With the set-up in the comic, you’d try to shoot your opppnent’s marks. First one to lose all marks and/or their base destroyed would lose.

That’s at least how I remember it being played. I think there’s a variant where you try to destroy the enemy base (the corners in the paper in the comic), but I am more familiar with the simpler version.

At the start of the game, there’s no marks, and both players try to reach the other’s corner (basically the base). However, you can only start either from your own corner or from a previous mark you’ve made. You make a mark by putting a ball point pen on its tip, then with a finger pressing on the top (like in the comic) try to make it fall down such that it makes a line towards your target. A new mark is made by noting the end of the line you’ve made.

On your turn, you can choose to do one of the following:

• make a mark
• attempt to destroy an enemy mark

You can’t use a mark that’s already destroyed, so that’s one way of halting progress. A mark is destroyed if you “hit” it with the line you make during your turn.

I think that’s it? There are some variations on the kind of base the game starts with, and it can get pretty elaborate. Some even draw levels where the two bases are separated by terrain with certain no-go zones (marks can’t be made in those zones).