Rule 1230/2
Party Chess Rule Suite
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
[This is the head of the Party Chess Rule Suite. Party Chess is a multi-player chess variant played on a 20x20 board with drop-style setup, which is open to arbitrary piece creation.]
[The rules for Party Chess, and the definition of the pieces, can be found by following this link]
The ChessUmpire is the Custodian of the Party Chess Rule Suite (the 1230.Y rules).
Rule 1230.1/21
Swingers Play Around I - the board and the playing pieces
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
The game of Party Chess is an unownable entity.
1. The Party Board
There exists a checkered board, divided into 20 by 20 squares, which resides in Party Hall. It is called the Party Board. The Party Board is an unownable entity used for the sole purpose of playing a game called Party Chess. Each column has a letter assigned to it, from a-t beginning with the leftmost column. Each row has an integer assigned to it, from 1-20. When viewed on a screen, the lowest row is 1, the highest is 20, and consecutive rows are marked with consecutive integers.
Each square on the Party Board has coordinates made up of a letter, which corresponds to the column the square is part of, and an integer, which corresponds to the row the square is part of. The letter precedes the integer.
Food or drink may not be placed on the Party Board.
2. Party Chess Pieces
A. Each Swinger controls a set of Party Chess Pieces. The pieces are owned by that Swinger's Swingership. Whenever the rules refer to pieces as being owned by, or property of, a Swinger, the implied meaning is that they are property of the corresponding Swingership. Playing PartyChess is the raison d'etre of a Swingership.
B. A Swinger may acquire a piece by capturing it from an opponent or creating a new piece, at a cost. Both these processes are described in greater detail below.
C. "On-board" pieces are pieces which are currently on the Party Board. "Off-board" pieces are pieces which are currently off the Party Board.
D. A player or Organization may create a new Party Chess Piece of any existing type for a Swinger. When this is done, the player or Organization pays the piece cost to the Treasury, and the new piece is created, off-board, in the possession of the specified Swinger. A new piece costs A$1, plus A$7 times the material value of the piece. A King may not be purchased in this way.
Party Chess Pieces may not be created in this manner if the Swinger who would gain possession of the new piece already owns 15 or more Party Chess Pieces.
E. A Swinger may destroy a Party Chess Piece in eir possession, receiving a number of A$ equal to the Material Value of the Piece as compensation.
F. In this Rule Suite, the word 'piece' means Party Chess Piece, unless otherwise specified.
3. PartyChessPieceDef rules
A. A rule is a PartyChessPieceDef rule if and only if it meets the following criteria:
(i) It defines exactly one type of piece that can be created and used in the game of Party Chess.
(ii) It is a member of the Party Chess Rule Suite.
(iii) It unambiguously defines the legal moves that the piece may make. That is, it defines to which empty squares on the board the piece may move.
(iv) It defines a material value for the piece.
(v) It defines a non-space ASCII character to represent the piece, and this character is different from those that represent all the other types of pieces. For the purpose of this rule, a lower case Latin letter is considered identical to its corresponding upper case Latin letter. If two or more different rules, each of which meets the other four criteria, all claim the same ASCII character, only the rule among them with the lowest number is a PartyChessPieceDef rule.
This rule takes precedence over all PartyChessPieceDef rules.
B. Unless otherwise stipulated by the relevant PartyChessPieceDef rule, the legal moves for each piece are defined relative to that piece's current position on the board, and may depend on the positions of other pieces on the board.
C. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may define conditions under which a piece is promoted. If no such conditions are defined for a given piece, that piece does not promote. When a piece is promoted, it changes itself into a piece of a different type.
D. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may define conditions under which a piece may skip over other pieces during its movement. If it does not, the piece cannot move in ways that would require it to skip over other pieces.
E. Should it ever be found that an on-board piece exists that is not defined by any PartyChessPieceDef rule, that piece is immediately moved off-board. It does not change ownership. [This can happen when a rule is repealed or amended in such a way that it becomes ambiguous.]
F. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may define conditions under which the position on the Party Board of a piece it defines enhances or restricts the moves or captures available to other pieces. PartyChessPieceDef rules defer to such enhancements or restrictions.
G. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may define an instance limit for that type of piece. If it does not, there is no instance limit for that piece. Instance limits are always enforced on a per Swinger basis. If such a limit is defined, a Swinger may not control more pieces than the limit; if it is ever found that e possesses pieces in excess of the specified limit, all excess pieces are destroyed until this situation is corrected, starting with off-board pieces. If random determination is required to perform this destruction, the Chess-Umpire shall handle it.
H. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may define an event that happens upon the capture or removal of a piece of that type.
I. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may define an event that occurs upon the placement of a piece of that type.
J. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may contain additional fees that must be paid, or procedures that must be undertaken before a Swinger may purchase a piece of that type.
K. A PartyChessPieceDef rule may contain a special move a piece may perform which may or may not have other special requirements
4. Capturing
This rule defers to PartyChessPieceDef rules on the matter of how pieces can capture opposing pieces. [Other rules may define other ways for pieces to capture, and may define that this variety of capture is not available to certain pieces.]
Party Chess Piece (1) can capture an opposing piece (2) if (2) occupies a square on the board to which (1) could otherwise legally move. When the Swinger that owns (1) performs a capture in this way, (1) is moved to the square occupied by (2), and (2) is removed from the board.
Whenever a Swinger uses one of his or her pieces to capture an opposing piece, the captured piece is added to the capturing Swinger's collection of off-board pieces.
It is forbidden for a piece to capture a friendly piece.
5. Piece movement
There are eight directions in which pieces may move.
A. Horizontal: A movement from one square to another one in the same row. There are two horizontal directions.
B. Vertical: A movement from one square to another in the same column. There are two vertical directions.
C. Diagonal: A movement from one square to another such that the number of rows moved is the same as the number of columns moved. There are four diagonal directions.
6. Definitions
A. In the context of a Party Chess piece, the capital letters R and C represent the row and column, respectively, of the square that that piece occupies.
B. The symbols DestR and DestC represent the the row and column of a destination square.
C. The symbol SQn, where n is a positive integer, specifies the square n squares distant from a piece's current square in a given direction. Which such symbols are meaningful depends on the piece's current position on the board.
D. The symbol dR represents the absolute value of DestR-R.
E. The symbol dC represents the absolute value of DestC-C, where the difference is computed as the difference of the ASCII codes corresponding to DestC and C.
F. The distance between two squares is defined as the distance between the two rows (abs(R2-R1)), or the distance between the two columns (abs(C2-C1)), whichever is greater.
G. The symbols /AND/, /OR/, /XOR/, and /NOT/, in this and all other rules governing Party Chess, represent the logical operators AND, OR, XOR, and NOT, respectively.
7. Party Chess Pieces are ownable entities.
8. Defensive Positions
An on-board piece is in a Defensive Position if the distance between that piece and a friendly King is equal to or smaller than 4.
Rule 1230.2/49
Swingers Like to Play Around II - Let's play
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
1. Office of the Chess-Umpire
A. The optional functional office of Chess-Umpire exists. If, at any time, there is no player performing the duties of Chess-Umpire, the game of Party Chess is suspended (or not started), and all other players who would have duties with regard to Party Chess are absolved of those duties. This clause takes precedence over all rules dealing with Swingers and Party Chess.
B. Any active player is eligible for the office of Chess-Umpire.
C. The Chess-Umpire has the following Duties:
(i) Maintaining and updating the Party Board
(ii) Checking for the legality of the plays
(iii) To notify each Swinger by private e-mail whenever it becomes his turn to move.
(iv) To alert a Swinger by public e-mail whenever he is placed in check.
(v) Calculating and posting the Swingers' Weights after each play.
(vi) Maintaining a list of game history - all the plays made, Pieces purchased and owned
(vii) The Chess-Umpire will make this information publically available. If possible, the information will be maintained on a web-page as well.
(viii) Maintaining the Swinger Play List.
2. Managing the Game
A. At the beginning of the game of Party Chess there are no Party Chess Pieces on the Party Board.
B. Each Swingership receives one King, and five playing pieces. Each Swinger may choose any five pieces which are defined by a PartyChessPieceDef rule, as long as their total material value does not exceed 30. These pieces are created in the possession of the appropriate Swingers, free of charge. Initially all pieces are off-board.
