[ List Earliest Comments Only For Pages | Games | Rated Pages | Rated Games | Subjects of Discussion ]
Game Reviews by PeterAronson
Chatter Chess. Variant based on the idea of line chatter where rider pieces can switch to other friendly pieces' lines of movement. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]You know, I can't see any reason (aside from restraint) why stepping
pieces couldn't take advantage of chatter even if they can't create it
(sort of like a low-power line mixed in with higher-power lines).
Then, if a stepper could move to
a square containing a rider's line, it could ride away on it!
In that case, castling and Pawn-double-step could definitely generate
chatter lines (and we'd have to distinguish between capturing and
non-capturing chatter lines). Of course, chasing down a King supported by a Bishop could
be rather difficult . . .
<p>
The above would probably result in a fairly crazy game, but it would also
come closer to working with different armies.
<p>
And for the list of possibly unplayable games, I'd like to add
<u><a href='../d.betza/chessvar/confu01.html'>Confusion 1b</a> Chatter
Chess</u>.
Overprotection Chess. If an attacked piece is more often defended than it is attacked, it gains extra powers. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This looks like fun! I particularly like that once you overprotect a Pawn
by two (easy enough -- just take an unattacked Pawn and give it two
supporters), suddenly it captures forward and to the side.
<p>
I find myself wondering if overprotection is calculated recursively. That
is, when determining overprotection, is overprotection taken into account?
<p>
Consider the following:
<blockquote>
White Pawns at <b>a3</b>, <b>b4</b> and <b>c3</b>;
<p>
Black Pawns at <b>a6</b>, <b>b5</b> and <b>c6</b>.
</blockquote>
Assume white's move. Can the white Pawn on <b>b4</b> capture the black
Pawn on <b>b5</b>? If you apply white's Wazir capture first, then it
can (since it is overprotected by two, black not having a Wazir capture
as it is only overprotected by one), if you apply black's Wazir capture
first, it can not (since then the white Pawn will only be overprotected by
one). Curious, no?
Slanted Escalator Chess. Chess on an asymmetric board with interesting connectivity. (8x8, Cells: 60) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is something new in a way, or at least something not often done. It
is a game where the two sides, while having the same movement, have
different board topologies to deal with in the opening and midgame, and I
think it an interesting idea. Now, if there was just some way to determine
if it was balanced . . .
Monochromatic Chess. Pieces remain on squares of the same color. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Here's an amusing possible solution to the problems with this variant:
combine it with <a href='../other.dir/alice.html'>Alice Chess</a>.
<p>
Here's how it might go. You add a second board, like in Alice Chess,
except the 2nd board has reversed checkering: a1 is white, not black.
When a piece's move would otherwise cause it to move to a square of a
different color, it instead lands on the equivalent square of the
other board. Thus Knights always switch boards when they move, and
Bishops never switch boards.
<p>
There are a number of ways to handle switching boards:
<p>
<ul>
<li>Alice Chess-style. The move on the board on which the piece
starts must be legal as in orthochess, and the square on the other
board must be empty.</li>
<p>
<li>The Plunge. A piece moving to another color may only to move to
a square that is empty on their current board, then they plunge through
the board to the equivalent square on the other board, capturing any
opposing pieces they land on, except for Pawns who may not plunge to
occupied squares.</li>
<p>
<li>The Switch-a-roo. A piece makes a normal orthochess move on the board
on which it starts, and then, if the destination square is of a different
color than the piece's starting square, it moves to an equivalent
position on the other board. If the space on the other board is occupied,
then the piece occupying that space is moved to the space just landed on on
the board that the moving piece started on. This version actually allows
Bishops on the 2nd board.</li>
<p>
<li>The Last Square. The piece's move is as normal, except that if the
piece would land on a color of square different from which it started, the
last square of its move is the equivalent space on the other board, and the
move does not pass through what would be the final square of its move in
orthochess. The last square on the board on which the board-changing piece
moved from may be occupied by a friendly or opposing piece -- it doesn't
matter as the moving piece does not pass through it.
</ul>
<p>
I don't know which would be best.
