Game: Elevator Invented by Benjamin Good, implemented by L. Lynn Smith, August 2002 Elevator is a 3D chess game played upon 2x2 platforms called Elevators, in four levels of 4x4 arrays. The levels are arranged so that three Elevators and one empty space make up an Elevator Shaft. Viable Elevator platforms are denoted by the small yellow dot at their center. Vacant Elevator Shafts are denoted by the blue square at their center. Starting with the White, each player moves either a piece or an Elevator. No piece may occupy the cell of a vacant Elevator Shaft. To move an Elevator, the player must have control. Control consist of at least one occupying piece, and more pieces than the opponent. Elevators and occupants are moved up or down one level with the yellow dot. The Pawn(P) may step without capturing either one forward, left or right orthogonal. It may step two forward orthogonal from its first or second rank, provided that both cells are vacant. It captures one forward diagonal, and en passant is legal. It may promote to any previously captured piece on the second-to-last or last rank. Changes levels via Elevator. The Flying Rook(R) slides orthogonal. It cannot leap over pieces or an empty Elevator Shaft. But it can change level once, either up or down, when it encounters an empty Elevator Shaft, and continue moving with the usual restrictions. May also change levels via Elevator. The Flying Bishop(B) slides diagonal. It cannot leap over pieces or an empty Elevator Shaft. But it can change level once, either up or down, when it encounters an empty Elevator Shaft, and continue moving with the usual restrictions. May also change levels via Elevator. The Walking Knight(N) leaps two orthogonal then one perpendicular orthogonal. This leap may be over an empty Elevator Shaft. It also steps one orthogonal. Changes levels via Elevator. The Walking Camel(C) leaps three orthogonal then one perpendicular orthogonal. This leap may be over an empty Elevator Shaft. It also steps one orthogonal. Changes levels via Elevator. The Ox(O) leaps without capturing two orthogonal then one perpedicular orthogonal or two orthogonal or two diagonal. These leaps may be over an empty Elevator Shaft. It is able to capture by stepping one diagonal. It can push pieces, both friend and enemy, one or two cells orthogonal, provided the first piece is adjacent. It may push several pieces in a row. When pushing two orthogonal, a hole may be consolidated. If pieces are pushed off the board or into an empty Elevator Shaft, they are captured, whether friend or enemy. It cannot push another Ox. Changes levels via Elevator. The Vaulting Prince(I) steps one orthogonal or diagonal. It leaps without capturing three orthogonal or diagonal. This leap may be over an empty Elevator Shaft. Changes levels via Elevator. The Flying Queen(Q) combines the powers of the Flying Rook and Flying Bishop. Changes levels via Elevator. The King(K) steps one orthogonal or diagonal. Changes levels via Elevator. The game is won by checkmating the King. The game is lost by three-time repetition. Download Elevator Now!
Game: Emperor of China Created by Vincent Everaert, June 2003. Emperor of China is a Chess & Halma mixed game. Goal : move all your pieces into the opponent's starting position first and win OR capture the opponent's emperor. Moves : players take turns, moving a single piece at a time. A piece may move in one of two ways. It may shift to an adjacent position, or It may leap over an adjacent piece (of either color) to the opposite, unoccupied position. A leaping piece may continue to leap over other pieces until there are no more pieces to leap over or the player decides to stop. To stop leaping prematurely, select `Pass Move` from the menus or the toolbar. Directions of shift and leap vary for each type of piece (Rooks for instance move orthogonaly). Captures : a piece can capture any opponent's piece by shifting to an occupied adjacent position or ending a leap on an occupied position. Warnings : An Emperor cannot move backward. You should not let him leading your attack ! Emperor of China is a paradoxal game and you will have to answer to the question : How many pieces can I accept to lose ? The original game is played on a 9*9 board. Playing the 8*8 variant makes the game more like Chess. Playing the 10*10 variant makes it more like Halma. Download Emperor of China Now!
Game: En passant Chess Invented and implemented by Ingo Althofer, January 2003. The game is almost like normal chess. However, it is played on a 7x8 board instead of 8x8. This leads to many more situations with "en passant" moves. See for instance the opening line: 1. d2-d4 c6-c4 2. d4xc5 ep Two series of test games of Zillions (in "high variability" mode) versus itself were played: The first series with eight games was normal chess on the traditional 8x8 board. In all these games only one(!) "en passant" move happened. The second series also had eight games, but was played on the 7x8 board. In this series altogether nine(!) "en passant" moves were played. The main object is to give especially chess beginners the chance to understand the "en passant" rule by more frequent practicing. Download En passant Chess Now!