C. When a new Swingership is created, it receives one King and five other PartyChessPieces, as described in 2.B.
3. Determining the Playing Order
A. The Chess-Umpire maintains a list called the Swinger Play List. Initially the NAP Swinger is at the top of the list. The names of the other Swingers (including non-active players) follow in a random order determined at the beginning of the PartyChess game by the Chess-Umpire.
B. The Swinger whose name is at the top of the list is the Swinger whose turn it is to play. When the turn is over, the top name is moved to the bottom of the list.
C. When a single Swinger is checked, eir name is immediately moved to the top of the list.
D. When two or more Swingers are checked simultaneously, their names are moved up in the list in such a way that each checked Swinger's name appears above all the non-checked Swingers' names, but the order of the checked Swingers' names relative to one another is unchanged. (That is, if Swinger A appears above Swinger B in the list, and then A and B are checked, then Swinger A and Swinger B will both move up toward the top of the list, but Swinger A will still appear above Swinger B.)
E. When a Swingership is destroyed, it, and the name of the last Swinger to occupy it, are removed from the Swinger Play List.
F. When an Swingership is created, it is placed at the bottom of the Swinger Play List.
4. Turns
A turn will last until a play is made, either by the Swinger announcing the play publicly, or by default when the time limit expires, or automatically. The time limit for a given turn expires three days after the Chess-Umpire announces the current state of the game, with the exceptions outlined below.
When the time limit expires on a Swinger's turn, that Swinger makes a default play. If it would have been legal for the Swinger to Pass, e Passes. Otherwise, e Surrenders.
A. The Chess-Umpire has the Privilege of being able to extend the time limit, up to a maximum of seven days after the announcement of the game state.
B. Warmth
(i) If a Swingership is Warm, and the Swinger is not checked, then:
(a) If the Swingership has no on-board pieces, or the previous move made by that office was not a Pass, then that Swingership automatically Passes when its turn begins, otherwise
(b) That Swingership automatically Surrenders when its turn begins.
(ii) If a Warm Swingership is checked, then that turn is not played automatically. If a Warm Party Swingership is checked, the Chess-Umpire has the Duty of notifying all player members of that Party of the check situation, including members who are vacationing.
(iii) When there are 7 or more Swingers with on-board pieces, the turn of any Swinger who has no on-board pieces is skipped entirely.
(iv) It is permissible for a Party or a Swinger with a Warm Swingership to notify the Chess-Umpire of a Surrender at any time by sending a public message to that effect. The Surrender takes effect immediately. This section of this rule takes precedence over all other sections of this rule.
If a Party Swinger's last three moves have all been default plays, then their Swingership goes Somewhere Else.
5. Definitions
A piece (1) is an opposing piece or opponent's piece with respect to piece (2) if it is controlled by a different Swinger than (2) is, regardless of any agreements, contracts, or treaties made between the various Swingers.
A piece (1) is friendly with respect to piece (2) if pieces (1) and (2) are controlled by the same Swinger.
A piece (1) is attacking opposing piece (2) if and only if they are located on the board such that if it were (1)'s Swinger's turn to move, he could capture piece (2) with piece (1).
A piece (1) is defending friendly piece (2) if and only if they are located on the board such that (1) would be attacking (2) if (2) were an opposing piece.
6. Playing the game
For the purposes of this section of this Rule, a piece is a Party Chess Piece whose material value is greater than or equal to two.
On eir turn a Swinger may make a play composed of one or more of the Atomic Plays defined in this section. All Atomic Plays that make up the same Play must be in the same message, in the order in which they are made. The Play is made as a Public Action.
A Swinger whose Weight equals 0 and has four or fewer on-board pieces may make a Play composed of one Move followed by one Placement, or any other single Atomic Play.
A Swinger whose Weight equals 0 and more than four on-board pieces may a Play composed of any single Atomic Play.
A Swinger whose Weight is non-zero and less than 50, and has four or fewer on-board pieces may make a Play composed of k Moves followed by a single Placement, or one Move followed by k Placements, or any other single Atomic Play, where k is equal to one or two.
A Swinger whose Weight is greater than 100, or has more than 9 on-board pieces, may make any single Atomic Play.
Any other Swinger may make a Play composed of one Move, followed by one Placement, or any other single Atomic Play. If a swinger attempts a play of one or more placements followed by one or more moves and the state of the board if such a play were legal would be exactly the same as if the swinger had attempted the same move(s) followed by the same placement(s) then the move attempted shall be considered to be the move(s) followed by the placement(s).
