Ultima

Ultima was created by veteran game designer Robert Abbott and published in Recreational Mathematics Magazine in August 1962. As yet it did not have a name. Abbott later included it in his 1963 book "Abbott's New Card Games" under the title of 'Ultima'. In his 1968 edition, he added a rule to patch up what he perceived to be a flaw in the game. This rule limited the number of squares that a piece could move: A piece on the Nth rank could move no more than N squares.

Ultima soon became popular in chess-variant circles and was said to be played even in the Kriegspiel fashion. It was most popular with the postal-chess club NOST (Knights of the Square Table) and its Italian cousin AISE. Both NOST and AISE use the original 1963 rules, which are now considered the norm. Between 1985 and '87, a three-part article on Ultima was written for World Game Review by the leading NOST player, Dr. Paul Yearout. Robert Abbott later contributed an article in '88 voicing what he considered to be wrong with the game. Yearout and other leading players, however, do not share Abbott's critical views. Both NOST-Algia (NOST's bimonthly bulletin) and Eteroscacco (AISE's newsletter) have published many sample games of Ultima.

Setup

Although most of the pieces in Ultima are different than those found in Chess, it was originally designed to be played with a Chess set. This chart tells what the pieces are and which Chess piece is used to represent each one:

• King (K), represented by the King.
• Withdrawer (W), represented by the Queen.
• Chameleon (X), represented by the Bishop.
• Long Leaper (L), represented by the Knight.
• Coordinator (C), represented by the Rook.
• Immobilizer (I), represented by the inverted Rook.
• Pincer Pawn (P), represented by the Pawn.

White:
King d1; Withdrawer (Queen) e1; Coordinator (Rook) h1; Immobilizer (Inverted rook) a1; Long Leaper (Knight) b1, g1; Chameleon (Bishop) c1, f1; Pawn a2, b2, c2, d2, e2, f2, g2, h2.

Black:
King d8; Withdrawer (Queen) e8; Coordinator (Rook) h8; Immobilizer (Inverted rook) a8; Long Leaper (Knight) b8, g8; Chameleon (Bishop) c8, f8; Pawn a7, b7, c7, d7, e7, f7, g7, h7.

The Ultima array differs from the Orthodox array in the following ways:

• The positions of the white King and Queen (white King and Withdrawer) are reversed.
• The Rooks on a1 and h8 (Immobilizers) are placed upside-down.

Whites pieces are, from left to right: Immobilizer, Long Leaper, Chameleon, King, Withdrawer, Chameleon, Long Leaper, Coordinator.

Rules

Ultima is played like Orthodox Chess except that it has different pieces, and most of these do not capture by displacement. The pieces are described in detail in the next section.

Pieces

Since most of the pieces in this game capture by means other than displacement, a single diagram may not be enough to indicate how each piece moves and captures. With this in mind, we have a page featuring Animated Ultima Diagrams. But since animated diagrams can be distracting and will be useless in a printed copy of this page, this page will use static diagrams. These diagrams will use the Abstract pieces, which are designed to be distinctive and to represent the powers of the pieces. In case you're unfamiliar with these pieces, a description of each image is provided, as well as a reminder of which Chess piece to use when playing with a Chess set.

King

	The King is the same as it is in Chess.
	The Abstract piece shows a semicircle divided by a cross.

The King may move one space in any direction but not into check. Unlike other pieces, it captures by displacement. There is no castling in this game, and unlike other pieces, an immobilized King may not commit suicide, though a player with one may choose to resign instead. When an enemy piece is immobilized by an Immobilizer (described below), it does not threaten the King, and the King may safely move to a space it would otherwise be threatened on. So, when the enemy King is immobilized, a King may even move adjacent to it to check it.

Withdrawer

	The Queen may be used for the Withdrawer.
	The Abstract piece shows some kind of prey animal in flight.

The Withdrawer moves as a Queen without capturing by displacement. So, it can never move to an occupied space. It may capture any adjacent enemy piece by moving directly away from it. So, it captures only one piece at a time.

This diagram shows the legal moves for the Withdrawer on d2. It may capture the Long Leaper on c2, the Chameleon on d1, or the Coordinator on e1. It cannot capture the King or the Pincer Pawn.

After moving to g2, the Withdrawer has captured the Long Leaper on c2, because that is the piece it moved directly away from.

Immobilizer

	An inverted Rook may be used for the Immobilizer.
	The Abstract piece shows the arms of a straitjacket across the octagonal shape of a stop sign, as each represents immobility in a different way.

The Immobilizer can move as a Queen without capturing. So, it can never move to an occupied space. Unlike other pieces, Immobilizers cannot capture other pieces at all. Instead, it immobilizes any adjacent piece of the opponent, rendering it completely unable to move or capture. All an immobilized piece may do is commit suicide, which is a self-capture that removes it from the board. This might be done to open up a line of attack. Since a King's suicide would be tantamount to resignation, this should be treated simply as resignation and not as suicide.

Pincer Pawn

	The Pawn may be used for the Pincer Pawn.
	The Abstract piece shows a puzzle piece shaped to interlock with others of the same design, representing that this piece captures in cooperation with other pieces.

