Reiner Knizia, one of the biggest game designer of all times, in his book "Dice Games Properly Explained" gives a very interesting way of playing category dice games, like Yahtzi, General and others. The whole idea is not to count and add points collected in each category and sum them at the bottom, but to reward the first player to score in each category OR the one who scored the highest point in category. There are two types categories. 1-6 categories, 3 of a kind, 4 of a kind, 5, 6, Chance and the second type which include fixed points like straights, Towers, Cars or Full House. So, the player who gets the highest score in the first type category (let's say 12 points when 3's are scored) gets 2 points for this row. In the second type of categories (with fixed points) the player who gets there FIRST scores 1 point.

In my opinion this way of playing makes the game more exciting. It's more like fighting for the holes on golf course. We are not fighting for the overall score but for each and every category. It changes our tactics and strategy significantly.

Andy.

and for those who are curious ... it's my creation ... I doubt anyone played this kind of game using domino tiles ... the placement of tiles is very unusual ... please read on.

RULES OF KARGUL ...

Game name: Kargul in Polish language is someone who is a bad neighbor, someone who throws garbage over the fence to make his neighbor more angry ...

Set: 6x6, 28 tiles set ...

Beginning: Every player gets 11 tiles and keeps them visible only for himself ... (6 tiles remain unknown for the players)

First set: players decide who plays first and any tile can be played as a starter ...

Layout: players place their tiles vertically, one by one ... horizontal bar on domino tile plays a role of a fence ... and that means all the numbers below the fence belong the the player that is closer to them ... below is an example of the first tile played ... I am sitting closer to number 5 and my opponent to number 6 ... and this situation means that I got -5 points (minus) and my opponent -6 points (minus) ... and every time a tile is placed, someone get negative points (with the exception of a ZERO) ...

6 

5

Matching tiles: Players in their turns HAVE to match either of the numbers of the last placed tiles ... in our example (which I started placing 5-6) my opponent can put vertically any tile that touches mine 5-6 with numbers 6 and 5 on them ... let's continue with our example ... my opponent places 6-3 and the picture looks like:

6 6

5 3

and it means I got -3 points (minus) that add to my previous negative score ... he was a bad neighbor ... he was kargul ... now I place 3-5 matching one of the numbers and my neighbor get -5 points that add to his previous score ... and the layout so far looks like :

6 6 5

5 3 3

But this is not the end of possible plays ... look what happens when (it's his turn now) he has no tile to match number 5 ... he has to match number 3 (assuming he has one of course) and he CREATES negative load for himself ... let's say he has a tile that matches number 3 on the table ... and it's 2-3 adding 2 negative points to his score ...

6 6 5 2

5 3 3 3 (with score 8:13 for me)

Did you get the idea ? It's a funny game and with plenty of occasions for strategic thinking ... easy to play, already tested ... be kargul in this game but not in real life ... who got less points after all the tiles are placed or when the game is blocked is the winner, when both get the same score, the game is draw ... when a player passes, the other player continues the play, and so on ...

Hope you like it ... Andy.

missing one game option ... I would like to to play not for won games points, but for points I won during the game itself ... Ludo for example, I can win 4 :0 or 3:1 ... backgammon, I can win 15:0 or anything else just by counting my checkers out of the board ... same story with Chess Dice with 3 kings ... I would like to have an option to play let's say to 10 points, every time counting opponent's kings I removed from the game ... not only winning would be important , but the quality of winning each game in a  round would count ...

Andy.

Herlock Sholmes: we can even come closer to regular golf and create a system like below:

1. Keep all the fix scores like they are, adding of course 3 new holes (1 pair, 2 pairs, 3 of a kind) to make it 18 holes course.

2. For lower six holes (categories) make 4 of a kind (at least) a requirement to score a hole ...

3. Assigned points depending on the number of rolls used to make a hole:

2 points - for comlepting a hole in first roll

1 point - for making a hole in the second roll

0 points - for making a hole in the third roll

-1 point for the fourth try, -2 points for the fifth try ... -3 points if not made in the fifth try ... (five rolls is the maximum number)

This system changes the whole idea behind collecting points for categories ... for example: it's no longer important how high you score 4 of a kind, but if you score AT ALL, and in which roll ... it creates a new game ...

