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Game Reviews by ultimatecoolster
Parachess. Chess on a rhombus-tiled board. (Cells: 72) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is a creative game. I have a suggestion: Have the holes in the opening setup filled with a Marshall and Cardinal.
Ultimate Battle Chess. Pawns, kings, queens, and knights move differently. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The pieces in this game don't coincide very well, and the King is too complex.
Minixiang. Xiang Qi's short-range pieces come into their own on a small board. (5x6, Cells: 30) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I don't like this game that much. You have strengthened the royal and defensive pieces while decreasing the amount of offensive pieces. The Point is covered by the Rook, too, which is unlike Minishogi where it defends against the opponent's.
Cannonless Xiang Qi variants. A look at stronger variations of pre-cannon Xiangqi. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]You might as well call this game Ultimate Xiang Qi. The Ferry variant is a tiny bit more aggressive, however, which makes it OK, balanced by the awkwardness of the Ferry.
The Ferry variant is OK, actually, though a bit unnatural.
Patt-schach (Stalemate chess). Players start with an illegal move from a stalemated position. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I think it would be interesting if you lose if all of your pieces can make a legal move.
Chessopoly. Board with a hole in the middle where pawns move clockwise. (12x12, Cells: 128) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Hmm. The problem to me does not seem to be the assymmetry, but, rather, the clockwise nature. The rear Pawns merely serve as a block for their own pieces, aiding in their attack.
Bishogi. An attempt to take the FIDE army further towards Shogi than Chessgi does. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]You can play with Pawns promoting to Princes instead of Queens, as they lie on the second rank, as the Shogi Bishop and Shogi Rook do. You can even play with a naive promotion of Bishops to Primates, Rooks to Chatelaines, and Pawns and Knights to Queens. Of course, the Draughts variant is not playable. In Draughts, you must move forward, so there is no opportunity to permanently block. Rithe with capture, the board clears up and the pieces that can move backward cannot cower behind a wall. What defense there is is solved by zugzwang. Your variant fails in that one can move a King into an opponent's corner and blockade him with dropped Men and another King, providing only enough space for tempo moves, with the Men blocking any mandatory capture.
8x8 Reversible Stairs-Chess. Chessboard looks like stairs.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is an interesting way of looking at Chess!
Hexagonal Iss Jetan. Missing description (7x13, Cells: 127) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I helped, no? ;) One question: Why can a Panthan move obliquely orthogonally backward? Is this to preserve it's 'except this space' nature?
Geometric sequence of Chess Games. Chess variants as large as you want.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Your 4-player 16x16 Chess is a good idea.
Mortal Shogi. A Shogi variant in which pieces aren't all immortal. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]A related game would be Zzo38
A. Black's Decay Shogi.
Shatranji. A hybrid of Shatranj and Chessgi. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Can a player win by stalemating their opponent? Funny thing!; I actually created this variant before I read about it. I guess it's a good idea, then, right?
Citadel chess. A variant of Shatranj, played on a ten by ten board with four extra citadels. (10x10, Cells: 104) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Interestingly, checkmate can be done with any piece, with imperfect play, and many pieces, with perfect play. I would prefer if Citadel occupation were a win, however.
3FewShogi Chess. Like Chess but 3 Shogi per side. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is like Chess without those drawish endgames! The koma are a wee iffy, though. Why did you choose them?
Five-Minute Poppy Shogi. Small shogi variant on a 4 by 5 board. (4x5, Cells: 20) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Note that there is no need for much backward movement as the pieces can be captured and repositioned. There is always at least one piece that can move backward. This game is different than simply a miniature version of Shogi, because the promotion is not as monotonous.
Proselyte Chess. Missing description (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]omg this is so cool its likke benidict ultima!!!!
Ki Shogi. Variant of Shogi played without a board, and pieces are cubes.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]How interesting! I wonder why you implemented it in Zillions, however, as it is has a very high branching factor.
Courier Chess Moderno. A modern variant of the historical variant Courier Chess. (12x8, Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Despite the improvement of the game via the Pawns and Elephants (and, of course, the modern rules), there are still two ridiculously weak pieces in the game: namely, the Queen and Schleich. I would recommend combining them into another Man, and using the Bishop Adjustment Rule.
Mêlée. Variant on 9 by 9 board with 9 different pieces and castle square that must be occupied. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Actually, the Pawns are, excluding the General, the strongest pieces in the game. The Prince is royal, the Bishop cannot access the Castle, and the Horses, Camels, and Elephants are more awkward than them. One suggestion to this game would be to lessen the General's power, somehow, to fit with the rest of the pieces, and to have the Bows on the right of the Swords, making more of them able to access the Castle.