The following are the legal Atomic Plays:
A. Move - The Swinger moves an on-board piece e controls from the square it is on to either (a) an unoccupied square according to the applicable rules, or (b) an off-board position provided such a move is legal according to rule 1240.9
B. Capture - The Swinger uses one of his pieces to perform a capture according to the applicable rules.
C. Placement - The Swinger places one of eir off-board pieces on an unoccupied square on the board. The Swinger may not place the piece in such a position that it attacks one or more opposing pieces, unless either
(a) it is impossible to place the piece without it attacking at least one other piece, and the Swinger involved has fewer than five on-board pieces and a weight of 0;
or
(b) the placement is made in accordance with Rule 1240.10.
No matter what, no piece may be placed in such a way as to cause any swinger to be in check.
D. Special - The Swinger spends one Benefyt and performs the Special Move for one of eir on-board pieces as defined by the PartyChessPieceDef rule defining that piece. This Atomic Play cannot be used by a swinger who owns no Benefyts, nor can it be used to attack or capture a King.
E. Pass - The Swinger does nothing. [This is the default play in most cases; see above.]
F. Surrender - All of the Swinger's pieces are removed from the board, and become off-board pieces.
When a Swinger's turn consists of multiple Atomic Plays, and one of the Atomic plays places another Swinger in a state of check, then the turn ends immediately, and the Atomic plays that follow that Atomic Plays are not executed. When more there is more than one Swinger in a state of check, then Swingers are allowed to make only Atomic Plays, regardless of the criteria specified above, for as long as the state of multiple check exists. It is impermissible for a Swinger to Move the same piece more than once during a single turn.
7. Check and Checkmate
A Swinger is in Check when his King is attacked by one or more pieces owned by a Swinger whose King is on-board. No Swinger may make a play that would cause him or her to be in Check at the end of his or her turn. It is possible that the only move that will satisfy this condition is a Surrender. It is the responsibility of the Chess-Umpire to identify states of Check and alert the Swingers that such a state exists, and let the Swingers know whose King is being attacked.
8. King Capture
If a legitimate play by one Swinger (hereafter referred to as the "SneakThief" results in the capture of a King owned by another Swinger (referred to as the "Sucker"), then the following events shall happen at the end of the play.
(i) The Sucker transfers A$100 to the SneakThief. If the Sucker has
insufficient cash, then all eir $A will be transferred to the SneakThief,
and the Sucker is said to have Lost Eir Shirt.
(ii) A new King is created in the possession of the Sucker, and held
off-board.
If more than one King is captured during a single play, then each Swinger in the role of Sucker is dealt with separately. Delays in the performance of parts (i)-(iv) of the above list of events shall not prevent the continuation of the game of Party Chess.
A player whose king was captured is considered to have immediately surrendered, regardless of whose turn it is.
As "Only an enemy without honour refuses to show himself in battle" [Michael Dorn (Worf), Star Trek, The Next Generation: Evolution], a player may not capture another player's King unless the player performing the capture has their King on-board. The preceding sentence has precedence over all other parts of the Party Chess Suite which define how pieces may capture.
9. Free For All
A. The Chess Umpire has the Privilege of announcing a Free For All provided that:
(i) There has not been a Free For All for at least 6 weeks
(ii) No Swinger is currently checked.
B. A Free For All starts exactly three days after the Chess-Umpire publically announces it. The announcement must include the duration of the Free For All. The minimum duration is three days, the maximum is two weeks.
If one Swinger objects to the Free For All during the three days between the announcement and the beginning of the Free For All, then the maximum duration of the Free For All is set to one week. At any time between the objection is made public, and the beginning of the Free For All, the Chess-Umpire may announce a corrected duration between three and seven days. If e does not do so, then it is set to 7 days.
If at least two Swingers object to the Free For All, then the Free For All is cancelled, and normal play continues.
C. During a Free For All the following things happen:
(i) The Swinger Play List is ignored.
(ii) Swingers may post plays at any time during a Free For All, except
that for any given Swinger at least three days must pass between plays,
except for Swingers whose Weight is non-zero, have less than 5 on-board
pieces and are not in a position whereby they can capture another player's
king, who need wait only two days between plays.
