Martian Chess
Martian Chess | ||
---|---|---|
Andrew Looney | ||
Colorless simplified chess nevertheless has subtle strategy | ||
Players: | 2 - 4 | |
Length: | Medium | |
Complexity: | Low | |
Trios per color: | 3 | |
Number of colors: | 1 per player | |
- - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - - | ||
Chessboard | ||
Setup time: | 1 minute | |
Playing time: | 5 minutes - 30 minutes | |
Strategy depth: | High | |
Random chance: | None | |
Game mechanics: | Colorless, Positional | |
Theme: | chess | |
BGG Link: | Martian Chess | |
Status: Complete (v1.0), Year released: 1995 | ||
Can be played with 2-6 players with user designed print-and-play chessboard wedges. |
Andy believes Martian Chess is the second oldest game for the pyramids, and the first created after the eponymous Icehouse. The earliest dated version of the rules are from 29 January 1995.
Martian Chess plays similarly to Earthling Chess, using similar mechanics such as:
- moving and capturing individual pieces
- turn-based
- played on an chessboard
- distinct pieces have distinct movement rules
However, Martian Chess uses some different features than Chess:
- control of pieces is determined by location rather than color,
- the victory conditions are based on captured points instead of capturing a certain piece,
- a player can force the end of the game, and still win based on points,
- is playable with more than two players.
For seasoned chess players, Martian Chess has subtle paradigm shifts that offer convention-challenging lessons (though not to the same extent as Icehouse itself).
The game requires three trios per player, in any colors.
Links[edit | edit source]
- Official rules online at Wunderland
- Sample game on YouTube
- Play with 3, 5 or 6 players using chessboard wedges.
- Martian Chess could be played online at Super Duper Games.
- A Java applet with AI is still hosted at SuperMaze.com, despite the EOL of Java applets on the web. If you have Java installed locally, you can try downloading mc.jar and running it.
- Martian Chess was available as a free iPhone app which had AI and multi-human support.
Featured in Playing with Pyramids |
---|
Gnostica · Martian Chess · RAMbots · Pikemen |
Volcano · Zagami · Zendo · Martian Backgammon |
IceTowers · Icehouse · Thin Ice · Homeworlds |
Featured in ICE-7 |
---|
Zendo · IceTowers · Volcano · Homeworlds |
Martian Chess · Icehouse · Tic Tac Doh! |
Featured in 3HOUSE |
---|
Black ICE |
Martian Chess |
Binary Homeworlds |
Featured in Pyramid Primer |
---|
IceDice · Treehouse · Pharaoh · Pikemen |
Launchpad 23 · Black ICE · Zark City · Caldera |
Martian Chess · Martian Coasters · World War 5 |
IceTowers · Homeworlds |
Featured in Pyramid Arcade |
---|
Black ICE · Color Wheel · Give or Take · Hijinks |
Homeworlds · Ice Dice · Ice Towers · Launchpad 23 |
Looney Ludo · Lunar Invaders · Martian Chess · Petal Battle |
Petri Dish · Pharaoh · Powerhouse · Pyramid-Sham-Bo |
Treehouse · Twin Win · Verticality · Volcano |
World War 5 · Zark City |