Pocket Mutation Chess. Take one of your pieces off the board, maybe change it, keep it in reserve, and drop it on the board later. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating] Checker-capture Chess. Pieces can capture as in checkers game. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating] Unidirectional arrays on standard boards. Both players in the same direction, as Viking Chess, but on boards of correspondiyng face-to-face variants.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]You accidentally made one of the Kings a Rook in the Shogi variant. The Shogi variant is terrible, also, because Shogi pieces are meant to go forward, toward the enemy, or they're useless.
HiveQueen. Missing description (Cells: 61) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Please explain the movement of the pieces better. Of what I understand, this seems like more of a Go or Reversi type game than a Chess type game.
Modern Chess. Variant on a 9 by 9 board with piece that combines bishop and knight moves. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]White has the advantage of a more quickly promoting centre Pawn but it is balanced somewhat by the reverse symmetry. The imbalance between the colours, both in terms of the board and the armies, makes the game ugly, as does the Bishop Adjustment Rule. This is one of the reasons I created Modern Makruk. The most obvious solution would be to include a Marshall, but that would just be another Carrera variant, which may be one of the reasons for the creation of this. I, however, consider the Marshall the lesser of the two evils. Shogi does not suffer from either of these flaws because symmetrical centre Pawn play is disadvantageous for the first player and the Bishops are naturally unbound both by promotion and drops.
Scirocco. On ten by ten board with over thirty different pieces. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This looks like an interesting game. I suggest the following: Remove the Dervish. It's very weak and its promotion isn't useful in the endgame, which you seem to have a focus on with promotions. Switch the positions of the Stork and Goat. This makes the game more symmetric. Make both partial moves of the Stork and Goat capturing. This balances them with the Spider and Octopus. Make the Alfil promote to the Genie instead of the Dabbaba. This balances the game by having the weakest piece promote to the strongest piece. The Dabbaba should promote to a piece that moves without capturing as a Knight but relays to friendly pieces a Queen's move away the ability to move as a Queen. This is a modified Harpy's move that is much more useful in the endgame, and balances the game by making a weak piece have a strong promotion. Remove the Guard. It makes the only pieces of two or more per side the Scirocco and Pawns, the Sciroccos needing two by analogy with the Couriers.
Shatranj al-Sultan. Normal Chess + Alibaba , with a Sultanic flavour . (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]There are two undefended Pawns. The Couriers are also very weak because they are restricted to 1/4 of the board. I would rate this game as Excellent if you allowed a one-time Ferz move for them.
Checkers Chess. Pieces move initially only forwards. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]A horizontally cylindrical or toroidal version of this would be interesting.
Xhetrast. A conservative Contrast version of Xhess. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating] XYMYX. Players make their moves at the same time. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This game seems horribly unnatural in some of its rules, with needless amounts of testimonial in the comments.
Paulowich's Chancellor Chess. A proposal to play chancellor chess with chancellors and queens in the corner on 8 by 8 board. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The first variant looks good. My problem with having just a Marshall and not a Cardinal is the assymmetry between the prime pieces. This variant has the Rook as a single piece, so already has an assymmetry. The second variant is poor, however, as the Queens can attack each other as soon as he Pawns are moved, and are undefended, so White has more of an advantage.
Dai-Ryu Shogi. Large Shogi variant with new pieces. (9x16, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating] Great Shatranj. Great Shatranj. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I actually thought of the High Priestess myself, calling it a Big Ferz. I forgot the idea, however, when I realized that a not-too-powerful Big Wazir would not be possible.
Birds and Ninjas. Strategically rich chess-like game with powerful dual range orthogonal flying pieces, and short-range diagonal leapers. (10x10, Cells: 104) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I now view this game as Good. I ask why the Ninja Guard is not the diagonal counterpart to the Flying Bomber, and comment that most of your games incorporate these now stale pieces.
Omega Chess (Maura). Players have many pieces that can only move in the direction they point at. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Interesting! I think the reason that the 9x9 variants are so good is that their creators seek something more beautifully geometrical, and not some progression of Chess or any hodge-podge or half-bake of a game.
Pillars of Medusa. A variation of Turkish Great Chess plus two additional pieces, the Morph and the Medusa. (11x11, Cells: 121) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The Bishops are colourbound, the board is too big, discriminating the weak pieces, White has an advantage with symmetrical Sword play, and the new pieces are ridiculously powerful, especially the Medusa.
I meant that the Bishops are colourbound as a pair. It doesn't matter if play can be assymmetrical. Assymmetry evens out. I don't care if some new pieces already in Turkish Great Chess, and I didn't say that the Morph was powerful. You also have an advantage because you're an excellent player.
Chess Variant. Private Taking the two most famous Fairies into Capablanca. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Since this comment is for a page that has not been published yet, you must be signed in to read it.