(iii) A play during a Free For All consists of a Single Atomic Play.
(iv) Plays are processed in chronological order.
(v) Illegal plays are ignored.
Capturing a King is an illegal Play.
A player who is checked needs to wait for only two days after eir most recent play in order to play again.
D.When A Free For All is over the following things happen:
(i) The Chess Umpire makes a public announcement to that effect.
(ii) The Chess Umpire rearranges the Swinger Play List randomly.
Rule 1230.3/6
Swingers Like to Play Around III - mostly odds
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
[After each play, the Chess-Umpire calculates the Swingers' Weights and posts that information.]
Mobility for a piece is defined as follow: If the minimum distance a piece can move is greater than one, and the difference between the minimum distance that piece can move and the maximum distance that piece can move is equal to or smaller than two, then that piece's Mobility is equal to half the number of legal moves currently available to it without making a capture.
For all other pieces Mobility is equal to the greatest distance a piece can move without making a Capture.
Each Swinger's Weight is calculated in the following manner:
For a Swinger whose King is on-board
Weight =
(Total material value of the on-board pieces) +
for each piece (Mobility of that piece)
for each piece (add 5 if the piece attacks at least one opponent piece)
for each piece (add 4 if the piece defends at least one friendly piece)
For a Swinger whose King is off-board
Weight=0
Rule 1230.4/4
Creation of a PartyChessPiece King
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
A. There is an instance limit of one King per Swinger.
B. The King may move exactly one square in any direction.
C. This definition is analogous to section B. : The king may move to a square (DestR,DestC) which belong to the set of all squares such that dC=1 /OR/ dR=1
D. The material value of the King is zero.
E. For the purpose of the game of Party Chess, 'King' is a genderless word.
F. The ASCII character representing the King is K
Rule 1230.5/5
PartyChessPiece Rook
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
1. A Rook is represented by the ASCII character R.
2.A rook can move either vertically, or horizontally, up to a maximum distance of 10, provided all the squares between the current square and the destination square are unoccupied.
3. A Rook's material value is 9
4. A Rook has a Special Move, which consists of moving one square in any diagonal direction, followed by up to five squares horizontally or vertically, provided that the orthogonal direction taken is only 45 degrees rotated from the diagonal direction taken (e.g. you can move up-left then left, but not up-left then right). All intervening squares, and the destination square, must be unoccupied. This move may not be used as a Capture.
[As this is a Special Move it requires a cost of one Benefyt. It is not a capture because that would make checking someone far too easy.]
Rule 1230.6/4
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Camel
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
1. A Camel is represented by the ASCII character C.
2. A Camel may move either : (a)3 squares vertically and 1 square horizontally, or (b)3 squares horizontally, and 1 square vertically.
3. A Camel can skip over any pieces that occupy any squares between the current square and the destination square.
4. A Camel's material value is 5
Rule 1230.7/4
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Bishop
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
1.A Bishop is represented by the ASCII character B
2. A Bishop can move in a diagonal direction in a single straight line, up to a maximum distance of 10 , provided all the squares between the current square and the destination square are unoccupied.
3. A Bishop's material value is 6
Rule 1230.8/9
PartyChessPiece Pawn
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
1. A pawn is represented by the ASCII character p .
2. Any pawn can move exactly one square horizontally or vertically. A pawn that is currently defending a friendly piece can, alternatively, move two squares horizontally or vertically.
3. A pawn can capture only by moving diagonally a distance of one square, into a square occupied by an opponent's piece.
4. A pawn is a promotable piece. When a pawn reaches one the following squares: j10,j11,k10,k11, it is immediately promoted. It can be promoted to any legal PartyChessPiece the chosen by the Swinger.
5. A Pawn can only be Placed on one of the columns a,b,s,t, or on one of the rows 1,2,19,20.
6. A pawn's material value is 1.
7. A Pawn has a Special Move, which consists of moving as a Rook would normally move. It may not be used to take a piece, nor may it be used so that the destination square is a square mentioned in Section 4. [That is, no direct Benefyt movement to a promotion square.]
Rule 1230.9/5
Creation of a PartyChessPiece CopyCat
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
1. A CopyCat is represented by the ASCII character O
2. A CopyCat can move either 3 or 5 squares in any given direction, provided that all the squares between the current square and the destination square are unoccupied.