Game: English Shogi Pieces Created by Michael Howe, 1999. These Shogi pieces, with English lettering, were created by Michael Howe. "The pieces are simple English symbols, black for unpromoted and red for promoted...I hope that others will find this helpful in learning shogi." The Shogi variants in eShogi.zrf are the same as supplied in Zillions of Games. Updated 10/31/00 fixed board problem with Zillions 1.2.1; added option to switch to the traditional pieces. Download English Shogi Pieces Now!
Game: Eurasian Chess Game and ZRF implementation by Fergus Duniho, Copyright © 2003 Eurasian Chess began with the idea of adding a Queen to Yáng Qí, my westernized Chinese Chess variant. But when I settled on the name of Eurasian Chess, the idea took on a life of its own. I conceived of the game as a synthesis of some of the main European and Asian forms of Chess, predominantly FIDE Chess and Chinese Chess. But I also based it on Grand Chess, created by Dutch game inventor Christian Freeling, and on the other five main regional variants from Asia, which are Shogi (Japan), Janggi (Korea), Makruk (Thailand), Sittuyin (Burma), and Shatar (Mongolia). Eurasian Chess includes all the pieces from Chess, except that it gives the King some properties of its counterpart in Chinese Chess. It includes the Cannon from Chinese Chess, and it includes the Vao, which Englishman T. R. Dawson created as the diagonal counterpart to the Cannon, which is to the Cannon as the Bishop is to the Rook. Although it contains fewer pieces from Chinese Chess than from Chess, it is still a fair balance between European and Asian variants, given that some of the other main regional variants in Asia are more like European Chess. In fact, of all the pieces in Eurasian Chess, the Queen is the only piece that is common to European variants but not found in any of the main Asian regional variants. Half of the pieces in Eurasian Chess are Chaturanga pieces shared by both FIDE Chess and between three and six of the six main regional variants in Asia. The eight-directional leaping Knight and the divergent Pawn are used in three Asian variants, the eight-directional King in five Asian variants, and the Rook in all six main Asian variants. The additional pieces are the Queen, which comes from Europe; the Cannon, which comes from China; the Bishop, which was created in both Europe and Japan; and the Vao, which is of mixed heritage, because it was created by a European who based it on the Chinese Cannon. A full description of this game can be found at: http://www.chessvariants.com/large.dir/eurasian.html The artwork for the game combines characteristics of both European and Chinese sets. The board is checkered like a European board, but by using a floor tile technique, it has tiles intersecting in the middle of each space, so that pieces are also placed on points, as they are in Chinese Chess. The piece set displayed here uses disks for pieces, as is done in China, but uses western images. The western images are colored black and white, as European pieces normally are, but the disks are colored blue and red, which are commonly used for pieces in Chinese Chess. Besides the set shown here, the ZRF uses piece sets I have previously included with Yáng Qí and Chinese Chess. For more games by Fergus Duniho, goto http://www.duniho.com/fergus/games Download Eurasian Chess Now!
Game: Evasive Chess Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, July 2001 Object: Checkmate the opponent's King. In addition to the standard chess moves, each chess piece (apart from the king) has the following moves: If the piece faces an enemy piece directly ahead, then it may move diagonally forward any number of empty squares. Pawns may also promote during such a move if the move is to the eighth rank. Note that this makes the Pawns more powerfull. In Variant 2 only the Pawns have these additional moves. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my homepage http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Evasive Chess Now!
Game: Evolution Chess Invented and implemented by Harvey Patterson, April 2002 All the normal rules of chess apply except for the possibility of evolution through promotion capturing. Pieces are seen as a combination of their abilities: the ability to move like a Knight, Bishop or Rook. Whenever a piece, not a pawn, other than the King captures another piece it adds any additional powers that piece had into its DNA and promotes to a hybrid piece. For example: a Rook that captures a Bishop gains the ability to move diagonally and evolves into a Queen. Simple pieces are the Knight, Bishop and Rook, compound pieces are the Cardinal [Bishop+Knight], Marshall [Rook+Knight], Queen [Rook+Bishop] and Amazon [Rook+Bishop+Knight]. Since the Amazon possesses all three powers, any piece that captures an Amazon becomes an Amazon. All other captures that cause evolution are listed below. Knight + Bishop/Cardinal = Cardinal Knight + Rook/Marshall = Marshall Knight + Queen = Amazon Bishop + Knight/Cardinal = Cardinal Bishop + Rook/Queen = Queen Bishop + Marshall = Amazon Rook + Knight/Marshall = Marshall Rook + Bishop/Queen = Queen Rook + Cardinal = Amazon Cardinal + Rook/Marshall/Queen = Amazon Marshall + Bishop/Cardinal/Queen = Amazon Queen + Knight/Cardinal/Marshall = Amazon Pawns are seen as underdeveloped species which can adapt or evolve through promotion into any of the simple pieces: Knight, Bishop or Rook. Hybridization can only be achieved through promotion capturing, there are no shortcuts in evolution. This game is young and may see minor changes in the future. Updated 07/19/03 promotion bug fix Download Evolution Chess Now!
