Thank you for sharing the video! The game looks great with Tak pieces. I realized last night that the game is easily playable with checkers as long as they are two sided (one side plain, one side with a crown or a design). Each runner would start the game with the plain side up. Once your runner hits your opponent's home row, it is flipped over to the design side. This means it is now heading the other direction. Once you hit your own home row again, the piece is flipped back so the plain side is showing. For the captain, simply stack two checkers and treat it as one piece. I bring this up because I am working on how to do a simple production of the game, and checkers pieces are easily attainable. BUT the game would look much more unique and perhaps more elegant with special pieces. Your Tak setup makes me want to produce special pieces (perhaps isosceles triangles, and a circle for the captain).
Right now, there are three ways to win the round, and they are all worth different points. Capturing your opponent's captain gets you 1 point. Breaching your opponent's home row with your captain gets you 2 points. A wipeout, capturing all of your opponent's pieces is worth 3 points. The wipeout happens so rarely, that it might actually be worth an "automatic win" as far as the match points go.
As far as making the longest multi-capture the mandatory choice... I will start testing that idea! It makes sense for a game that is so focused on setting up traps like Hoppsi. My first priority was finding balance between the mandatory rules and player choice to make the game feel as open as possible on the small board. Leaning into the forced trap setting might be the more enjoyable choice though.
I will start testing this week. Thank you again! = )