For those who do not like to fall BELOW ZERO, we may use different system to record points for holes:

1 point for the first roll, 2 points for the second roll ... down to 5 points for the fifth roll and 6 points for not making a hole in the fifth roll and also for crossing out any other hole ... of course, player with the lowest score wins the game ... this system is easy to remember since points correspond to the roll number ...

Andy.

joshi tm: no, rolls can be made in any order based on the situation on the golf course ... I think going from hole to hole in order would be too restrictive ... although more like a real golf ... bankroll idea (or unlimited rolls) is well known feature in dice games, game of FARKLE is one of them ... I played several form of Yahztee using this system ... we can try to incorporate golf feature of "being in par" when a task is accomplished in 3 rolls, if beyond, some form of negative points could be used ... thanks for your input.

Andy.

Hello, here is the new approach to play Dice Poker 6D ... something for golf lovers ... below are the rules:

1. There are 18 holes in the whole course ...

2. I introduced 3 additional categories: 1 pair, 2 pairs and 3 of a kind (nothing new, they exist in regular poker) that gives us 18 categories (holes). Below is the score table for all 18 holes:

1. Ones - a sum of all 1's
   
2. Twos - a sum of all 2's
   
3. Threes - a sum of all 3's
   
4. Fours - a sum of all 4's
   
5. Fives - a sum of all 5's
   
6. Sixes - a sum of all 6's
   
7. 1 Pair - 2 dice with the same numbers+ 4 dice with different numbers - sum of all dice (examples for 3 new categories below)
   
8. 2 Pairs - 2 dice with the same nubers + 2 dice with the same numbers(different than the first pair) + 2 different dice (different from 2 first pairs) - sum of all dice
   
9. 3 of a kind - 3 dice with the same numbers + 3 different numbers - sum of all dice
   
10. 4 of a kind (4 or more dice with the same number) - a sum of all dice
    
11. 5 of a kind (5 or more dice with the same number) - a sum of all dice
    
12. Full House (3 dice with the same number + 2 dice with the same number, and those two numbers must be different) - sum of the dice 
    
13. Full Car (2 dice with the same number + 2 dice with the same number + 2 dice with the same number, and those three numbers must be different) - sum of the dice 
    
14. Full Hotel (3 dice with the same number + 3 dice with the same number, and those two numbers must be different) - sum of the dice 
    
15. Large Straight (a straight of 5 or more dice) - 123456(21points) wins the hole over 23456(20 points) which wins the hole over 12345(15 points) 
    
16. Full Straight (a straight of all dice) - 1 point scored immediately in the hole (when other player scores  in this hole, it's a draw for this hole)
    
17. 6 of a kind (all dice with the same number) - higher 6 of a kind is the hole winner (222222 beats 111111 etc.)
    
18. Chance (any dice combination) - a sum of all dice
</ol>


Now, player that get higher score in particular hole is the winner of this hole ... who wins more holes wins the whole course and becomes champion ... when players win equal number of holes it's a draw. After players score points for a particular hole, software  replaces scores for O for the loser and 1 for the winner ... during the game it is very important to target scores already made in particular holes. WINNING THE HOLE IS THE SUB-GOAL (similar to real golf) ... fixed scores for hotel, car, full house etc are abolished and replaced by actual point scores and it adds more excitements to the game ...here are the examples of 3 new categories ...




1 pair ... 44 5631 (no numbers can repeat itself) - example of wrong sequence: 44 1354 (4 is repeated)




2 pairs ... 33 11 24 (no numbers can repeat itself) - example of wrong sequence: 33 11 35 (3 is repeated)




3 of a kind ... 444 132 (no numbers repeat itself) - example of wrong sequence: 444 564 (4 is repeated) ... 




I would rather be golfing ... how about you ?




I wonder what do you think about this Golf Poker ...?




Cheers, Andy.

Mister Big Boss, would it be possible to have a chess board for experimenting with variants ? What I have in mind is just an empty board, with all the pieces available and NO RULES for any specific game glued to it and nor rules for moving pieces ... let's say I would like to play a game with pawns on 3rd and 6th row, or a game where bishop can jump like a knight when on the 1st and 8th column ... or maybe when pawn promotes I can choose another king and milions of other variants ... all the rules would be agreed before the game starts and players can enjoy the new game ... I've never seen anything like this and it can be a very powerful field for inventors ...

This way we can all enjoy our new ideas, try it and eventually implement it ...

Cheers,

Andy.

please look at this game ... published by Sid Sackson in "Gamut of Games' ... it can be played with regular cards, chess cards and even with chess pieces ... game is called Mate, has really nothing to do with chess, beside its name and the depth ... here is the link ... I strongly recommend it, try with cards and you will discover a fantastic game. Completely open (like board games) and will satisfy even our Abigail, lol ...

http://www.chessvariants.org/cards.dir/chesscards/

Andy.

Herlock Sholmes: has been posted on my blog ... I tested this game at home. It plays nicely adding some dynamics to traditional dice chess. And, since there is a choice of pieces to move, it makes this version more intelligent.

http://mychessvariants.blogspot.com/ 

Andy.

In Burma they supposedly played a form of dice chess with 3 dice ... and players moved 3 times in a row ... I wonder if it would be possible to implement easier version with 2 dice and move twice in a row ... I would suggest for doubled numbers (1-1,2-2, 3-3 etc) to introduce free one move with any chosen piece ... ususally when we think about thwo dice version we think of choosing the number to move ... Burmese chess (modified by reducing number of dice) would be very intriguing and challenging variant. Here is the link and please scroll to the last sentence (History) where they talk about this variant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dice_chess

I was always curious why nobody plays backgammon for points ... we have 15 checkers and eventualy we get them all home, leaving opponent with some of his/her checkers in the field. Score can be anything from 15:0 to 15:14 ... game can be played to 30, 45, 60 or more points ... or if we take only net points, the goal should be lower ... 15:0 can be counted as double points giving 30 points for the winner ... doubling cube can be easily incorporated into this system of scoring ... I think it can be more exciting to play for points rather than for won game only, since every checker would count toward the final score ...

Just an idea, what do you think ?

Andy.

here is another invention of mine ... it's based on very popular dice game FARKLE of FARKEL ... there are many versions of this game. They call it the game of guts and luck ... there is one thing that make it very different ... you may roll dice as many times as you want, as long as you manage to get VALID meld every time you roll remaining dice ... let's look at the details:

Equipment: 6 dice

Examples of valid melds and points (with premiums) they bring:

Straight [1][2][3][4][5][6] = 100
Three pairs [1][1][3][3][5][5] = 18 (any three pairs will do)
Six of a kind [1][1][1][1][1][1] = 6 + 120 preminum (any six of a kind will do)
Five of a kind [4][4][4][4][4] = 20 +50 premium (any five of a kind will do)
Four of a kind [5][5][5][5] = 20 + 40 premium (any four of a kind will do)
Three of a kind [2][2][2] = 6 + 30 premium (any three of a kind will do)
Pair of sixes [6][6] = 12 (ONLY pair of 6s will do)
Six [6] = 6 (ONLY single 6 will do)
Pair of ones [1][1] = 2 (ONLY pair of 1s will do)
One [1] = 1 (ONLY single 1 will do)

Mechanism of play:

1. You start by rolling 6 dice ... examine the outcome ... IF you have any of the above VALID MELDS, you HAVE to put them aside and roll the remaining dice ... You DO NOT HAVE to put aside all the valid melds you got ... VALID MELDS that are put aside are frozen and you cannot add dice to them to increase their point value and they cannot be used in next roll ... example: you rolled 6-6-4-3-1-5 ... you may put aside 6-6, single 6 or single 1 (or combination of them)... assume you put aside 6-6 ... you re-roll remaing dice ... and you got 2-2-1-5 ... you put aside 1 as a valid meld ... roll again 3 dices ... you got 4-4-4 and put them aside (valid meld) ... so what you got so far is 6-6 1 4-4-4 = 55 points ... here is an important TURN ... since you used all 6 dices to get valid melds you HAVE to roll all of them again, but don't worry , your 55 points roll over with you to the next round ... you roll 6 dice again ... and TADA !!! you didn't get any valid melds, for example 5-4-3-3-2-2 ... you LOOSE your 55 points and the next player take his turn ...

let's say you rolled 5-5-5 1-1 4 ... you put aside 5-5-5 and re-rolled 3 dice ... and you got  2 3 5 ... again, you lost your turn since 2 3 5 are not valid melds and instead of collecting 45 points for 5-5-5 (15 +30 premium) you got nothing ... BUT WAIT, in Farkelek you may stop rolling any time you want ... and in our case you may collect 45 points for 5-5-5 and stop rolling ...

