured in a single turn and a captured piece is immediately removed from the game.
Pieces in the neutral zone are, as you might expect, immune from capture. Both attacking and defending pieces can enter the neutral zone as part of a capturing move, but none can leave the neutral zone to execute a capture.
An attacking piece can enter the citadel as a capturing move. A defending piece can capture an attacking piece in the citadel by leaping over the citadel to the empty space immediately opposite.
There are a couple of important strategic points:
• Attackers should make use of the neutral zone to safely organize an assault on the citadel.
• Defenders should try to leave one piece on the innermost ring to defend the citadel.
Now this all sounds very familiar if you’ve been watching my videos for a while. It’s very similar to “The Spider and the Flies” game patented by Frank Fuller in 1901. Similar, but a smaller playing field and different win conditions.
Also, “Ringo” is described in the 1975 book The Way to Play with simpler rules.
The differences are:
• Captures are performed only by the short jump (not displacement).
• A defending piece can move only one space along a ring (not any number of unoccupied spaces).
• And in this version, both attacking and defending pieces can leave the neutral zone to execute a capturing move.
As usual, with these variations available, you want to be sure before you play that both players agree on which rules variant is being used!
Very soon we hope to have Ringo featured here in the NewVenture store where you'll be able to purchase up our travel version of the game.
If you’re reading this before July of 2025, you can help us make Ringo a reality once again! Link on over to Kickstarter to see the campaign and pledge for the reprint. You’ll be glad that you did,
Keep a close watch at our YouTube channel and our NewVenture Games Facebook page to get notified when that new version of Ringo will be available!
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