Alapo

This game was invented by Johannes Tranelis in 1982. It was mentioned in a German book Spiele für Zwei (Games for Two), and later in Pritchard's Encyclopedia of Chess Variants.

Rules

The game is played on a 6 by 6 board. Pieces are elementary geometric shapes: large and small squares, circles and triangles. The opening setup is as follows:

White:
Large square a1, f1; Large triangle b1, e1; Large circle c1, d1; Small square a2, f2; Small triangle b2, e2; Small circle c2, d2.

Black:
Large square a6, f6; Large triangle b6, e6; Large circle c6, d6; Small square a5, f5; Small triangle b5, e5; Small circle c5, d5.

Large squares move like rooks in chess. Small squares move one square in horizontal or vertical direction.

Large triangles move like bishops in chess. Small triangles move one square diagonally.

Large circles move like queens in chess. Small circles move like kings (but without being affected by check(\).

So, in all cases, the small pieces can move in the same directions as the large pieces, but only one square. Pieces take as they move.

Object of the game

The first player that moves a piece to a square at the last row (i.e., the sixth row for white, and the first row for black), such that it is not directly captured wins the game.