Important:

1. You stop rolling whenever you want and collect points (with the exception when you used all 6 dice for valid melds)

2. You keep rolling as long as you want, providing you are getting valid melds in each and every roll

3. In case of 1s and 6s you cannot extend your frozen melds to get a premium ... example: you put aside 6-6 for 12 points and in the next roll you got another 6-6 ... you cannot combine this two valid melds into one and get 40 points premium ... the same applies to other numbers ... when you get 4-4-4 in first roll you cannot combine with it another 4-4-4 from the next roll to get the highest premium of 120 points for 6 in a row ... your points will be in this case only  84 points (4-4-4=12+30=42 plus another 42 points for the second set of 4-4-4) ... 

4. Game of FARKELEK can be played to 1000, 2000 or more points.

5. When the first player (the one who started the game) reaches the goal of 1000 points, the other player has ONE MORE turn ... this is very important feature in the farkle family of games ...

Hope you like it ... it's a very exciting game ... therer are many, many home based rules and you may read about them on the internet:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farkle

Andy.

joshi tm: thanks for asking ... it'll be my pleasure to explain the whole (really easy) mechanism of this little game. Let's picture this:

- we have a table showing 10 rounds and accumulated points for the players (very similar to Dice Poker)

- below the table we have 4 dice ready to be rolled and 1 separated die (similar to starter card in cribbage)

Scenerio I

- you start always by rolling 4 dice ... you examine the outcome ... do you see any pairs, 15s, runs, etc ? do you want to keep this roll ? do you see any chances to extend it when you roll starter die ? you will have two numbers from the starter die when you accept your roll now... top number or bottom number will contribute to your score ? do you need 6-1, 5-2 or 3-4 on your starter ? let's say you accept your roll of 4 dice and next step is to roll your starter die... now you are ready to count the points and your turn ends ...

Scenerio II

- you didn't like your initial roll of 4 dice ... you hope to get something better ... you take 1, 2, 3 or all 4 dice and RE-ROLL them. Next you roll the starter die and begin your counting ... this time you may use only TOP of your starter die ... this is a penalty for RE-ROLLING your 4 dice ...

OK, this is really funny and fast dice game ... it teaches some cribbage principles and how to manages your luck-skill abilities ... this game is my invention originally published on polish site devoted to dice games ...

Cheers,

Andy.

AbigailII: and I totally agree with you ... I was thinking that this little dice cribbage would be much easier to implement since dice routines are well established here ... besides, dice games are the most popular at brainking and it would be a nice addition to our collection.

Cheers,

Andy.

a combination of cribbage scoring and typical dice mechanism:

Equipment: 5 dice

Game play:

there is 10 rounds and who gets more points after the 10th round is finished, is the winner. Draw is when players' score is the same. Player A (let's say white) rolls 4 dice. If the player likes what he/she sees (later about this), he/she rolls the fifth die and start counting points. If the player wants to improve what he/she sees, he/she takes one, two, three or all 4 dice and reroll them. Then he/she rolls the fifth die and start counting.

Counting:

if the player rolls his 4 dice only ones, he (as a bonus) may count pips on the fifth die EITHER on top of the die, OR at the bottom ... so, if, let's say, 5 is at the top, he may use it for counting, or he may use 2, which is exactly opposite to 5 at the bottom od die ... if he chooses to reroll his 4 dice he may use only top number of his 5th die for counting ... how to count ?

1. For each pair - 2 points

2. For the same three dice - 6 points

3. For the same four dice - 12 points

4. For all the same dice - 20 points

5. For a run (sequence) - as many points as many dice make the run (3 minimum)

6. For 15 points on any combination of dice (example follows)

Example: [6] [6] [5] [4] [1] = 12 points total for all the combinations (details below)

[4] [5] [6] = 3 points (first run or sequence )
[4] [5] [6] = 3 points (second run or sequence)

[4] [5] [6] = 2 points (first 15 points)
[4] [5] [6] = 2 points (second 15 points )

[6] [6]       = 2 points (pair of 6)

IMPORTANT: in cribbage, as you noticed, cards, or dice in our game may be counted several times
in different combinations. This is very important feature in this game.

Hope all the cribbage players and dice games fanatics will find a pleasure playing this game. Perfectly playable head to head.

