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The Top 100 Favorited Games, Sorted by Attenuated Score

This is a list of games that have been favorited by members of the Chess Variant Pages. If you have your own favorites you enjoy playing, you can favorite them with the ♥ menu on the page for each game you wish to favorite. This is a community project, not just a selection of games by the editors. Even if your favorites are already on the list, mark them as favorites anyway. Numbers count. Raise your favorite games higher in the list by casting your votes for them.

How to Favorite a Game

To favorite a game, go to the game's rules page, and use the menu headed by the heart shape. This will be on the left side when the menu runs across the top of the screen, as it normally does on a desktop. If you're using a mobile device and must click a hamburger symbol to access the menu, it will be at the top. If the heart that heads the menu is solid red, that means you have favorited the game. If the heart is an empty outline, that means you have not favorited it. The number beside the heart will indicate how many people have favorited the game. Once you have found the heart menu, select the appropriate menu item. This should say ❤ Favorite This Game. To unfavorite a game, select the menu item that says 💔 Unfavorite This Game.

Query Parameters: inventor=, limit=100, member=, min=0, selfvote=0, sort=score

Query parameters are used in the URL to change the value of certain arguments used by this script. You may change them by editing the URL in the navigation bar.

favorites.php?inventor=&limit=100&member=&min=0&selfvote=0&sort=score

inventor=

Since no particular inventor has been named, games by any inventor will be displayed. To display games by a particular inventor, give inventor the value of that inventor's PersonID.

limit=100

The limit is set to 100. So, you will see only the top 100 most favorited games, as determined by the sorting method. To see all games that have been favorited, or to limit the games shown by setting a minimum value, set limit to 0.

member=

With no member identified, it will display games favorited by anyone. To display only the game favorited by a particular person, assign member to that person's PersonID.

min=0

With a minimum value of zero, every game will be displayed unless a limit has been set. Set min to a higher value to prevent games with a lower count or score, depending upon what you're sorting by, from being displayed.

reviewbonus=0

When someone writes a review for a game and gives it the highest possible rating, which is Excellent or 5 stars, that lends credibility to him truly regarding this game as a genuine favorite. In that case, his vote may count for more even if he has favorited many games. When reviewbonus is set 1, the value of his vote will be doubled up to a maximum value of 1. When set to 0, written reviews and 5 star ratings will not be factored into the calculation of the attenuated score.

selfvote=0

When calculating the attenuated score, an inventor's favoriting of his own games will not be counted. To change this, set selfvote to 1

sort=score

These results are sorted by an attenuated score, which reduces the value of votes from people who favorited only one game or who favorited many games. This should always be less than or equal to the raw count, and it appears in parentheses as a decimal number. The count score, which is the number of people who favorited a particular game, appears to the left, and it is used to break ties. To sort simply by the number of people who favorited a game, set sort to "count".

Legend

💘 - One of Your Own Favorites

💖 - Favorited by the Inventor Whose Name it Follows

🧡 - Generic Heart Symbol

  1. 🧡 35 (27.093) - Shogi.
    The Japanese form of Chess, in which players get to keep and replay captured pieces.
    2.  
  2. 🧡 25 (20.461) - Xiangqi (象棋): Chinese Chess.
    Links and rules for Xiangqi (Chinese Chess).
    3.  
  3. 🧡 26 (19.522) - Chess.
    The rules of chess.
    4.  
  4. 🧡 22 (16.658) - Chu Shogi.
    Historic Japanese favorite, featuring a multi-capturing Lion
    5.  
  5. 🧡 21 (15.415) - Chess with Different Armies by Ralph Betza.
    Betza's classic variant where white and black play with different sets of pieces
    6.  
  6. 🧡 19 (14.763) - Alice Chess by Vernon Parton.
    Classic Variant where pieces switch between two boards whenever they move
    7.  
  7. 🧡 17 (12.486) - Grand Chess by Christian Freeling.
    Christian Freeling's popular large chess variant on 10 by 10 board. Rules and links.
  8. 🧡 16 (12.239) - Rococo by Peter Aronson and David Howe.
    A clear, aggressive Ultima variant on a 10x10 ring board
    9.  
  9. 🧡 16 (10.466) - Janggi: Korean Chess.
    The variant of chess played in Korea.
  10. 🧡 17 (10.296) - Shako by Jean-Louis Cazaux💖.
    Cannons and elephants are added in variant on 10 by 10 board.
  11. 🧡 12 (10.230) - Fischer Random Chess by Robert Fischer.
    Play from a random setup
    12.  
  12. 🧡 12 (9.190) - Tamerlane chess.
    A well-known historic large variant of Shatranj.
  13. 🧡 15 (9.108) - Metamachy by Jean-Louis Cazaux💖.
    Large game with a variety of regular fairy pieces
    14.  
  14. 🧡 13 (8.692) - Spartan Chess by Steven Streetman.
    A game with unequal armies.
  15. 🧡 13 (8.134) - Sovereign Chess by Mark Bates💖.
    Ten neutral armies can be activated on this 16 x 16 board
  16. 🧡 12 (8.119) - