Official Rules

Winning the game
Push the opponent's marbles off the hexagon board.
First player to eject six of his/her opponent's marbles wins.
After tossing for colours, blacks play first.
Players move in turn.
Once played, a move cannot be changed.


Moves
On his/her turn, a player may shift one, two, or three marbles together in any of the six possible directions, provided there is an adjacent free space:  There are: In line and broadside-moves.

When two or three marbles of the same colour shift together, they must be moved in the same direction.
Moving more than three marbles of the same colour on a single turn is not allowed.
One, two, or three marbles of the same colour, which are part of a larger row, may be separated from the row played.
A single move may not lead to conquering more than one space at a time.

Sumito: Pushing Means Outnumbering
To push your opponent's marbles, a "Sumito" must be set up, i.e. one of the three superiority positions.
The opponent's marbles may only be pushed "in line" when in contact and only providing there is a free space behind the attacked marble or group of two marbles.

Pushing is not allowed if:
There is no free space behind your opponent's group.
There is an empty space between your group and the opponent's.
The marbles are not in line.


"Pac": Position of Balanced Forces
The only three possible Pacs are the following:
1 to 1 Pac
2 to 2 Pac
3 to 3 Pac

More than three marbles of the same colour and "in line" do not change the three to three stand-off.
In a "Pac" position, neither side can push.
The "Pac" must be broken along a different line of attack.

Ejection
A marble is ejected when it is pushed off the board. The first player to eject six of his/her opponent's marbles wins the game.

Limited-Time Variation
Each player may be restricted to a limited period of time for each game, e.g. 10 or 15 minutes each. Official tournaments should always be played with time limitation.

source: http://uk.abalonegames.com/rules/basic_rules/official_rules.html

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Aba-Pro-Notation

If we want to speak in detail about Abalone, than we have to apply a notation to describe the moves precisely. Here we present the Aba-Pro-Notation. (The online-Abalone-magazine "le magazine" regards this notation-system as the "official notation" )

content:
1. spot-coordinates
2. move-notation
2.1 pulling (line-move)
2.2 jumping (side-move)

This is a game-board with Aba-Pro-coordinates:




1. spot-coordinates:

You can recognise here two dimensions:

9 rows a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i



and 9 cross-columns 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9


With this two dimensions you can refer to a spot, for example the centre: e5.



2. move-notation

There are two kind of moves: 2.1. pulling (line-move) 2.2. jumping (side-move)

2.1. pulling (line-move)

You can write a pulling-move with two spot-coordinates. And you can write a jumping-move with three spot-coordinates.

pulling horizontally:


the first pulling move with three balls horizontally is written: g5g6.

the second pulling move with two balls horizontally is written: g6g7.

So obviously for pulling moves, you have to write, first, the hindmost spot-coordinate for pulling and then, second, a close-by spot-coordinate for the directness.

cross-pulling:


This is the identical sense. You write this move with two balls: h7g7. And with three balls: i7h7.

2.2. jumping (side-move)

jumping with three balls:


This move is written: i6g6i7

jumping with two balls:


This move is written: h6g6h7.

First and second you have to write two spot-coordinates for the jumping row: one spot-coordinate for the beginning and one for the end of this ball-row. And then, third, you have to write the spot-coordinate for the next directness of the first spot: the spot-coordinate, where the first ball will be placed after the move.

in detail:

first spot-coordinate of the jumping row: h6
spot-coordinate of the end of the row: g6
-> h6g6

and then the spot coordinate, where the first ball will be played after the move: h7

-> h6g6 + h7 = h6g6h7

You can also write this identical move: g6h6g7
-> g6h6 + g7 = g6h6g7