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This page is written by the game's inventor, M Winther.

External Link: Gastrophete Chess

The Gastrophete slides maximally two steps in any direction, but it cannot capture in this way. Instead the Gastrophete, when it moves, has the power to sling a piece located immediately behind itself to a forward square in the alignment direction. The slung piece, which can be of any colour, is the adjacent piece in the opposite direction of the move. This piece is hurled to the square immediately forward of the square on which the Gastrophete stops. Any enemy piece positioned here is captured. Thus the Gastrophete can be used for transporting friendly pieces, attacking enemy pieces, or removing enemy pieces from good positions. The Gastrophete's value is the same as a knight (preliminary estimate).

Gastrophete : an ancient torsion catapult for shooting missiles. The first gastrophete (bellybow) required the shooter to put his bodyweight on top with his belly to push it down (gastro = belly). It later became a stable firing platform.


More information and a Zillions implementation is here.


External Link: http://www.two-paths.com/bg/gastrophete.htm

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By M Winther.
Web page created: 2007-02-26. Web page last updated: 2007-02-26