Mideast chess. Variant on 10 by 10 board, inspired by ancient Tamerlane chess. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I would have to agree that the Cavalier (Gryphon + Aanca) is a kind of
extreme piece, but if you look at Ralph Betza's note on the value of such
<a href='../piececlopedia.dir/bent-riders.html'>Bent Riders</a>, you will
see that he rates such a piece as being worth slightly less than an
Amazon (Queen + Knight) on an 8x8 board [Although honestly requires me to
add that Ralph himself is not entirely convinced of his piece evaluation
system, although in my experiance it is at least approximately right most
of the time]. On a 10x10 board the Cavalier gains some additional value,
while the Amazon would probably break even (Queen components gain in value,
Knight components lose in value) -- so call the Cavalier a rough equivalent
of an Amazon.
<p>
Now, would two Amazons be too strong for a 10x10 board? It comes down to
a matter of taste I suppose, but I have to suspect that as Tony Paletta
noted in a comment on <a href='../large.dir/full-double-chess.html'>Full
Double Chess</a>, their presence would tend to
reduce the minor pieces to cannon fodder (although there is fun to be had
with weak pieces).
<p>
In any case, I rather like your idea of substituting Cooked Bishops -- the
world needs more games with Crooked Bishops (and where, you may ask are
<em>your</em> games with Crooked Bishops, Mr. Aronson? Err, well, the
<a href='../dpieces.dir/fighting-fizzies.html'>Fighting Fizzies</a> have
a WzFF as a Queen, and otherwise, they're all in the future . . .)
<hr>
I'm commenting on your comment here, rather than by e-mail as you suggested
as that way other people can join in the discussion and have fun.
Warp Point Chess. Knights are replaced by Warp Points that other pieces can move between. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]A very clean design with lots of tactical interest.
Spinal Tap vs Terror Chess. The Spinal Tap Chess army vs the Terror Chess army in the battle of the 11x11 variants. (11x11, Cells: 121) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]It's nice to see a game of different armies on a large canvas. It's hard
to tell if it is balanced or not, but I wonder if balance is as important
at this scale: both sides possibly having more material than they can
effectively use. Or is 11x11 with 22 pieces a side too small for that
sort of effect?
ICBM Chess. I(inter)-C(hess)B(oard) M(issle) Chess, where you can throw a piece to capture as well as make normal moves. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I would recommend safety goggles and a digital camera (to record board
positions) as useful equipment for this game.
Elevator Chess. Multiple boards with simultaneous games are linked through central elevator squares.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I could see times when you might send a piece up or down the elevator just
to clear an attack lane.
The Fair First Move Rule in Chess. Every turn you flip a coin to see who goes first.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]<blockquote>
'The only other rule I can think of is that if it's your move and the
other player is already in check, you cannot capture the King but you
can play any other legal move you choose'
</blockquote>
This also deals with the discovered check problem in multiplayer variants:
that is, when player A moves a piece that was blocking player B's piece,
so now player B's piece attacks player C's King, and the turn sequence is
A-B-C so player C never gets a chance to move out of check before being
captured.
Chess with Different Armies. Betza's classic variant where white and black play with different sets of pieces. (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Actually, this ought to be Excellent to the Nth Power! I am glad to see this game on a prominent page of its own, for while it's been on this site for years, you had to know where to find it, and as a Chess variant designer this (and the associated work that Ralph did to support it) has been one of the games that has influenced me the most. Bravo!
Not a Dodgson System Chess. Four player variant, using Alice chess movement. Win by taking most of the eliminated players pieces. (2x(7x6), Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This looks amusing. It does seem that the scoring system encourages the other players to turn on the first player significantly damaged like starving wolves, lest they be left without any pieces of the eliminated player when it comes time to score. Not a game to play with someone who takes attacks personally! An omnidirectional Pawn is actually mWcF -- mFcW is an omnidirectional Berolina Pawn. This page might benefit from an ASCII diagram to backup the Javascript -- I first looked at it with Javascript turned off and was puzzled.
Captain Spalding Chess. Find an Elephant in your Pajamas.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This does look like fun! It's an interesting question if it is better to play your Rhino and Headless Rhinos early, or to keep them safe in the box. Elephants and Great Elephants of course should come out and play as
soon as possible.
<p>As for Lint to Dust Bunny to Dust Demon -- you may have found another great train of evolution to rival Paperclip to Coathanger to Bicycle.
<p>As for the credits, your stuff has long and often had a light-hearted (and
erudite) touch -- you didn't really get it from me.
