Sail Chess

By JohnSmithCV

sailchess.gif

Equipment

  • Rule Zero
  • 128x toothpicks
  • 64x corks and water bottle caps
  • 1x 16-sided die
  • Marker
  • Glue

Setup

sailstar.gif

0. Rule Zero
1. Mark the corks with a star as shown in the image.
2. Stick one toothpick vertically into the center of the star on the cork.
3. Glue another toothpick perpendicular to the first, 1/2 cm above the cork.
The toothpicks must be able to turn, but be snug. Optionally glue paper horizontally to toothpick.
4. Glue cork onto top of water bottle cap.
5. (Repeat for all pieces.) Place water bottle caps on Chess pieces. Optionally glue.
6. Position toothpicks aligned with Line 1 on corks, and vertically forward.

These toothpick-contraptions are sails. They should look like this:
sailchess2.gif

Rules

Same as FIDE Chess, except for sails:
Wind Change - At the start of each turn, roll the die. If the result is 1 or a multiple of 4, continue.
Wind Direction - Roll the die. Numbers correspond to those on the stars, higher numbers as negatives to marked points. If a sail is oriented to the same number as the die's absolute value, the piece moves in either the positive or negative direction according to the die.
Wind Strength - Roll the die. This is the amount of spaces the piece moves, divided by 2, minus 1. Pieces with an unequal number move in the rolled direction, but less (distance between numbers on star / 8) * squares.

At the start of each turn, move pieces in that direction and that amount. A piece pushes any pieces in its path to the next square, and those pieces respectively, unless there is a string of pieces to the edge, in which case they do not move.

Thus it gives the impression of sailing Chess pieces with ever-changing wind. This can be graduated by taking the mean of the current direction and the last one as the moving direction. Technically sails move in the direction perpendicular to their points, but it's much easier to play this way.


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