3. A CopyCat captures a piece only according to the rules by which the captured piece can capture.
A CopyCat can Capture another CopyCat only by using the move described in section 2 of this rule
for example - a CopyCat can capture a Rook using a Rook's move, it can capture a Knight using a Knight's move. etc.. et."
4. A CopyCat's material value is 7
Rule 1230.10/6
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Echo
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
1. An Echo is represented by ASCII character E.
2. The legal move for an Echo depends on the most recent Atomic Play made by the Swinger controlling the Echo.
a. If the Swinger's most recent Atomic Play was either Pass or Placement, then there is no legal move for an Echo.
b. If the Swinger's most recent Atomic Play was either Move or Capture, then the legal move of an Echo is identical to the legal move of the friendly piece that either Moved or Captured on that Atomic Play.
3. An Echo's material value is 7
Rule 1230.11/4
PartyChessPiece Jester
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
1.A Jester is represented by the ASCII character J.
2. A Jester can move exactly two squares in any given direction. It may skip any piece that occupies the intervening square, between the Jester's current square and the Jester's destination square.
3. A Jester's material value is 3.
4. A Jester has a Special Move, which consists of moving to any square on the board, such that the Jester is not attacking any pieces after the Special Move has been made. [The mysterious Jester - where will it hop to next?]
Rule 1230.12/4
Creation of a PartyChessPiece il-Nabi
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
1. il-Nabi is represented by the ASCII character M
2. il-Nabi may move in any of the following ways:
(a) 3 squares diagonally and one square either horizontally or vertically, provided all the squares it passes through are unoccupied. The move must be made in that order.
(b) If, in any given direction, SQ1 is occupied, then il-Nabi may skip over that piece to SQ2.
(c) if, in any given direction, SQ3 is occupied, and SQ2 is unoccupied, then il-Nabi may skip to SQ4. For this move to be legal, it does not matter whether or not SQ1 is occupied.
3. il-Nabi can legally capture according to 2.(a). It cannot capture using the moves in 2(b), 2(c)
4. il-Nabi's material value is 6
5. The proper pronunciation of il-Nabi, is with an emphasis of the 'Na', which is pronounced the same as in 'nun', minus the last '-n'.
6. il-Nabi is Arabic for 'the Prophet', and is named in honor of Mohammed, who made a large contribution to the game of Party Chess
Rule 1230.13/2
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Qball
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
1. A Qball is represented by the ASCII character Q.
2. A Qball's material value is 7.
3. A Qball's move consists of two parts.
a) The Qball moves in a diagonal direction in a single straight line until it reaches the edge of the board (any of the squares associated with either of the integers 1 or 20 or either of the letters a or t). If it rests on such a square before moving, it must legally move to another such square to make this part of its move. The Qball may not capture or jump over any piece in making this part of its move.
b) The Qball moves in a diagonal direction at a right angle to the path of its travel in part a) in a single straight line, for at least one but no more than 10 squares, provided all the squares between its current square and the destination square are unoccupied. It may capture a non-friendly piece on the destination square.
The Qball must be able to make both parts of its move in order to make any move at all, except as described by c, below:
c) If the Qball, after making the move described a, above, is on a corner square (any of the squares a1, t20, a20, and t1), it "scratches," and the Qball is removed the board and joins its owner's collection of off-board pieces. A scratch does not change the ownership of the Qball.
Rule 1230.14/2
Creation of a PartyChessPiece HarfyBlob
Malenkai (Randy Hall)
1. A HarfyBlob is represented by the ASCII character H.
2. A HarfyBlob can move either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, up to a maximum distance of Hn, where Hn is defined below, provided all the squares between the current square and the destination square are unoccupied. 3. A HarfyBlob's material value is 7.
Each extant HarfyBlob has its own value of Hn. It is a duty of the Chess-Umpire to track the value of Hn for each extant HarfyBlob.
When a HarfyBlob is first created, its Hn value is 1.
Each time a HarfyBlob captures an enemy piece, its Hn value is increased by 1, unless the captured piece is also a HarfyBlob, in which case its Hn is increased by the Hn of the captured HarfyBlob. If the captured piece was a Locust, the Hn of the HarfyBlob is increased by the number of Locust pieces remaining on-board after the Capture.
