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This page is written by the game's inventor, Ralph Betza.

Refreshing Bubble Fizz Chess

Because the makers of Refreshing Bubble Fizz(tm) have agreed to make a substantial contribution to the prize fund of the First International Email World Championship of Chess with Different Armies, I have devised this chess variant in their honor, and in honor of their excellent product, Refreshing Bubble Fizz(tm).
	Bubble Fizz! Bubble Fizz!
	There's no other fizz like this!
	Drinking lots of Bubble Fizz
	makes you need to whi --
Oh, excuse me. I'm sure that's not how the advertising jingle goes. You can catch it on TV anyway.

The idea of Refreshing Bubble Fizz Chess is that every time a piece moves it creates a bubble on the square "above" it (the square that is one move further from the owner's first rank than the destination square of the piece that moved); on subsequent turns, the bubble "rises" one square per move (White bubbles rise North after Black's move, Black bubbles rise South after White's move); and pieces that move onto a bubble or are struck by a bubble first take the pause that refreshes and then play with renewed vigor because of the invigorating effects of Refreshing Bubble Fizz(tm)! So delicious and so refreshing!

A bubble disappears if it runs into another bubble, if it encounters a piece of either color, or if it runs into the edge of the board.

When a piece is hit by a bubble, or when a piece moves onto a bubble square, that piece may not move for three turns; this is because it takes a moment to appreciate the clear refreshing taste of Refreshing Bubble Fizz. On the turn when the three move delay expires, the bubbled piece may make an extra move -- that is, you may make either two non-capturing moves with the bubbled piece, or you may move some other piece (but not capture) and also make a non-capturing move with the bubbled piece; this is because Refreshing Bubble Fizz is so refreshing and invigorating.

If several pieces are released from the pause that refreshes, all on the same turn, you can make several moves at once, one normal move and one with each of the invigorated pieces, as long as the moves are all non-capturing.

If you are stalemated because some or all of your pieces are paused by bubbles, you lose. The makers of Refreshing Bubble Fizz recommend that you use their product in moderation.

Note that your own pieces can be affected by your own bubbles.

Castling makes two bubbles.

A paused piece that's hit again by a bubble starts counting from 3 again.

Endgame study:








White has a K on h6, Black has a K on h8. White plays Kh6-g6, creating a bubble on g7. Black plays Kh8-g8, creating a new bubble on g7. The two bubbles cancel each other out, so the position is a draw.

If the bubbles moved after their own side's move, White could arguably have lost, depending on interpretation of the rules: if a newly-created bubble can already move, Kh6-g6?? creates a bubble g7 which moves to g8, Black must move into it and be paused, but this move creates a new bubble g7 which moves to g6 and hits the W King; now both players are stalemated by pause, but since it's White's move, White loses.


Written by Ralph Betza. Webpage posted by Hans Bodlaender. Bubble Fizz is a trademark, owned by Buzzle Fizz Corporation. While negotitiations (which started 04-01-2001) are not finished, the Chess Variant Pages do not make official statements about the contribution by Bubbe Fizz Co. to the prize fund of the Chess with Different Armies championship.
WWW page created: April 19, 2001.