Game: Exchequer Invented by Richard C William Hewson, April 1998 Implemented by L. Lynn Smith, August 2001. This is a 3D Chess variant played within a 4x4x4 field. The Pawn moves and captures one step orthogonally toward the far corner of its level. This corner is denoted by the color of the opponent. Any Pawn which lands upon one of these corners promotes to the Queen. Pawns do not change levels. The Knight steps triagonally within the field. The Bishop slides diagonally. The Rook slides orthogonally. The Queen slides either diagonally or orthogonally. The King steps one space orthogonally. There are no en passant or castling rules. Exchequer, © copyright #468892, April 23, 1998. Author, Richard C William Hewson, London Ontario Canada Visit his website at: http://www.3dchess.ca Updated 08/11/01 corrected implementation. Download Exchequer Now!
Game: Extended Half-Chess Invented by Bryan Lambert, 1999, implemented by Uwe Wiedemann, November 2001 In the game of extended half-chess, all rules of the usual chess game apply. The two-step pawn move is allowable for any pawn, and en passent is allowed. However, castling is impossible. This game is the follow-up to Lambert's game Courtyard. Download Extended Half-Chess Now!
Game: EZHexChess Invented and implemented by Bob Henderson, January 2002 Exclusively for Zillions, EZHexChess is a chess variant on a hexagonal board of 61 hexes. Fewer different pieces and fewer directions of movement help to make this variant easier to learn and to play than most of the HexChess variants available for Zillions. Thanks to J. Mark Thompson for the graphics borrowed from Glinski-HexChess and to Peter Winkler for encouraging me to recreate this game for Zillions nearly 40 years after he last saw it! Download EZHexChess Now!
Game: FairyBigChess Invented and implemented by Uwe Kreuzer, November 2002 Object: Checkmate the opponent's King by attacking it so it cannot escape. To see a description of how a piece moves right-click on it to bring up its properties dialog. Download FairyBigChess Now!
Game: Family Matters Invented and implemented by Tomas Forsman, May 2002 Object: Kill the other players family line by either taking all Princes and Princesses or by capuring the King. To see a description of how a piece moves right-click on it to bring up its properties dialog. In 'Family Matters' king of the kingdom is dying. He has no heirs and will on his deathbed give his crown to one of heads of the two possible royal families. Since he has no heirs he wants the next king to have one since the country is weakened by frequent change of royal family. Now both possible kings want to either keep the King away from the deathbed, by capturing him, or make it look like he has no heirs by kidnapping all of them. Two version are included: a regular one that has a board of 160 squares and a small one of 41 squares. For an extensive description on the web see the Chess Variants page. Download Family Matters Now!
Game: Fastpawn Chess Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, January 2001 Object: Checkmate or capture the opponent's King. Pawns are allowed to move twice. Click the lightning bolt to pass the partial move. Apart from this, all standard chess rules apply. Variant 2 allows the Pawns to move three times. For more freeware as well as real puzzles and games see my home page http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Fastpawn Chess Now!
Game: Fischer Random Chess Invented by Bobby Fischer, 1996. Implemented by Pierre Tourigny, August 1999. Fischer Random Chess is played on a regular chess board with regular pieces and regular rules. The difference with regular chess is in the setup: The opening setup for Pawns is the same as in normal Chess. The opening setup for the officers on the first and last rows is chosen randomly while satisfying the following conditions: The King must be placed somewhere between the Rooks. The two Bishops must start on squares of different colors. The Black setup mirrors the White setup, i.e. pieces on the same file are of the same type. White castles in the following way (the Black procedure is equivalent). When castling left (O-O-O) , the King moves to c1 and the Rook moves to d1. When castling right (O-O) the King moves to g1 and the Rook moves to f1. Download Fischer Random Chess Now!
