Games Above Board designed and published + published by Great American Trading Company (USA)
Yale Gordon and M.H.S. at GATCO Hijara launch, New York Toy Fair 02.13.1995
+ published by Sterling Games (Hong Kong)
Hijara has a board of 16 squares, divided into 4 squares numbered 1 through 4. The numbers are from the numeral system, known in Europe and the Americas as 'Arabic numerals', introduced to Europe in the tenth century by the Arabs of North Africa. At the time, Europeans did not know the numerals' roots were in ancient India where they were developed by Indian mathematicians. Today, they are the most common symbolic representation of numbers throughout the world. 'hijara' is the Arabic word for small stones. Players have 32 small stones each and take turns placing them, one at a time, on any square on the board.
+ published by Ducosim (The Netherlands)
+ Hijara II [note pad & 2 pens] by Games Above Board
The one and only rule... 
stones must be placed on any of the numbered squares in numerical order - i.e. the lowest-numbered empty section. So, for every square, the first stone must be on the 1, second on the 2, etc. Start with an empty board, end with a full board. 3 ways to score points: 4 same-colour stones placed on 4 numbers of a kind (i.e. 2-2-2-2) in a row - horizontally, vertically, or diagonally or, in the 4 corner squares = 10 points / 4 same-colour stones placed in numerical sequence (i.e. 1-2-3-4) - horizontally, vertically, or diagonally or, in the 4 corner squares = 15 points / 4 same-colour stones placed in one square = 20 points. Squares need not be completed prior to placing a stone on other squares. Points are scored throughout the game, overlooked points are forfeited and the game is over when the last small stone is placed. The player with the most points is the winner of the game. Hijara is a singular 3-D game on a 2-D board and always a challenge as no two games are alike and... it pays to pay attention!
Originally called Excel and first published by American Airlines on December 24th 1985 (U.S.A.)
The game was published by Games Above Board in 1994 as Eclipse and Games Magazine (U.S.A.) included it in the 1995 Buyers Guide to Games.
Eclipse played with turqoise and tiger's eye semi-precious stones.
Renamed Hijara and published 6 times... most recently in February 2012, the game was selected by Games Magazine (U.S.A.) for the 1996 Top 100 Games and received the Spiel Gut Recommendation (Germany) in 2006.
