Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

'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.'

? And what about Crumb to Cookie Monster???

Sometimes I'll write a scientific exposition of all the possible variations
of multiple pieces on the same square, and other times, I'll just write a
game with many unused types of neutral pieces. It's all the same in some
abstruse way.

Did you notice that lint and dust bunnies are usually grey, perfect for a
neutral piece? This had much to do with the choice of names, although of
course, 'what else would one find in a Pajama but lint?' had more
influence.

I guess it was the greyness of lint that made me make them neutral. The
thinking behind these things happens in a flash that I can't remember
later; for example, the idea of lunch in SGL312 Chess (which I hope to get
written up in a couple of weeks; unlike Capt Spalding, it needs some
playtest).

''If there are Headless Rhinos, why are there no Rhino heads
   in the Box?' I suggested that they had been reduced to Crumbs, but
   this explanation was rejected on the grounds that the rest of the
   Rhino would also be Crumbs.'

The first question most people ask is whether my mother was Morticia,
because who else would have Bats in their box of animal crackers?

However, asking about Rhino Heads is certainly valid. The true answer is
that the game could include many more types of animal crackers and many
more types of things to be found in Pajamas; but I stopped when I thought
that I had just enough things in the game.

I am sure that it would also be a good game if you could find a Zebra in
your Box and a Flashlight in the pocket of your Pajama (one must always
have a Flashlight in order to be able to stay awake and read in bed when
one is supposed to be sound asleep).

However, my artistic decision was that I had enough elements in my game.

Where are the Schnorrers? They are in somebody else's game, perhaps
somebody else's variant of Capt. Spalding Chess; for I have seen Good and
Lawson play Spalding by email and I know that it is good as it is but also
that there could be as many 'Captain Spalding Variants' as there are Chess
Variants.

I have said enough and now I must be going. I may stay for a line, I may
stay for a paragraph, but I must be going.

Ah, but I hear you say 'Yes, but you don't go!' and so I will tell a little
story before I go.

June 2 I went to see Carmen at the Amato Opera, and who was there but Tony
Randall, the superannuated star, with his subannuated daughter of a mere
half dozen years or fewer. We peasants noticed (who could fail to notice?)
and there was a rumbling and grumbling of talk among us; and many and many
a stakeless wager was placed on who would draw the tickets for the raffle.
But we are all NewYorkers and so nobody bothered the famous person.

Sure enough, it was the offspring of the star who drew the winning ticket
from the accustomed tin. Pity, pity, do you not feel it, for the Chelsea of
the Hillary?

I have daughters too, I have daughters two, and they do not follow the path
of the great chess variant genius (which is good because there ain't a
penny to be made from it!) but instead follow paths I can only envy.

A small daughter who asks about Rhino Heads? Be proud, and beware. This is
no ordinary person. The youthful asker of such questions may grow to be a
mature -- who can guess? There are no rules for the promotion of Human
Children when they reach the Rank of Maturity. Unless, of course, one
considers it a rule that they will never turn out to be quite what you
expect.

In case you have not understood my answer, let me make it clear: if you
want a game with Rhino Heads, nothing stops you from making it yourself!

It was pointed out to me in email that the ascii diagram of the starting
position, which the readers should know is not my work but was added by the
clever and industrious editor of the page, does not correspond to the
suggested notation added by the update.

Every good deed shall be punished.

If you move a piece next to two or more Cookie Monsters simultaneously,
what happens?  Do they all leap on it and devour it, and disappear?  Or 
does the moving player choose one?

'If you move a piece next to two or more Cookie Monsters simultaneously,'

Good question. Cookie Monster not so smart, does not know other Cookie
Monster gets awakened. All of the awakened Cookie Monsters leap on to the
moving piece and gobble up both it and each other;

at least, that's the rule that I think is consistent with the nature of
Cookie Monsters in this game (in real life, Cookie Monsters are erudite and
charming and well-behaved; the piece in the game was not intended as an
ethnic slur).

> may it play a Bat on the 8th

Please add to Rule Zero the following: 

'<H?>Drops and Placements</H?>

In games where pieces may be dropped or freely placed, the 
following <A HREF=???>Shogi</a> rule should apply: placing 
a piece in its promotion zone does not promote it, and placing 
a piece where the end of the board prevents it from moving
(for example, dropping a Pawn on its 8th rank) is forbidden.'

Notice that I adopted the Shogi rule of not having two Bats on the same
file; however, this generalization does not belong in rule zero.

i think you may be misjudging the value of the great pajamas.  in an
endgame where the rhinos, headless rhinos, and great elephants have been
traded off, winning with just an elephant and bats can be difficult.  in
such a situation, if you are the only one with great pajamas, it means you
control where the dust demons appear on the board.  since they are
neutral, this is critical.

Marx brothers variants: well, Fredonia is mentioned in one variant of mine,
and there's always Tutti Frutti Chess.

The games with multiple pieces on one square seem related to the stateroom
scene, sort of, a little bit anyway.

Aside from that, it's difficult. Remember the scene in Monkey Biz where
Harpo impersonates Chevalier with a portable windup phonograph strapped to
his back, then goes crazy with the rubber stamps (I've always yearned to
do that!). How could one make a chess variant of that??

My modest variants
(http://www.chessvariants.org/index/msdisplay.php?itemid=MSvoyager) now
include 'A Knight at the Hoppera', in which Knights can hop and thereby
lose the move.

Half or more of Betza's 150 games in CVPage have, as Captain Spalding does, realistic opening moves or entire game scores annotated for examples. Here too are couple pieces in Betza Notation by Betza himself that Muller and Florea have been revisiting. Captain Spalding is character by Groucho Marx in 1930 'Animal Crackers'. The first talkie at all was 1927, and most European countries had first talking movie production in same 1930. Marx Brothers play Chess: Chess.

Harpo Marx watches Chess in Moscow: Chess_Match_in_1931