Game: 5D Chess Created by W. D. Troyka, January 2001 5D Chess is played on a 4x2x2x2x2 board. The rules of regular chess apply, subject to the following: Each 2x4 board is connected to its three neighbors (above or below, 4-east or 4-west, 5-up or 5-down) such that each space in the board is orthogonally adjacent to its counterparts in the neighboring boards. Diagonal and knight motion take place in any plane defined by two of the board's five axes. The King does not move diagonally. Pawns move one orthogonal step in the direction of the opponent's King row (up, 4-east, 5-up for White), capture as they move (i.e., no diagonal captures), and promote on the opponent's King row. No castling, en passant, or two-step Pawn moves, and stalemate is a loss. In the variant, Pawns can capture enemy Pawns along any diagonal. As with 3D Chess and 4D Chess (both recently updated), 5D Chess is designed to be a translation of regular chess into a higher dimension with minimal rule changes. Download 5D Chess Now!
Game: Football Chess Invented and implemented by Dan Weimer, April 2001 Football chess plays like standard western chess with a few features of American Football. The pieces move the same, but each King starts with a football. The football is the "royal" piece, not the King itself. There are two ways to win, score a touchdown by advancing your ball to the eighth rank, or checkmate ("tackle", if you will) the opponent's ballcarrier. The ball can be carried or passed. Variants are included that make the game more like football, with only one ball on the field, rather than two, thereby creating an offensive and defensive team. Comments are welcome at danweimer@yahoo.com. Download Football Chess Now!
Game: Football Chess Invented by Joseph Boyer, 1951. Implemented by Uwe Wiedemann, June 2001 The game is played on a board of 9 by 9 squares, checkered, with black squares in the corners. Each player has a king, a queen, two rooks, two knights, and two bishops, i.e., the usual set of pieces without pawns. There is an additional piece, not owned by any player: the ball. The object of the game is to kick to ball to the goal at the opponents side of the board. The squares e1 and e9 are the goals. A move of a player consists of two parts: he first makes a normal move with one of his pieces. No captures are made, and check is disregarded. No piece may move to a goal, i.e., to e1 or e9. But rooks and queens may move across it, e.g. from d1 to f1. After its move, the player must, if he can, kick the ball. A piece can kick the ball if the ball is adjacent to it, i.e., a kings move away. The ball moves in the same way as the piece that kicks the ball, and the ball must be moved directly away from the piece. Also, the ball cannot be moved to or over occupied squares (except when a knight kicks the ball). For instance, a rook on a3 can kick a ball on a4 to squares a5, a6, a7, a8, a9, as long as the ball isn't moved to an occupied square; but a rook on a3 cannot kick a ball on b4. A knight can kick the ball to any square, a knight-move away from the square where the ball was before the kick, but not to a square, adjacent to the knight. It is not allowed to kick the ball into or across the goal from a square on the 1st or 9th row. When the ball is kicked to a square adjacent to another piece of the same player, the player may (but haven't) make another kick. If after a second kick, a third kick is possible, the player may also make this third kick, and similar for successive kicks. To pass additional kicks please use the pass symbol or the pass command in the play menu. In the original football chess an infinite number of passes, in order to draw the game, is not allowed. Here this rule is implemented by the rule that repetition with the same player on the play is a loss. Download Football Chess Now!
Game: Forchess Invented by Tom K. Rogers, circa 1975, implemented by Robert Price, October 2001. 4 Players 2 Variants Forchess is a battle between two teams of two players (Red-White vs. Blue-Black) that takes place on an ordinary 8x8 chessboard. If you capture an enemy King, that opponent is out of the game and all his remaining pieces come under your control. The shortage of empty squares in the opening setup means that the action begins immediately. The variant is Cutthroat Forchess. In this game, it's every King for himself as he struggles against three opponents for ultimate domination. Download Forchess Now!
Game: Fortress Chess Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, May 2000 Object: Checkmate the opponent's King. All standard chess rules apply. In Fortress Chess the starting positions, of which there are 20 variants, have no pieces on the a-file and h-file. The rooks are on b1, g1, b8, g8. In castling the kings and rooks end up on the same places as in standard chess. The idea behind Fortress Chess is to give the kings no safe corner to hide and by that make the game more aggressive. More freeware as well as real puzzles and games under http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz. Download Fortress Chess Now!
Game: Fortresses Invented by L. Legan in 1913. Implemented by Roger Cooper, May 2002 This chess variant differs from the standard game only in the shape of the board and the move the pawn. The pawn may leap over a piece of either color directly in front of it into a vacant square beyond. Fortresses is described in Pritchard's Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Download Fortresses Now!