Aieirping Chess. Missing description (29x14, Cells: 406) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This game is very uncoordinated and has very nonstandard pieces. A better attempt to use all letters of the alphabet would be Charles Gilman's Missing Ox Chess.
Burmese Traditional Chess. An article that discusses chess as it was played in Burma. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This page is extremely informative. I did not know about the history of the game and the appearance of the pieces. I think that the flexible setup reduces White's advantage, especially when White sets up all of his pieces before Black. Perhaps by too much...
Typhoon (Revised). Missing description (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This game is inferior to Scirocco in that it incorporates a large number of pieces already present in the game it was inspired by. It also does not follow the principle from Scirocco that all pieces except Pawns should have symmetrical moves.
Oblong Chess 44. Variant of Oblong Chess on board with 44 squares. (4x11, Cells: 44) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I nominate this game for closest resemblance to the logo of The Chess Variant Pages!
Typhoon (Revised). Missing description (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I was refering to how many Chu Shogi pieces are in here. This game is excellent once you learn to play, but the learning curve is too steep for most.
I've been wanting to do a collaboration. Are you up for it, Adrian?
Hitchhiker Chess. Get your Hitchhiker to the Restaurant at the other End of the Board; inspired by Douglas Adams' books. (Cells: 42) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]An unusual mix of pieces and an unusual goal; never heard of a win by kidnapping! Hopefully George will enlighten me on some previous instance.
Shatranji. A hybrid of Shatranj and Chessgi. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I am sad to say that I agree, Fergus. A better game would be Sittuyingi.
Beyond Omega. Large abstract variant with radial and oblique pieces requiring rotation. (15x15, Cells: 225) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Nicely geometric, as Omega, but not as minimalist and a bit harder to visualize. I don't see the difference between an Alpha and Lambda and wonder if there are opposition rules.
Grand Chess. Christian Freeling's popular large chess variant on 10 by 10 board. Rules and links. (10x10, Cells: 100) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Too large size, Rook connection, tired compounds and strange promotion rules make this a bad game.
Yoto. Variant with heavy Xiang Qi influences marks Year of the Ox. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Don't take the rating personally, but it is well known that a game with Buffaloes is destined to be bad. Your XQ variant also has Castling, which is not in Xiang Qi or Shogi, not because it is impossible, but because the players just didn't decide to put it in.
Ludus Magus. Missing description (2x(8x8), Cells: 145) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This might be a good game, but it's too complex to understand. Reminds me of Rithmomachia...
Nevermind; I understand now. I had a terrible headache last night, and the octagonal thing (why not diagonal?) threw me off. I don't understand the purpose of summoning, it just moving a piece around its Magus. Question: Does Aether negate friendlies and enemies or only enemies?
Chaturanga. The first known variant of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I agree that it is strange that an unscrupulous variant be recognized. What game exactly is this? We should recognize also 'Chootooroonkoo', which is the truly original form of Chess from ancient Goobleland, which is played on a board with squares and with pieces that move, other details unknown.
Ganeshan Chess. Introducing a new Elephant piece known as (the) Ganapati. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Oh, you are correct. It is quite confusing having two games played on a 10x10 board with pieces called Elephants.
Mathewson's Hexagonal Chess
. Glinski Hexagonal chess, but with different layout.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]What is the advantage of this setup?
Huntsman Chess. Missing description (9x9, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]In the rules, there is a 'Mirror Rhino' that should be a 'King'. Also, does the Lion let Stones capture without moving, or do they have to move to capture? The reason I ask is because there is a Lion in Chu Shogi that can capture without moving.
Trampoline Chess. Each player has a Trampoline that allows friendly pieces to make a second move. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Could the Trampoline be perceived as a piece that allows bifurcation? What other possibilities of pieces are there that allow pieces to bifurcate by them? Excellent piece idea.
Monkey King Chess. Monkey King fights Goblin King on 44 squares board in game with oriental influences. (5x8, Cells: 44) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Excellent page for this game. I like how it goes in depth about the design influences and has notes on play. The hand-painted pieces are a nice touch as well, where the chart is an easy reference during play.
Revenge of the King. http://xn--perlebr-bxa.de/2010/02/Vergeltung-des-K%C3%B6nigs. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I'm not sure how much of a 'revenge' the Mounted King is. The King as Knight is more difficult to maneuver for players used to the regular move. On the other hand, the King is more difficult to checkmate when it is now a Knight, though Chess variantists generally consider the Knight to be slightly weaker than the Commoner which moves like a King. Also, players may not want their King to become a Mounted King if the regular move is more strategically viable for them. Despite the fact that new variants often do not fulfill their intentions, I think this King transformation is something to be considered for other games and as a fun rule variant on boring old Chess.
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