Should a HarfyBlob's Hn ever exceed the maximum number of squares on the Party Board in any direction, its Hn is reduced to that maximum less 1.
Rule 1230.15/2
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Archer
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
1. An Archer is represented by the ASCII Character 'A'.
2. The Archers move is made up of two parts: In the first part the Archer moves either vertically or horizontally a distance of d1 squares, where d1 is either 1,2,3 or 4. In the second part the Archer moves a distance of 4-d1 in a direction perpendicular to the direction he moved in the first part (in the second part the distance can be 0).
3.
a. When an Archer is in a Defensive Position it can capture from a distance. An Archer can capture any opposing piece that occupies a square at a maximum distance of 4, either vertically or horizontally, or a at a maximum distance of 3 diagonally, provided that all the squares between the Archer and the captured piece are unoccupied.
The Archer does not replace the captured piece, but remains on the same square it occupied when the turn started. An Archer in a Defensive Position cannot capture using the move described in section 2 of this rule.
b. An Archer which is not in a defensive position can only Capture using the Move described in section 2 of this rule, provided all the squares it passes through are unoccupied.
4. An Archer has a material value of 7.
Rule 1230.16/1
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Kamikaze
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
1. A Kamikaze is represented by the ASCII character Z.
2. Its material value is 6.
3. A Kamikaze's move consists of two parts: First, the Kamikaze moves from 1 to 6 squares in any horizontal or vertical direction. Second, it moves from 1 to 6 squares, at a right angle to its direction of motion in the first half of its move. It must make both halves of its move in order to move at all. It may not jump over any pieces in its path.
4. If a Kamikaze captures a piece, the capturing Kamikaze is destroyed immediately after it makes the capture.
Rule 1230.17/1
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Bouncy!Ball
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
1. A Bouncy!Ball is represented by the ASCII character !
2. A Bouncy!Ball may move any number of squares in any single direction, and it may and must jump over exactly one other piece in doing so. This piece must occupy SQn its direction of motion, where the destination square is SQ(2n) in its direction of motion.
3. A Bouncy!Ball's material value is 5.
4. The physical appearance of a Bouncy!Ball is that of a large rubber sphere, colored primarily in the color associated with its controlling Swinger, but featuring several swirls of bright fluorescent shades.
Rule 1230.18/2
Creation of a PartyChessPiece Demon
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
1. A Demon is represented by the ASCII Character D.
2. When the square the Demon currently occupies (R,C) is in the the range 5<R<16, e<C<p (that is between columns e and p, exclusive) it can move a distance of exactly 1 in any given direction, when the square the Demon is on is not included in the above range, the Demon can move a distance of exactly 2 squares in any given direction.
A Demon is promotable. A Demon can be promoted only if and only if there exist two friendly pieces of the same type (as each other, not necessarily the Demon), X and Y such that ABS(xR-R)=ABS(yR-R) /AND/ ABS(xC-C)=ABS(yC-C) /AND/ the distance between those two pieces is equal to or smaller than 8. A Demon can only be Promoted if the Swinger controlling the Demon has just Moved or Captured. It cannot be Promoted following a Placement or a Pass.
4. A Demon's material value is 2
Rule 1230.20/1
Party Chess Piece Cantor
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)
A Cantor is a piece with a material worth of 5, represented by the character % .
A Cantor may move one or two squares in any diagonal direction. It may move over pieces in its path. A piece that has a distance of 1 from a friendly Cantor may move or capture by moving up to 4 squares in any diagonal direction, moving over pieces in its path.
Rule 1230.21/1
Party Chess Piece Zombie
Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)
A Zombie is a piece with a material value of 4, represented by the character *.
A Zombie can move up to three spaces horizontally or vertically. At the end of a turn in which a Zombie Captures, it promotes to the type of the piece it captured, if the Swinger specifies this when announcing the Capture.
Rule 1230.22/1
Party Chess Piece Gess
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
A Gess is a piece with a material value of 8.
It is represented by the character G.
A Gess moves as follows:
If there is an unoccupied square on the board a distance of 1 away from the Gess, then the Gess may move to it.
If a square on the board at a distance of 1 from the Gess is occupied, then the Gess may move any number of squares between 2 and 10 in the direction needed to reach that occupied square from the Gess piece's current position, moving over pieces in its path.