Chaturanga. The first known variant of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Honestly! See Jean-Louis Cazaux's page on the relative ages of 2-handed
and 4-handed Chaturanga. It can be found at:
<ul>
<li><a href='http://www.chez.com/cazaux/chaturanga.htm'>http://www.chez.com/cazaux/chaturanga.htm</a>
</ul>
Neither Forbes nor Cullen are considered exactly up-to-date sources, you
know.
Colorboundmost and Nearly Colorboundmost Chess. Games with all pieces either completely or almost completely colorbound. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]You could have a version of Castlingmost Chess with captures -- when castling with a friendly piece not separated from the castling piece by
friendly pieces, any opposing pieces between them are captured. You may still castle with opposing pieces, just not capture in those cases.
Hobbit Chess 
. Two variants, 8x8 and 9x9, using hobbits as superpawns.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is a nice idea, but the pieces you call Hobbits have been around for
a while. For example, John Williams Brown called them Stewards, and used
them in <a href='../large.dir/contest/cenchess.html'>Centennial Chess</a>;
however, this is a nice use of them.
<p>
As for the 9x9 game, I notice that all four Bishops are on White. Now,
some people like it like that -- consider Gabriel Maura's game of
<a href='../large.dir/modern.html'>Modern Chess</a> which also has four
Bishops on the same color -- but you still might want to consider something
like Carlos Cetina's <a href='../varvar.dir/bcr.html'>Bishop's Conversion
Rule</a>, when one Bishop has to change color on its first move.
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 do like to see a good Chess variant with dice once in a while. So many
variant designers and players have an attitude about anything with a random
element which I suspect stems from delusions about the predictablity of
the real world.
ximeracak.. A leaper-heavy fantasy variant designed for play with a standard set. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Nicely fluidly weird. Normally leapers greater than maybe (3,0) or (2,1) don't work on a board this size, but with <strong>everything</strong> but the King/General and Pawns/Sergeants leaping, this isn't the usual problem.
<p>
One thing I noticed is that it is very common for Pegasi to be exchanged, which is unfortunate as they are interesting pieces. It might be nice to treat them as like Lions in Chu Shogi (or Golems in Golem Chess, which borrowed the idea from Chu Shogi) and not let them be exchanged easily.
Captain Spalding Chess. Find an Elephant in your Pajamas.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]After playing around with this game a bit, it seems to me that the Great
Pajamas are somewhat disadvantaged: the Box can pull out unlimited Bats,
as long as the one per column rule is followed, and the Pajamas can keep
pulling out Elephants, as long as there is only one of your color on the
board at a time, but once the Great Pajamas have pulled out the Great
Elephant, all they can do is generate Dust Bunnies and Dust Demons. It
doesn't seem fair.
<p>
Perhaps the Great Pajamas should also be able to pull out an Investigator
and/or a Cook. Cooks, as we know from Cheskers, are Camels (Long Knights).
An Investigator would be a Nemesis -- a piece that moves like a King, but
only towards the opposing Royal piece. Now, in Captain Spalding Chess that
would be too powerful, so perhaps it could have a Nemesis that moves like
a Wazir, but can only makes moves that would leave it closer to the opposing
Box. If an Investigator is captured, it may be pulled out by the Great
Pajamas again.
Extinction chess. Win by making your opponents pieces of one type extinct. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Actually, this game can be found in the standard Chess ZRF that comes with Zillions.
Random Wormhole Chess (deleted). Introduces "wormholes" and "toroidal" movement to the game in a fun and manageable way. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]A neat concept for light game! A few questions:
<p><ul><li>
Is it allowed for a wormhole to form such
that it causes a stalemate?
</li><p><li>
Assume a white Pawn on a7, and a wormhole on a8 -- if the white Pawn moves
forward, does it end up on a1 without promoting? If so, can it doublemove
from a1? What if it moves to a2?
</li><p><li>
Can a wormhole be <em>removed</em> in such a way as to put a King in
check?
</li></ul>
Tandem-84. Variant on two boards of 7 by 6 rows with pieces moving between boards. (2x(6x7), Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is a neat idea! I particularly like the care that was taken to avoid
allowing indirect checks by double-moves. (IE, the King being in check by
a combination of both the opposing player's moves.)
