The rules of Al-Jabar are our suggested method of playing, but the components and the color addition of the game may be used to play many games. You may want to start by changing a few of the basic rules of play of the current version.
One suggested area to play around with is the rules for drawing extra marbles. For instance, you could require players to draw extra marbles if they cannot make a move, regardless of the number of marbles in their hand. Or players could exchange up to four marbles at once during their turn, but draw a marble randomly from the bag at the start of their turn.
Robert Schneider has developed a solitaire version of the game.
Professor Ron Taylor of Berry College has designed two variants: one for scorekeeping over a series of games and one for partnership play.
If you invent your own variant, let us know!