Andy.

from Wikipedia:

The Battle of Grunwald (or 1st Battle of Tannenberg) took place on July 15, 1410 with king Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło) leading the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in alliance against the knights of the Teutonic Order who were led by the Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen. The engagement in the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War (1409-1411) was one of the most important battles in Medieval Europe, and the largest battle to involve

                                                                              KNIGHTS

The forces of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights were decisively defeated in the battle, but were able to defend their castles and retain most of their territories despite the long-term consequences they suffered as a result of losing the battle. The order never recovered its former power, and the financial burden of the ensuing reparations eventually caused a rebellion of cities and landed gentry.

I decided to commemorate this big event (600 years anniversary) by creating a new chess variant called Grunwald Chess ...
The rules are exactly the same as in traditional chess, with the exceptions given below:

1. Knight can move also as pawn (including double move from starting position)
2. Knight can promote as in traditional chess only when they reach 8th or 1st row as a pawn ...
3. En passant is possible as long as knight moves two fields from its starting position as a pawn ...
4. Knight is entitled to move two fields as pawn as many times as it wishes after reaching the 2nd and 7th row on its sites ...
Below is the link to my new blog about chess variants. Please visit me and "tell me what is wrong with me, lol"

http://mychessvariants.blogspot.com/

Andy.

doubling cube in Yahtzee or dice poker games ?

AbigailII: no, not only after discovering brilliant ideas ... I would occasionally trick my opponent into thinking I have a killing option  ... doubling theory in backgammon has nothing to do with excellent rolls in a row (when doubling is an obvious thing to do)

AbigailII: few positions ? many, many position in chess have undiscovered yet better plays  ... not just few ... my strategy is opposite to what you think: because I discovered a brilliant idea I WILL DOUBLE, not the other way around. You may created an open tournament for every skill level but you may also restrict weak players, right ? So where is the problem ... Bill Robertie one said (two times backgammon world champion) that an average, very good player would have zero chance with the elite players in the match to 21 points ... these players also can double after the first roll knowing that they will win in the long run ...

Would they do it ?

AbigailII: I have a feeling Abigaill that we talk about two different things ... it's like a poet trying to describe his/her world to a mechanical engineer ... I am talking about having some fun and thrill, you about some robots playing chess ... I can show you millions of chess situations where my doubling cube would make perfect sense ... have you ever studied middle games combinations ? I was studying Alekhine games and believe me, had no idea what this genius was doing until the last two or three killing moves ... If it would be my doubling game scenerio I would offer doubling cube to my opponent after discovering a brilliant combination and he would most likely accept it ... is it so hard to imagine that I would double my score ?

And those who played with him were top players, not brainking masters ... and he wouldn't offer doubling cube after the first move since he also was beaten by others. So, your argument about automaticaly doubling after the first move has no place here ...

pedestrian: it may turn out that doubling cube in chess has some hidden sense ... and this is what I think is true ... let's forget for a moment about all these Abigaill's technicalities ... there are two guys who want to play chess for some stake, and agree that they can raise the stake during the game and if the opponent refuses to accept, game ends and the money belongs to the one who offered the doubling ... could you tell me what is wrong with this scenario ?  With obvious draw situations they just draw, and not offer doubling ...

AbigailII: could you try to play the game of chess with me, and pretend we play with doubling cube ? Of course when doubling is refused by either of us, we have to quit ... want to try ?

Andy.

AbigailII: OK, here is the answer I: doubling cube is not something that I ( for example having rating 1680) am going to accept against the player with rating 2480 ... I just simply do not play with him/her if this option is specified ... but with playerhaving comparable rating I may be tempted to use it ... in case of tournaments opened for everybody, simply this option won't be available. But you may create with your 2480 a tournament restricting weaker players, and invite only these players who falls within the range of yours . And to make it more spicy, add doubling cube ...

As to question number II ... as far as I understand, two kings and two bishops is automatic draw, and ofering doubling cube is a nonsens. Of course there should be a necessity to review all the situations, but I am positive it can be worked out, and doubling cube can be used ...

Cheers, Andy.