<p>
I'll note pedantically that while this game might have been inspired by
Alice Chess, it doesn't have the defining (to me) characteristic of Alice
Chess that moving forces a change between boards. I would describe this
more as a two level 3D Chess variant.
<p>
Chancellor and Marshall are both common names for Rook+Knight. The
common name for Bishop+Knight is Cardinal, although Archbishop and
Princess are used in a fair number of games as well (although Archbishop
is also used for other Bishop variants).
<p>
A game with 6x7 square boards, double-moves and swapping pieces? This
game vaguely resemble a distant cousin of
<a href='..//42.dir/mulligan-stew.html'>Mulligan Stew Chess</a>.
Weave and Dungeon. Abstract game played on a board divided into Weave and Dungeon, with movement following different rules on each part. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Now that I've played this (Tony Quintanilla and I recently finished an e-mail game), I can say that it plays very nicely, but that the movement of the pieces takes some getting used to. This is not helped by the abstract design of the pieces, but I like the way they look so much that I'd rather not trade them for more helpful ones.
Sonic the Hedgehog Chess. After capturing, the capturing piece bounces off the enemy piece and continues moving. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is interesting (although I'd like to have seen it better developed and more completely written up), but what about the Knights -- which way do they capture?
Battle Chieftain Chess. Warriors and a king fight on a board with walls and holes. (10x11, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This looks interesting, but there's one point of the rules I find confusing:
you talk both about the King being checkmated -- which is generally used to
mean an inescapable threat to capture but not actual capture -- and being
captured. Which is it?
Quintessential chess. Large chess variants, with some pieces moving with a sequence of knight moves in a zigzag line. (10x10, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]A couple of questions:
<p>
<ul>
<li>'<i>Leapers may jump over the missing fields in the corners,
but riders can't ride thru.</i>' I assume that leap-riders can pass
over missing squares as long as they don't need to land on any of
them?</li>
<p>
<li>
If I understand correctly, the Quintessence has 16-paths; that is,
two versions each of all 8 Camel-rider paths. Do I have that right?
</ul>
Arabian Chess. Large modern variant of historic Shatranj, with more pieces and flying carpets. (11x9, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This looks interesting! A question about promotion: once a Pawn promotes
to a General, can the resulting General then exit the camp and reenter,
promoting to Grand Vizier? Also, if a Pawn or General rides a magic carpet
square to the opponent's back two ranks, does that result in promotion?
Zero Relay Chess. Pieces can occcupy the same square and then relay their powers to each other. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]It's always neat when you can combine two ideas that already exist, and
produce something new and interesting! I like the solo Pawn capture
restriction. Tony Quintanilla and I have been playing a version of Relay
Chess by e-mail lately, and it started out as a bloodbath, and by move
25 or so there were no Pawns left.
<p>
<hr>
<h4>Wilder Mildewed Zero Relay Chess</h4>
I'll take a stab at this. The rules have two parts, of course.
<p>
<ol>
<li><b>Wilder</b>: Wild Zero Relay Chess plus Pawns <em>can</em> promote
using relay powers, and Kings give (but do not gain) relay powers.</li>
<p>
<li><b>Mildewed</b>: pieces standing still too long in crowded squares
start growing mildewed, and lose the ability to relay their powers. Any
square that contains two or more pieces continuously for three or more
turns is marked with a mildew chip. Pieces in squares with a mildew chip
do not relay their powers. A mildew chip is removed at any time that the
square contains no pieces.</li>
</ol>
<p>
<b>Archoniclastic Zero Relay Chess</b> would also be an interesing game,
and would not have the colorbound piece issue that regular
<a href='../boardrules.dir/archoniclastic-chess.html'>Archoniclastic
Chess</a> has.
This Game is for the Birds. Game where pieces fly past obstacles and some pieces capture by pecking. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is a strange and very mobile game, where pieces ghost around freely,
and a Pawn's life is not a happy one. Flamingos and Flaming Cranes in
particular have a short way with threatening Pawns -- the Pawn moves up, and is pecked, and that's that.
A minor question -- if a Crane has not moved, but pecks at a piece from its starting place, can it still castle? Also, when castling long, would a piece at b2/8 still block castling?
Quang Trung Chess 10th Edition
. The 10th edition.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]While this certainly looks like an interesting game, I find the statement
'<i>Quangtrung Chess (10th edition) is 100% original</i>' a bit curious.
