Chequerboard
Introduction
The term chequerboard refers to any of a family of two- and three-dimensional turn based strategy games. Specifically, Classic Chequerboard, played with the full “chequerboard coterie” in a three-dimensional playing space, whilst not, necessarily, the most difficult or complicated of all the variants played, is regarded as the gold standard against which the ability of all chequerboard players is measured.
Origins
Whilst the advanced variants of chequerboard can be thought of as Calmarendian analogues of chess and the more straightforward variants as analogues of draughts, in all of them the differences are such that the game was almost certainly given to the Calmarendians or was (somehow) invented by them after they had established themselves on Calmarendi. If the original settlers brought chess with them, it has long since been supplanted by chequerboard.
The Playing Space
The most striking visual difference between draughts/chess and chequerboard are the playing surfaces which are the chequerboards themselves. Whereas draughts and chess are played on a single, invariant 8 by 8 square grid, chequerboard is played on various sizes and numbers of tricoloured, hexagonal grids. The simpler variants are played upon a single, two-dimensional surface; more complicated variants (including Classic Chequerboard) are played on multiple surfaces in a three-dimensional configuration. The common feature of each surface is that it, too, is hexagonal with the outer nodes of the grid forming a regular hexagon.
One could, theoretically, generalize and extend the game into playing spaces of n-dimensional latices. These are games that robots might play against one another but which humans could not begin to visualize. Perhaps robots invented the game in the first place?
The Pieces
That chequerboard may have been based upon (or that it evolved from) chess is suggested by similarities in the pieces used. The simple variants use the disc shaped tokens (called “chequers”) such as are used in table race, while the advanced forms use various different carved pieces (called, collectively, the “chequerboard coteries”), each with their own rules for movement and with names reminiscent of those used in chess.
The pieces known to exist in a full Chequerboard Coterie are: Princess (analogous, perhaps, to the King in chess), Countess, Unicorn, Ranger, Rook, Castle (the Rook (depicted as a bird) and Castle (depicted as a crenellated building) are distinct pieces), Cat and Mouse. The mice are the game’s pawn analogues; in some dialects they are referred to as “men” rather than mice.
Winning
The criteria for winning a game of chequerboard depend upon the variant being played but wins are generally achieved by the complete annihilation of your opponents pieces and/or forcing your opponent into a position where they are unable to make a legal move (checkmate).
Other Underfined Characteristics
- The sizes of the 2D surfaces.
- The number of 2D surfaces in the 3D stack.
- Whether each 2D surface in a 3D stack is the same size.
- Whether the 2D surfaces are stacked symmetrically one above the other or offset in an asymmetric pattern and whether such set-ups are for the physical convenience of the players or have significance within the play.
- The moves that each piece can make in two and three dimensions.
- The numbers of each piece a player starts with.
- The starting configuration(s) of pieces and whether such configurations are static or can be varied according to the choice of the player.
Beyond Unreality
Clearly the defined variations and undefined parameters in our description of chequerboard allows a lot of scope for the how we (as world builders) might develop the game, how readers might envision the game and, in-world, how variants may manifest themselves.
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