Herlock Sholmes: let me explain my point more deeply ... there are known mistakes during opening phase of the game of chess. You can find literature on the subject. You can study. You can prepare yourself. You want to win 10 games challenge from your opponent. And the moment comes. Your opponent makes the first mistake  not being aware of it. You know that in 7 to 10 moves you will capture his/her Queen IF ONLY your opponent will add a little blunder to the game ... if he doesn't he still may recover, and despite of this you risk and double the game. You sent a signal to your opponent, hey fellow, you better start playing ... chances to recover after the fist mistake are very small and the excitement grows ... will he/she find the correct move to recover ? Chances are your opponent will accept the challenge (who resigns at the beginning ?) ... and you find yourself playing for 2 games, not one ... now, if he/she won't find the solution, you will end up with 2 win games. How about if the opponent recovers (you play with an inteligent fellow) or YOU MAKE a blunder ? game can easily by elevated to 4 games by redoubling .... doubling cube can be used in any phase of chess game, not even mention the long and complicated end games ... probably the most beatiful usage of doubling cube can be before you lanch a devastating combination attack in the middle game ... try to think about doubling cube in different games like halma, checkers, reversi or 5 in a row while playing these games ... you will be surprized how many doubling situations you will find ... try it ...

Do you see that using a doubling cube ONLY for "luck" games is a nonsens ... I gave you only a chess example, but you can use doubling privilage in any kind of game ... I think it's even more exctining in so called open games where not dice decide of the outcome of the game but our own, human blunders, sudden flash of fantastic idea etc .... and we all are part of this ups and downs of our minds ... doubling cube can be used to enhance out gaming pleasure.

Cheers ,

Andy.

rabbitoid: I do not see doubling cube in this scenario ... to be honest I would like to see doubling cube in all of our games ... not only backgammon ... I ran into many situations when I was ready to call DOUBLE ... and it doesn't matter if this is chess, dice or 6 in a  row ... if I can see far enough and can scare my opponent why not to double ? on the other hand it may wake up the opponent to start thinking more deeply ... who knows, we are only humans and what is kind of sure win in my mind, may prove to be wrong path. And I am sure everybody made this mistake thinking "I am already the winner" ... doubling cube can also speed up multigames challenges, shorten long ending games and simply give us a tool to "pokerize" our skills ... let's start thinking out of the box ...

Cheers,

AbigailII: Booooo, autoplay should be forbiden on this site ... what do you want us to be ? I enjoy moving pieces on boards even if there are no decision to make ... you forgot about a litlle tiny piece called fun ...

Cheers ...

I like to play alone ... I bet everyone knows some kind of patience or solitaire ... this category is missing on this site ... it will draw many new users and keep many of us playing when there is no available move in our regular games ... there are many solitaire games you can play on the internet today, why not to create a new category of solo games ... many of them can be played competetively ... golf, darts, bowling are just solitaire games in their nature, there is no contact with the opponent and yet you can compete in tournaments ... as a start I propose my own invention already played at Zillions of Games, named Hippodrome ... it uses chess pieces and and you goal is to remodel the initial, random setup moving 4 knighst from the bottom of the 4x4 board to the top of it in smallest number of moves ... fun, relaxing, and still challenging ... below is the link so you can see the board and the pieces ... we can easily pair up players to compete in tournament ... from this link follow to Chess Variants pages to read more.

http://www.zillions-of-games.com/cgi-bin/zilligames/submissions.cgi/95234?do=show;id=480

Cheers,

Andy.

not enough yet ? some more variants ? here we go ... called "Revolt Chess" with unequal armies ... read on:

1. White has usual array like in standard chess ...

2. Black has no Rooks, no Bishops, no Knights (they were beheaded) , only Mr. Robespierre and his Wife Chessina ... Mr. Robespierre moves like a king and Chessina like a queen ... free fields in the 8th row are populated by common soldiers (pawns) and 7th row is like in traditional chess.

3. As you can imagine, revolutionary war is going to start soon ... royal forces (white) against revolutionary crowd, lead by Mr. Robespierre and Chessina ...

4. Pawns from the 8th and 7th row can move two squares initially ... en passant is available for both rows.

5. Goal is like in chess ... check mate the opponents king or Mr. Robespierre ...

6. Black commoners can promote to another commoners or lady Chessina and they can be put anywhere on the board ...

7. Mr. Robespierre can castle on both sides ...

Cheers,

Andy.

let's use our imagination one more time, and convert the number of fields white pieces move thru into the minutes ... the idea came to me while meditating on Horde and Maharaja Chess ... in both these games there should be utilized some kind of "timer"  to make these games more balanced ... "time" is usually undestood as the number of moves and for Maharaja they proposed 25 moves since the computer can always win with less than 25 moves ... in my "Time-out Chess" instead of conting the moves we count the number of fields white pieces move during the game and we call them minutes ... read on for details:

1. All the rules of traditional chess apply, with some modification.

2.  Black queen is out f the game (her square is empty)

3. White have 100 minutes (understood as 100 fields their pieces move across the board) to check-mate black ... if by the 100th minute white fail to check-mate black, game is lost for white and black wins the game.