If you look at the BCVS (British Chess Variants Society) page
<a href='http://www.bcvs.ukf.net/gvcm.htm'>All the King's Men</a>, you
see that the Quangtrung <b>Boat</b> is described there as a <b>Sea-Rook</b>
or <b>Triton</b>, the Quangtrung <b>Cannon</b> as a <b>Ski-Rook</b> and the
Quangtrung <b>Horse</b> as a <b>Moa</b>. And I'm fairly sure that the
Quangtrung <b>Infantry</b> shows up in some large Shogi variants. And
while the restriction on the 2nd move of a turn capturing is new to
<em>me</em>, there are a lot of variations on Balanced Double-Move Chess,
and that may not be new, either.
<p>
And none of that really matters. What makes a game fresh and new is not
that the elements in it are new, but that it plays differently than
existing games, that the experiance of playing it is in some important way
different from playing any existing game. I see the comment:
<blockquote><i>
'Every facet of the game is original. I am telling this so everyone will
be assured that their time will not be wasted if they decided to learn
more about the game.'
</i></blockquote>
As misguided -- what makes a game worth learning about is not complete
novelty, but that it is enjoyable to play.
Outback Chess. New pieces on plus-shaped board. (10x10, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I have a question about the Spearman, too. Can the Spearman move two forward <strong>without</strong> capturing any enemy piece? Or does the two square forward move require an opposing piece to kill on one of the two diagonally forward squares?
OOmost Chess. All movement in this variant is a form of castling. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]An amusing idea!
<hr>
Another possible approach to capturing in this game (combined with
pictorial check) is <strong>aggressive castling</strong>. You may
castle with a piece as long as no friendly pieces or unmoved Pawns are
between you and it. If either piece moved by the castling move lands
on an opposing piece, the piece landed on is captured.
<p>
This isn't much good for capturing pieces on the edge or adjacent pieces,
but it does allow some captures, and the goal is still pictoral check.
Ryu Shogi. Large modern shogi variant. (7x12, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Jared, I'm working on a ZRF for this game, and want to double check something. In the standard <a href='../shogi.html'>Shogi</a> rules:
<blockquote><i>
A Pawn may not be dropped onto a file containing a non-promoted Pawn.
</i></blockquote>
And
<blockquote><i>
A checkmate may not be performed by the drop of a Pawn. A King may be checked by dropping a Pawn, but only if the drop does not result in an immediate checkmate.
</i></blockquote>
I assume these rules apply in <b>Ryu Shogi</b> too?
Ultrachess. Chess variant with two queens on 9 by 8 board. (9x8, Cells: 72) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I like the exchange move. I've been thinking about it -- when, in play would it make sense to use? It actually does two useful things: change the Bishop's color <strong>and</strong> moves the Knight toward the center. I think I may add another variant to Not-Particularly-New Chess with this move.
<p>
This leads to the interesting question: is better for a player who has the choice to have their Bishops on the same or different color? In one case they can double up, but in the other case they can have a more general effect on the game.
<p>
This game also resembles <a href='http://play.chessvariants.com/erf/ActiveCh.html'>Active Chess</a>, another 9x8 game with two Queens, but a very different array.
Greener Chess. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence -- and your pieces are stronger there too. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Neat idea! Other divisions of the board come to mind, such as center vs edges (either way), or the middle four ranks are greener, but the starting ranks are not (talk about a battle for the center!).
<p>
I'm not sure that all of the CWDA armies enhance the same[*]. For example, if I were to play this game, my first thought was to take the Nutty Knights (my personal favorite CWDA army at the moment, even though I have a better record with the Remarkable Rookies), and to give them better retreating moves. So the Charging Rook would get the Barc enhancement, the Charging Knight the Dabbabah enhancement, and the Colonel the Alfil enhancement. My experience is that ability to move back twice as fast would be invaluable for that army.
<p>
[*] Of course, I've also concluded that for casual level players, the sort of difference I'm talking about doesn't make a big difference.
Blue Chip Chess. A chip, moved each turn by the players, denotes a square where pieces may not go to. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Nice idea! With only a small change, this has a big effect, but the result is still Chess.
