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Contest to design a chess variant on a board with 42 squares. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Wildebeest Chess. Variant on an 10 by 11 board with extra jumping pieces. (11x10, Cells: 110) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I recently sent in a nomination to make this game--a well-established,
widely-disseminated, thoroughly-played design--a 'recognized' variant. If
you agree, send the editors an email. :)
Contest to design a chess variant on a board with 42 squares. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Forty-two PBEM games? Yowza. Do you have ZRFs for all of them...or at least 'ZRF editors' like you built for the one game that is almost surely too broad to program? Or are you having to do one or more with ASCII or FFEN or other representations?
84 Spaces Contest. 84 Spaces Contest begins![All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Tomas, do you have one or two entries? Add Mark's, Jean-Louis's, two from me...did I miss any who have announced? Oh, and Tony Quintanilla's got one in the works too. Six or seven, anyway. Might be a lot more, might not.
Colorboundmost and Nearly Colorboundmost Chess. Games with all pieces either completely or almost completely colorbound. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I don't know if every-piece-a-leaper has been done on 8X8. One of my 84-spaces contest entries, Beastmaster Chess, is an every-piece-a-leaper (including the royal piece, but not the pawns). It tends to call for a different way of visualizing the board. The game should be on these pages shortly; the contest editor had an attack of Real Life, and is a bit behind on postings.
I agree with jianying, I think. Cross-referencing all the variants sounds like a LOT of work but not much gain. OTOH, it might be worthwhile to fully cross-reference a subset like the _recognized_ variants, as that's where a lot of the better pieces either originated or were popularized. (Sometimes that influenced how the game drew enough interest to become 'recognized'.)
Mono-dimensional Chess. Small, one dimensional variant with unorthodox pieces. (1x10, Cells: 10) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]It's a draw by repetitive boredom, unless someone blunders. I programmed a Zillions file for it this afternoon, and the computer cannot win without help. But neither will it lose. Nice theory; I'd like to see a playable linear chess (yes, it's been attempted before). But we're not there yet.
84 Spaces Contest. 84 Spaces Contest begins![All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I think that we're all just glad Fergus is OK, and when the entries get posted they get posted. :) I also agree with Mark in that I see no need to hide the designers' names.
Mono-dimensional Chess. Small, one dimensional variant with unorthodox pieces. (1x10, Cells: 10) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating] 84 Spaces Contest. 84 Spaces Contest begins![All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]In order to make quality judgements, one does need to attempt to play the games. But there are some games that it doesn't take a full game to realize it's unplayable...and without a Zillions file, there are others that it is much more difficult to set up and try to play. It's a nice idea, but not necessarily an enforceable nice idea, although Mark does try to lay down a way to do it.
Speaking as a fellow entrant: Given the unusual circumstances surrounding the submission and posting process, I think Tony's request is more than fair, and suggest that Fergus consider approving it.
Chaturanga. The first known variant of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Well, I had to go view the complainant's cited page, to give him his due, and it might appear that he, or at least someone, has a modest commercial interest in this issue. I might be more inclined to give his views some thought...especially since I once held them...but for his utter lack of politeness. The preponderance of the evidence in 2002 argues for the 2-handed game being first, possibly by centuries, but the question is surely not settled.
ximeracak.. A leaper-heavy fantasy variant designed for play with a standard set. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I'm glad the descriptions and diagram helped you. Thanks for the feedback.
Ludus Equitum. Dice chess variant, using standard set and two dice, designed in a 13th-century style for the SCA. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I've noticed that resistance, too, primarily among chess enthusiasts who don't play a lot of other games. Chess players who are gamers in the broader sense seem to enjoy (or not enjoy) dice chess on the same basis as anything else. Glad you liked it!
Hobbit Chess 
. Two variants, 8x8 and 9x9, using hobbits as superpawns.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I need to write a ZRF for both of these, I think, as they look like fun.
I noticed Ben's comment on the 84-space contest. Aside from the fact that we won't want many games that size in any case, I don't think that any game being voted upon in 84-spaces should be eligible for this event. Even its presence in a poll to pick the games could affect the contest voting. We may miss a good game that way, but if this flies there's always next year.
Captain Spalding Chess 
. Find an Elephant in your Pajamas.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]My Zillions gags on the zrf; I don't know why. It encounters a Windows problem and needs to close before it ever opens. First time I've had that issue when opening a zrf. BTW, I was working on a Captain Spalding when I saw your post. How did you solve the 'can't repeat a position' rule?
Version 1.31p, running under Windows XP. :-P
Time limits are the headache of correspondence chess. Sigh. I, too, am spoiled by Richard's PBEM server. The Omega Chess tournament there is at G/180 days (30 days vacation with notice allowed), and that G/180 gets counted to the minute and second by the central server. Obviously we don't have that option. Suggestions for how to best count a G/XX time limit are welcome. I'd like to see a year maximum on the games, and expect to see more small variants than large for that reason (and the fact that we've had a lot of small variant design contests!). An absolute time limit of Y days for any individual move, with one warning and a notice provision for vacations, might also work in lieu of the above.
I'm afraid I don't recognize some of those. :) Maybe we have to do a Ralph Betza tournament some time. Then a Peter Aronson tournament the following year. Maybe Parton or Schmittberger or Freeling the year after that.
ximeracak.. A leaper-heavy fantasy variant designed for play with a standard set. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The Pegasi do sometimes get exchanged early, and I too miss them when they go. They're even more interesting on a big board. The game for which I invented them is on an 11 rank board, just as Macdonald's Wizard and Champion both rose to prominence on a board 12 'ranks' deep.
It looks like I'll be the editor in charge of the first tournament. Right now I have compiled, with plenty of suggestions, a list of 42 games to pick from. They break down around 50% regular board size, 33% smaller, 16% larger. I am constructing a poll to allow folks to vote on any of those games they would like to see in, and indeed to suggest others. The set of games to be used _in 2003_ will be picked by the staff here guided by the polls. We want a mix of old, new, big, small, etc. Variety is key the first time out. When and if the first tourney succeeds, I'd love to see 'thematics' later, much as we have held a variety of design contests. The linchpin issue is simply whether we can get players. I'd be happy with 10, but would love 20 or more. And picking good games is a prerequisite to getting players. And I agree with the comment that there are so many good games it's hard to get agreement on a list. That's why I suggested this; lots of good games languishing in obscurity. Please keep the feedback coming...
ximeracak.. A leaper-heavy fantasy variant designed for play with a standard set. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I may have to try this. The rule idea has some interesting ramifications. I wonder, though, if it won't make it too hard to give mate in a number of positions. The impact on promotion decisions is also worth study.
I'll play around with it both ways some time in the next week, as soon as I get a free hour or so to sling Zillions code. (Scanning and cascades are still annoying.) :) At least the game already has a promote-only-to-what-is-gone rule, so the issue of multiple Pegasi cannot arise. I kind of like the image of the heroic Pegasus flying to the aid of the beseiged General. It fits the theme somehow.
I need to play with this. It's quite an idea. I wonder if the King shouldn't be like any other piece, even in check; if you're in check, have no card to move the King, and can't defeat the check otherwise it is mate. The concept will map with interesting results to a lot of variants that use the ordinary 8x8 and 32 pieces. The cards might even work best with a form other than orthochess. Peter, you think too much! :)
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