4. Of course white and black can win by check-mating  at any time before the game ends by time-out.

5. White has time limitation, black material limitation ... this is a type of variants with unequal armies, but still, black's lack of queen is equalized by white's time restrictions ...

6. Examples: after the first white move, clock starts ticking for them (only for white) ... white starts with 100 minutes and, let's say. after the first move e2-e4 clock resets to 98 ... after the next white's move, for example Bf1-b5, clock resets to 94 minutes ...

7. Short and long castle cost 4 and 5 minutes respectively ...

****

this type of game is a good way to learn how to manage our resources ... for black it may be a good school to learn playing defensively, for white to "watch your steps" economy ...  game is perfectly playable head-to-head ...

keep playing and inventing variants

Andy.

this is funny one ... how to make everybody happy ? how to make sure everybody gets present on the day of birth ... ? well, we were all born either on the day ONE , TWO, THREE ........ up to THIRTY FIRST day of the month ... it doesn't matter which one, we want to use BirthDay not BirthMonth ... it's so simple, read on.

1. All ther rule of traditional chess apply with a small twist.

2. Before the game starts, each player enters the day of his/her birth ... mine is 8 of March so I woud enter 8 ...

3. When my Birtday comes (same as the move number if you didn't get it so far, just kidding) I will be entitled to SECOND move of any chosen piece of mine.

4. But wait ! My opponent is a nice fellow and wants to celebrate my Birthday and GIVES away one of his/her pawn of his/her choice during the next move (normal move follows, of course) ...

5. Nobody is going to investigate what is your real Birthday, so choose at your own risk ... some may prefer having advantage early in the game, some later ...

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And now I will stop with new variants ... just wanted to make you happy walking thru this garden of imagination as chess variants realm is ...

Again, happy Holidays, and hope Fencer will like one of these variants and will give us a nice present (like it used to be, lol)

Andy.

hi, this a beginnig of the season, right ? so let me give you more fun and toys to explore ... this time we are going to use a random factor in our chess variant ... read on:

1. All the rules for traditional game apply, with (surprise !!!) a twist.

2. After the 5th move each player will be getting a number, displayed beneath his/her part of the board ranging from 1 to 8 ... these numbers will indicate the column number.

3. Players will be forced to make one of the action using this column:

- player has to move INTO this column, move OUT of this column, move WITHIN this column or ... (attention, please!!!) skip the move entirely in case no action is possible or he/she chooses so ... 

4. You can play this game using cards from Ace to 8 and draw before your move ...

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Have fun,

Andy.

for those who are not satisfied with "Drop Chess" ... Swapco is a short name for swap column ... easy electronic version, though it can also be played face to face ...it requires some dose of visual skills (well, we play chess so what's the problem, right ?) and can be very, very tricky ... rules below:

1. All the traditional rules apply with a twist ...

2. At any time after the 5th move each player has a right to swap any column with any other one ... within the same class ... odd numbered columns can be swapped only with odd numbered columns and the same rule applies to even numbered columns ...

3. Players CANNOT swap back the same columns to their original position in their next move ... it's possible later on ...

4. Swapping columns is considered as a complete move (player either makes regular move or swaps) ...

5. Swap can only be performed ONCE by each player ...

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I enjoy inventing new variants, so please forgive me, lol.

Andy.

I have something new for you for this Holiday Season ... crazy as usual, easy and mind twisting variant ...can be played face to face as well ...

1. All traditional rules apply with two novel ideas.

2. Player's pieces are not at the bottom of the screen, and they are instead AT THE TOP ... so, we have to play downward ... nothing really changes besides our position by the table ... (that's enough to get dizzy)

3. Gravitational forces are in effect and  the pawns can be dropped downward as many fields as you wish and can ... you can drop them in stages, let's say,  first drop is from row 7 to row 4 and later you may drop it to row 1... watch for the open columns since pawns can reach the last row(at the bottom of the screen, of course) very fast and promote (even faster, lol)...

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Hope you like this idea. I wish you a very Happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year.

Andy.