Accounting Chess. Modern Business Chess: win by capturing or indicting the opposing CEO (King), or bilking all of your Stockholders (Pawns). (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I love to see a game with a solid theme where all of the mechanics follow from the theme. It doen't hurt that it's funny, either!
Caïssa Britannia. British themed variant with Lions, Unicorns, Dragons, Anglican Bishops, and a royal Queen. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This looks like fun, Fergus. I've been wondering what this was ever since it appeared in the PBeM system a year or two years ago. I particularly like that even with the advanced Pawn array, all of the Pawns are protected in the opening setup -- not easy.
It'd probably be too powerful, but it might have been amusing to have made the Dragon a Nightrider too, making it a Rocket-rider or Squirrel-rider. With the current definition I would think it would be rather weak in the endgame.
Legler's Chess. Modest 1926 variant using an Archbishop and a Chancellor. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Is there any generally accepted value for a Cardinal/Archbishop/Janus on an 8 x 8 board? The value 7 Pawns comes to mind, but I'm not sure from where. Possibly it's 1.5 Rooks, or the average value of a Rook and a Queen using the Spielmann values (4.5 and 8.5).
Polypiece Chess. Each time a piece moves, all pieces of that type on both sides change their move. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Immobilizers? How about Polypiece Ultima or Polypiece Rococo -- the way a piece moves doesn't change, but how it captures changes . . .
Pied Color Chess. Oh no! All the colors on the board have been scrambled -- however will the pieces move? (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Or a version of the pie rule (rather appropriate, don't you think?): the first player lays out the board, then the second player choses what color they will play.
<hr>
It might be nice to have a description of a Bishop's move on the example board -- I'd be perfectly willing to add a diagram for it to match the Rook and Knight examples.
Ataturk Chess. One of your pieces in addition to your King is royal (your vice-president), and it can be changed. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]A lazy editor has added a related variant by Ralph Betza, Warm Spit Chess, to this page.
Chestria. Each player has 11 randomly selected pieces in this game of placement and flipping. (3x(5x5), Cells: 43) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]It's been a wonderful string of off-topic comments, but I'm afraid I'm actually going to comment on the game, or at least ask a question.
<p>
<ul>
<li>OK, Jared, is flipping recursive?
</ul>
<p>
What I mean by that, does a flipped piece, once flipped, cause other pieces to immediately flip?
<p>
For example:
<b><pre> +---+---+---+
5 | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+
4 | | R | | | B |
+---+---+---+---+---+
3 | f | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+
2 | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+
1 | | | |
+---+---+---+
a b c d e</pre></b>
If I were to drop a White Ferz on <b>a3</b> (as shown above), it would flip the Black Rook on <b>b4</b>. Would the Rook, now White, then also flip the Black Bishop on <b>e4</b>?
Dueling Archbishops. Chess variant on 2 by 3 board. (2x3, Cells: 6) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is a cute miniature game, but it's a bit like playing Picaria, or
other three-in-a-row games -- you don't so much win, as your opponent
loses.
PromoChess. Everything but the king can power up. Mix of Japanese/Western/fairy pieces. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is a nice idea, and like Tony, I'll have more to say once I've played
with it a person. But why no King promotion? It would continue the theme,
and a mild promotion, to say R2F wouldn't be so bad.
Ready Chess. Pieces cannot capture right after capturing, they have to be restored first. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Neat idea -- I can see where the need to flip a piece before capturing
again could really break up an attack. One interesting effect of this
change would be, I think, to make pieces closer together in value, since
often a Queen's value lies in its ability to capture a piece and
simultaneously offer check. Tactics ought to be fairly different.
<p>
One could extend this to not allowing pieces to even <em>move</em> after
capturing until they are flipped. Or allow ready pieces to capture, but
at the cost of being removed themselves too.
Abstract Chess. Pieces are represented by stacks of different heights.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is a real neat idea, which is why I'm giving it an excellent rating. However, I find myself wondering how it would play in practice. There seems to me that there would be a certain tendency for the Pawn line to get sucked into the back line at the start, producing a mess of attack routes.
Glenn's Decimal Chess. A 10x10 blend of FIDE, Shogi, and Xiangqi influences. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This looks like fun, Glenn, I'll have to try it.
The only thing I have reservations about is the sidewise move of the Pawns. Generally, the forward-only move of Pawns encourages attack and provides some of a Chess-like game's dynamics. I wonder if adding a river line past which Pawns move sideways might not be a bad idea after all.
