Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

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?)

Er, no, Peter, that name's not a good idea. The letter _q_ is, I believe, peculiar to Mandarin. There is no syllable _cho_ in that language; there is _chou_, which would actually be more appropriate, because the Japanese name of Japanese Chess is more accurately rendered as _Shougi_, but _chouqi_ means things that one probably wouldn't want to call one's invention, from `enemy game, hatred game' through `draw out, exhaust (air)' to `stench'. Something else is in order.

There is a character spoken in Mandarin as chóu which means prepare or plan (also chip or counter). The most common character with that sound and tone is the one that means enemy or foe.

So chóuqí is workable. 'Planning game' is surely OK, and even the homonym meaning 'game of foes' is not beyond the pale. But all that other ugliness Ivan describes is just a matter of tones.

Thank you to Ivan for a very quick and on-point reply, and to Peter for the interesting suggestion.

This game certainly looks interesting. The graphics, as always, are very nice. I like the use of the Rhino, a deserving but somewhat neglected piece.

Game dynamic is interesting in this game, it is faster than I thought at first. A 4x4 Fortress should be an alternative to be considered, but I have not tested it yet. The power of pieces is well balanced. I would prefer a change in initial setup, change positions of Pegasus and Gryphon, to allow more stable openings. Early direct attacks against the enemy king aren't usually desiderable, because defense is normally enough to contrarrest the attempt, and the attacking team may fall to inferior positions after attack if it is not well analyzed about positional consequences, so the game must be fundamentally positional and strategic until cleared enough. The game is faster than some others DECIMAL chess games, I have tried a few games against Zillions, with an average number of about 80 moves to finish the game, with a little standard deviation. It is a game very playable and enjoyable. I like it.

A most pleasing blend of Western Chess, Xiangqi and Shogi. The piece set is most entertianing and seems to work well together. The Ogyo is more valuable in this game than it would be in a FIDE-like variant: it has the same horizontal King interdiction power as the Rook, and vertical interdiction isn't needed--the King facing rule provides it.

Regarding the name: there is precedent for 'la tanxecak.'.

I believe that lion was in one of the shogi variants, it was also called the lion, i'm not sure, i don't think it was invented by accident by a westerner...

I have modified this game. The Lions are more powerful, the King facing rule has been abolished so that the game isn't 'needlessly horizontal' and the movement restriction on Kings and Mandarins has been lifted so they can move freely around the board. I have tested these modifications by changing the ZRF and the game is still playable.

Excellent graphics, representative of the early 21st century period school of Chess Variant artistry, some would say art for art's sake. Actually, Overby's Beautiful Sun conveys a deep message not to abuse Pawns. Shogi Gold, Shogi Silver, and Orthodox Western Pawn get equal respect and billing in milieu of splendid colourations. ''The broken line of Pawns is a Xiangqi influence,'' explains Glenn, ''Meriqi attempts to blend features of the three largest branches of Chess.'' Editor Peter Aronson joyfully evaluates 'Excellent', ''This looks fun, Glenn, I'll have to try it.'' Michael Nelson gushes: ''A most pleasing blend of Western Chess, Xiangqi and Shogi. The piece set is most entertaining and seems to work well together.'' Overby itemizes self-adulating, ''The Gryphon comes from the 13th Century European great chess game Grande Acedrex.'' Far more interesting than this game itself -- or any recent CV really -- are assorted trivia that come up on case basis, notably here several number of acceptable English-language spellings, probably all-time record in the language, of the particular widely-used 700-year-old bent rider: Gryphon, Gryphen, Griffen, Gryphin, Griffin, Griffon and Griphon, roughly in descending order, one and all good-enough usage. A spinoff new CV could tweak each back-ranked alternate with King: 7 different-moving ''grfns'' on 8x8, each clearly demarked as separate in having own directions and/or distances.

Glenn, what you did was only good art. Good science, good communication mathematically treated. The seven proper spellings of ''grfn'' starting with Gryphon can be subverted. If rebelliously printing ''greephane,'' not one of the 7, simply claim use of a metaplasmus. Sometimes ''misspelling'' is 'mispelled' like this to make a point, another metaplasmus, a deliberate effective misspelling. When 5 Comments back, we say ''...matter of opinion, opined Gilman,'' that figure of speech, same root different words, is more polyptoton than pure anaphora. ''Extraordinary claims need extraordinary proof'' would fall within anaphora. Three Comments back ''...is T.R.'' is an anastrophe. Mathematicians like myself and programmers tend to use noun-verb-adjective logically and responsibly enough, but rather uninterestingly; and moreover much of the truth gets lost in the reductionism. When some have referred to ''unmentionable CV,'' recognize aposiopesis, in intentionally breaking off. When maintaining Bishop preceded Knight historically, that is hysteron-proteron. My favourite, used in Chess poetry, is not rhyme, but so-mathematical anonymous palindrome, ''never odd or even'' or ''are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era?'' Meiriqi (Beautiful Sun) is metaphor and a good one, capturing for Overby essence of his decimal art-form, as is name of 1/2 CVPage artwork (the 3000 games) metaphor -- finding just the right name for the piece or for that artistic expression sought to convey.