The Pincer Pawn moves as a Rook without capturing by displacement. So, it may never move to an occupied space. On reaching its destination, it captures any orthogonally adjacent enemy piece that is adjacent to another of the player's pieces along the same rank or file as it is adjacent with the Pincer Pawn.

Pincer Pawns capture only when they move. They never capture passively. So a piece moving directly between two Pincer Pawns is not captured.

This diagram shows the legal moves for the Pincer Pawn on b5.

After moving to f5, the Pincer Pawn captured the Withdrawer on f4 and the Pincer Pawn on g5. It did not capture the Immobilizer on f6, because the piece on its other side did not belong to the same side as the piece that moved.

Long Leaper

	The Knight may be used for the Long Leaper.
	The Abstract piece looks like a frog, because frogs are known for leaping, and this piece captures in a leap-frog kind of way.

The Long Leaper moves as a Queen without capturing. So, it may never move to an occupied space. To capture pieces, it must leap over them along a single diagonal or orthogonal direction. It may not leap over pieces on the same side, and any enemy piece it leaps over must have an empty space immediately behind it. So, if two pieces lie next to each other along the same path, the Long Leaper may not leap over them.

This shows the legal moves for the Long Leaper at b1. It may capture the pieces in the same file. It may not capture the Withdrawer at a1, because there is no space on the board past it to leap to. It may not capture the Chameleon on g6, because it may not leap over a piece on the same side. It may not capture the Immobilizer on e1 or the King on f1, because it must have an empty space after each piece it leaps over.

After moving to b8, the Long Leaper has captured the Pincer Pawn at b2, the Coordinator at b4, and the Chameleon at b7. If it had moved a shorter distance, it would have captured fewer pieces.

Coordinator

	A Rook may be used for the Coordinator.
	The Abstract piece shows a grid of four squares with two inward arrows and two outward arrows. The two arrows pointing toward each other represent the coordination between the King and the Coordinator. The two outward arrows represent the capture of pieces in the corners of the rectangle formed by the King and Coordinator.

The Coordinator can move as a Queen but only to an empty space. It captures any enemy piece on any corner of the rectangle it forms with its King upon its move. So, to capture a piece, that piece must be on the same rank (or file) as the Coordinator and on the same file (or rank) as the King. This allows the Coordinator to capture two pieces at once. Note that it captures only when moving, and it does not passively capture a piece that moves to one of the corners of the rectangle it forms with the King. Also, when it shares a rank or file with its King, the corners are fully occupied by the King and Coordinator, leaving no corner with an enemy piece to be captured.

This diagram shows the legal moves for the Coordinator on d5. It may capture the Withdrawer on b2 by moving to the b file, the Immobilizer on d2 by moving to another space on the d file, or the Pincer Pawn on e7 by moving to the 7th rank. It cannot capture the King, because the two Kings are not on the same rank or file.

After moving to d7, it captures the Immobilizer on d2 and the Pincer Pawn on e7. Instead of these two, it could have captured the Withdrawer and the Pincer Pawn by moving to b7.

Chameleon

	The Bishop may be used for the Chameleon.
	The Abstract piece shows a chameleon in the form of the letter C. It contains some holes that will show the color of the space it is on, which is a way of mimicking the color changing ability that inspired the name for this piece.

The Chameleon may move as a Queen without capturing by displacement, and it may use another piece's own powers against it. It will immobilize the opponent's Immobilizer if they are adjacent, and it can capture other pieces of the opponent through their own powers of capture. With repect to Long Leapers, it cannot capture or leap over any pieces between it and the Long Leaper even though a Long Leaper would be able to. So, it sometimes cannot capture a Long Leaper that it could capture if it were a Long Leaper. With respect to Pincer Pawns, it can capture them only by moving orthogonally, as Pincer Pawns do. With respect to the King, it can check it from only one space away. Since the Chameleon borrows its capturing power from another piece and has no native capturing power of its own, it cannot capture another Chameleon.

This diagram shows the legal moves for the Chameleon on c2.

By moving to c6, the Chameleon has captured the Withdrawer by withdrawing from it, the two Long Leapers by leaping over them, the three Pincer Pawns by pinching each one between itself and a Pincer Pawn on its own side, and the Coordinator by coordinating with its King.

Note that the Chameleon can only capture Pinching Pawns by moving like a Rook. Chameleons can never capture enemy Chameleons, but they can paralyze an enemy Immobilizer by moving adjacent to it (of course, in that case, the Chameleon itself is also paralyzed).

Object of the game

Link

• Logic Mazes (Robert Abbott's Webpages) (Link.)

Feb 2000: Alternate piece graphics added by David Howe.
Feb 2000: Details on the 1968 rule change added by David Howe.
March 2000: David Howe added links to annimated illustrations.
June 2000: David Howe fixed initial setup diagram (Queen and King were switched) (thanks Ed Friedlander).
November 2001: Ultima is our Recognized Variant of the month. Thanks to John William Brown for re-editing this page for the occasion.
March 2023: Interactive diagram added by Fergus Duniho
May 2023: New diagrams added and text revised by Fergus Duniho