As for a name, if you were to run CHess, shOgi and xiangQI together, you'd get . . .Choqi . . . (I wonder of Cho means anything in any dialect of Chinese?)
Tiled Squares Chess. Drop tiles to create the board as you play. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This looks really neat! The only thing that worries me about it is that
a player can just sit there picking up and dropping tiles. Maybe every
2nd or 3rd move ought should be required to be the move of a piece?
Storm the Ivory Tower. A Smess adaptation of Chinese Chess. (9x10, Cells: 90) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This looks really good, Fergus. You've blended these two games such that they look as if they were meant to be blended!
One question: is a Yahoo allowed to move back to its starting square when the arrows allow for it, making a null move?
A comment about the 'Korean' Clodhopper -- following the analogy with the Korean Cannon, they should not be allowed to capture other Clodhoppers.
About the exit moves. I can see very easily how you ended up with them, and I for one like the forced exit rule, since it should make the game more decisive. An alternate approach if you did want to forbid them the tower in the first place would be to shade the arrows pointing into the tower, and add a rule that Ninnys and Yahoos may not follow a shaded arrow on their side of the board.
Treeleaders Chess. Large variant with non-similar armies. (9x10, Cells: 90) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]<u>The Gnu Song</u> is by Flanders & Swann, and can be found here:
<p><ul>
<li><a href='http://www.poppyfields.net/poppy/songs/gnu.html'>http://www.poppyfields.net/poppy/songs/gnu.html</a>
</ul>
Supremo Superchess. Decimal variant with extra powerful pieces. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The published Rococo ZRF does not contain Supremo, but the development version did (see the header of the Rococo.zrf for details). At the time ZRF was ready, Supremo was still in flux (different setups and possible removal of the Cannon Pawn's ability to jump friendly pieces were still under consideration), so I took it out. I e-mailed Fergus about this at the time, but I believe this was during a time when his life was very busy, so I'm not surprised he didn't remember.
<p>
<hr>
<p>
While games with enormous power on the board aren't everyone's cup of tea, they can be fun. And the orthodox pieces can be a great deal of fun in such a game, since they can happily threaten the super pieces, since they are still quite capable, even if worth less. Consider a fork of two super pieces by a Bishop defended by a Pawn. This is what Ralph Betza refered to as the 'leveling effect'.
Forward Chess. Variant where backward movement is limited. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Looks to be an excellent combination of elements. But why no draws by agreement?
<p>
BTW, it's <u>Feebback Chess</u>, not <u>Feedback Chess</u>. Now I'm wondering what Feedback Chess would be like.
Fugue. Based on Ultima and Rococo this game has pieces that capture in unusual ways. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This looks really neat, and if I ever have any free time again, I'm going to play around with it some.
<p>
I do wonder why you eliminated the suicide rule, though.
<p>
Apparently, while in music Rococo was followed by Classical, in art and architecture it was followed by Neo-Classical. Confusing.
<p><hr><p>
I can see why you replaced the Withdrawer, it being so comparitively weak (and even weaker without the ring board). I wonder if making the Withdrawer immune to the Immobilizer would increase its value significantly? It'd be horribly irregular, though.
Hero and Superhero Chess. The King's Pawn is replaced by a Hero (moves like any other piece on your side on the board) or a Superhero (improved Hero). (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]And it says right on the page that a Hero's first move must be non-capturing.
Switching Chess. In addition to normal moves, switch with an adjacent friendly piece. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Are swap moves that don't change the board position legal -- such as any swap of a piece with the same type of piece? <i>(If not, you could remove the swap code from the Pawns in the ZRF, which would probably result in better piece values.)</i>
Triumvirate Chess. Uses three Knights. The last remaining opposing Knight must be checkmated as the King. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This looks pretty interesting, but there are a couple of points:
<ol><p><li>
May a Centurion making its initial double-move capture a Caesar?
<p><li>
Is there castling?
<p><li>
Having played Knightmate (which replaces the King with a royal Knight and the Knights with non-royal Kings), I must disagree with the statement -- 'because the third (remaining) Caesar loses most of his powers upon the capture of the second Caesar, facilitating a quick end' -- as it is usually <em>easier</em> in my experiance to mate a royal Knight than a King (a Queen can mate a royal Knight unaided).
