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Banzai Chess. Friendly pieces can be pushed and pushed pieces can bounce. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
🔔Notification on Sun, Apr 21 01:13 PM EDT:

The author, Vincenzo Rapisardi, has updated this page.


💡📝Vincenzo Rapisardi wrote on Sat, May 4 09:32 AM EDT:

I think it's ready to be published.


Bob Greenwade wrote on Sat, May 4 10:49 AM EDT:Excellent ★★★★★

It would be an interesting challenge for someone to make an Interactive Diagram for this variant.

Pushing does appear in other games, of course (a couple of pieces in my own Zwangkrieg do it), but I don't think I've ever seen the idea applied as uniformly as this, nor explained as neatly, clearly, and elegantly. It makes me wish that there was a simple code one could add into XBetza for doing it.


H. G. Muller wrote on Sat, May 4 01:10 PM EDT in reply to Bob Greenwade from 10:49 AM:

It would be an interesting challenge for someone to make an Interactive Diagram for this variant.

It is not the pushing that makes that difficult, but the rule that Pawns have a double-step from the first rank. (That they regain the possibility when returning to 2nd rank can be indicated by making it an ii move.) I suppose it could be done through a morph for the Pawn that forbids access to the enemy half, but then exempt the fmW and fceF moves from that, so that only the fmnD move suffers.

The pushing is not too complex: hop on a piece (d), land on the empty square immediately after (af or yaf), and then step backward for friendly capture with unload (i.e. swap, abud). The bounce rule is implemented (on diagonal moves only) by landing off-board after the hop, returning backward for a second hop, this time hopping off sideways, and swap from there (pyafoabpasabudB).


💡📝Vincenzo Rapisardi wrote on Wed, May 8 12:33 PM EDT in reply to Bob Greenwade from Sat May 4 10:49 AM:

Thanks for your comment! I'm glad someone else enjoys this variant.

If you're into even more complex games like the one you created, which seems pretty crazy to me, I suggest trying the sub-variant of Banzai. I haven't settled on a name for it yet (that's why there's no page about it at the moment).

Basically, everything remains the same, but you can push multiple pieces with a single move instead of just one. You'll be amazed at how this single change not only increases the complexity but also enhances the enjoyability of the game.

I was thinking of calling it Zero Gravity Chess, abbreviated as 0G, but I'm still not sure about the name. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!


Bob Greenwade wrote on Wed, May 8 05:57 PM EDT in reply to Vincenzo Rapisardi from 12:33 PM:

Basically, everything remains the same, but you can push multiple pieces with a single move instead of just one. You'll be amazed at how this single change not only increases the complexity but also enhances the enjoyability of the game.

I was thinking of calling it Zero Gravity Chess, abbreviated as 0G, but I'm still not sure about the name. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

That's actually a feature (at least, very similar) I wanted to give the Barbell for my Clue variant. I felt like the XBetza would've been prohibitively complex — not that XBetza has any bearing on a game with up to eight players, of course, but I'd want to have the piece available to other games.

BTW, in case anyone cares enough to wonder, I decided on the Axe for the eighth weapon in Clue Chess.


Bob Greenwade wrote on Wed, May 8 08:40 PM EDT in reply to Vincenzo Rapisardi from 12:33 PM:

I was thinking of calling it Zero Gravity Chess, abbreviated as 0G, but I'm still not sure about the name. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Zero Gravity Chess does seem to me like a good name for a 3D version of this. My ideas for this:

  • Archimedes Chess
  • Sliding Puzzle Chess
  • Pushover Chess

💡📝Vincenzo Rapisardi wrote on Thu, May 9 09:11 AM EDT in reply to Bob Greenwade from Wed May 8 08:40 PM:

Thanks for your suggestions!

I really like Archimedes Chess but unfortunately there is already a variant called like that. Which seems to be the case with almost any name I can come up with...

Maybe I'll just call it banzai 2.0, banzai unbound or something else along these lines.


Bob Greenwade wrote on Thu, May 9 10:57 AM EDT in reply to Vincenzo Rapisardi from 09:11 AM:

Perhaps Archimedean Banzai, or Domino Banzai?


💡📝Vincenzo Rapisardi wrote on Fri, May 10 11:19 AM EDT in reply to Bob Greenwade from Thu May 9 10:57 AM:

I had already thought about Domino Chess and I do like Domino Banzai. What do you think about Hyper Banzai or Accelerated Banzai?


Bob Greenwade wrote on Fri, May 10 11:54 AM EDT in reply to Vincenzo Rapisardi from 11:19 AM:

Hyper Banzai is a fairly decent descriptor. Accelerated suggests something different.


💡📝Vincenzo Rapisardi wrote on Fri, May 10 01:52 PM EDT in reply to Bob Greenwade from 11:54 AM:

Thanks! I think I will stick to Hyper Banzai for the moment. Do you think is it okay to not explain again the rules (since they are already described here) and just link this page? Because in this way I can simply tell where is the main difference and then show it with only few images. Like this


Bob Greenwade wrote on Fri, May 10 04:00 PM EDT in reply to Vincenzo Rapisardi from 01:52 PM:

I think it would be better to cut-and-paste the rules. If the differences are so slight, it probably would be better to just make this a subvariant on this page.


💡📝Vincenzo Rapisardi wrote on Fri, May 10 04:56 PM EDT in reply to Bob Greenwade from 04:00 PM:

You are correct. I can describe it here, but unfortunately I can't put any more pictures on this page. That's why I'm probably going to describe the rules, just more briefly, on the other page. Thanks, again, for your wise suggestions!


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