For example, if a Gess is at i9, and there is another piece at j10, the Gess could move to k11, l12, m13, n14, o15, p16, q17, r18 or s19 as a result of the piece at j10.
Rule 1230.23/0
Party Chess Piece Loyalist
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
A Loyalist has material value 6, and is represented by the letter L.
A Loyalist may move one square in any direction.
If the shortest (Euclidean) path from a Loyalist to the owning Swinger's King consists entirely of motion in one of the eight directions in which pieces may move, and no friendly pieces occupy squares along that path, and the distance between the Loyalist and the owning swinger's King is less than or equal to 8, the Loyalist may move to any square along that path. [ That is, if the Loyalist and its King share a rank, column, or diagonal, with no friendly pieces intervening, the Loyalist may move to any square between it and the King ]
Rule 1230.24/1
PartyChessPiece Locust
Hubert (Eric Plumb)
A Locust is a piece with a Material Value of the larger of
a) 6, or
b) 1.5*N rounded down, where N is the number of on-board Locust pieces.
A Locust is depicted by the ASCII character '&'.
A Locust may move up to N/2 squares, rounded up, in any horizontal, vertical, or diagonal direction, and then up to N/2 squares, rounded down, in a direction perpendicular to that of the first move, where N is the number of on-board Locust pieces. A Locust may not skip over pieces in its path, and must make both halves of its move in order to move at all.
Rule 1230.25/1
Party Chess Piece Guard
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)
A guard is a piece with a material value of 7.
It is represented by the character +.
A guard cannot be captured by an archer or a kamikaze [due to special training]. If there are no enemy pieces which are attacking it then it will also be able to protect any friendly pieces orthogonally adjacent to it, which means that any such pieces also may not be captured by an archer or a kamikaze.
A guard may move up to three squares in any orthogonal direction or up to two squares in any diagonal direction.
Rule 1230.30/1
Stabitooum
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
There exists a class of entities known as Stabber's Knives. Stabber's Knives are ownable and non-tradeable. They are created and destroyed by the Frobozz Games Company, Diplomacy/PartyChess Division as necessary. The singular of Stabber's Knives is Stabber's Knife. It is a duty of the Chess-Umpire to keep track of the number of Stabber's Knives owned by each Player.
Rule 1230.40/8
Winning a Hand
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
If one Swinger (called the Capturer) captures another Swinger's King, then the Capturer shall receive one newly created Stabber's Knife. If one Swinger surrenders as a Play, then all Swingers who, prior to the Surrender move were checking the King of the Swinger who surrendered each receive one newly created Stabber's Knife immediately after the surrender (all creations of a Stabber's Knife after a specified move occur simultaneously).
If, at any stage, the number of Stabber's Knives held by all active Swingers exceeds the number of Swingers [including vacationing ones], and there is a single Swinger with more Stabber's Knives than any other single Swinger, or a single Swinger holds a number of Stabber's Knives greater than the number of Swingers [including vacationing ones] divided by two, then that player will be declared the Winner of this Game of Party Chess. E will also receive the title "Winner of a game of Party Chess", a title of which multiple copies may be held simultaneously.
When a winner of a game of Party Chess is declared as in the above paragraph, the following events happen in the order specified:
a) The ChessChamp receives a ChessChamp's Cardigan, which may be worn, and which may be worn underneath a Champion's Cloak. If e already has a ChessChamp's Cardigan, then it instead instantly transforms into a Tarnished Badge of Gluery. The ChessChamp additionally receives 10 Swingpoints.
b) All Stabber's Knives held by all Players are destroyed.
c) All on-board pieces are placed off-board.
d) If a Swinger has N off board pieces, N > 15, then N-15 pieces, none of which is a King, will be chosen at random by the Chess-Umpire (using the Dice Server if possible) to be destroyed. Compensation of A$3*M will be paid for each piece so destroyed, where M is the material value of that piece.
e) If a Swingership has N off board pieces, N < 6, then the Swinger owning that Swingership may choose, prior to the first non-Pass move that e makes, 6-N pieces, subject to instance constraints, with a total material value no more than 30-(5*N) which will be created for free in the possession of that Swingership. If the Swingership changes hands before a non-Pass move is made, the new Swinger inherits the right to the free 6-N pieces.
Timestamp: Fri 02 Oct 1998 08:13 EDT