</ol>
Falcon Chess 100. Falcon Chess played on an expanded board of a 100 squares with special Pawn rules. (12x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]When fiddling around with another design, I came up with an alternate Falcon Chess on a 100 squares idea.
<p>
<hr>
<p>
<h3 align=center>Decimal Falcon Chess</h3>
Chess with three-fold Falcons played on a 10x10 board.
<h4>Setup</h4>
Take the standard FIDE setup, and add a Falcon with a Pawn in front of it on each end, and place the white pieces on the 2nd and 3rd ranks, and the black pieces on the 8th and 9th ranks. The first and last ranks are empty.
<h4>Piece Movement</h4>
All pieces move as in regular Falcon Chess except as noted below.
<p>
Kings may either not castle, or castle as in FIDE Chess or use free castling at the choice of the players. The empty row behind the King seems to make castling less necessary.
<p>
Pawns may optionally promote to any previously captured piece or a Falcon on 8th or 9th rank, and <strong>must</strong> so promote if they reach the 10th rank.
<h4>Comments</h4>
You might think that the Falcon would be somewhat constrained in its development in the corners, but the extra option of sliding behind a Bishop and thus guarding the center once some holes open up seems to make up for it.
Bastille Chess. Win by clearing your opponent's fortress. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This looks amusing. One question -- can Pawns promote to Kings, since Kings are non-royal? Mind you, I can't see why you'd ever <em>want</em> to do so, but could you?
Experiments in Symmetry. Several experimental games to test whether perfect symmetry makes a game better.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Assorted comments:
<ul><p><li>
Symposium Chess looks a bit like a more restrained version of <a href='http://play.chessvariants.org/erf/Identifi.html'>Identific Chess</a> or <a href='../other.dir/potential.html'>Potential Chess</a>, with the ambiguity restricted to the King and Queen pair. I'm wondering if the Potential Chess rule that a piece left in check becomes known not to be a King would make sense in this game.
<p><li>
The setup for Sinister Queens Chess is found in a number of historical variants. Curiously, I seem to recall that several commentators felt this setup <em>increased</em> White's advantage. Certainly it has been universally abandoned for the current setup.
<p><li>
A leaperless combination of Bigamous Chess and Episcopal Chess with RBBQKQBBR would probably be closer to Derek's ideal, I would think, and avoid the 'all Bishops on one color' problem of Bigamous Chess.
<p><li>
You have a missing /DL tag at the end of the 7x8 section.
</ul>
More10. Chessvariant on a board with 10 squares. (2x5, Cells: 10) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I'm not entirely sure this is a successful game, but I'm not sure anything much better could be done on such a small board, and this is a very creditable attempt. I like the extra branching added by the piece changing on movement.
Angels and Devils. Chess game where white has two Angels and black has two Devils. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]For an extra piece, why not continue the theme of capturing on the opposing color? An orthogonal Withdrawer would have that characteristic, but without being colorbound, as does orthogonal custodian capture (like Ultima Pawns).
<p>
While it would dilute the theme, giving White on Devil and Black one Angel would mix things up a bit and help balance matters some if it turned out that the Devil and Angel had significantly different values.
<p>
Another game with the theme of capture on the other color is <a href='/other.dir/interweave.html'>Interweave</a>.
Pretentious Chess. All Pieces can move as and demote to a Knight. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Interesting. Aside from the King, this resembles a more restrained version of my Potential/Demotion Chess.
Three Elephant Chess. War Towers destroy 3 spaces at a time - protect your elephants while capturing your opponent's. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Looks amusing, although I have some minor doubts about the Stones -- in my experiance, these sorts of pieces can make endgames less fun by making them slower. But actual play should show if this is the case or not.
The War Tower has a slight resemblence to the Mad Elephent in Mad Elephant Chess.
Jumping Knights Chess. Nightriders replace Knights and War Machines have also been added to Jumping Chess. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Very interesting game, David. I particularly like how the War Machines guard the Pawns in the starting array against being picked off by the Nightriders. I have not yet fully absorbed the effect of your more severe rules for pieces on the edge -- having to capture to escape makes the edge makes the edge risky in another way than it is in Jumping Chess. I assume that is part of preserving checkmate as part of the game?
65 comments displayed
Permalink to the exact comments currently displayed.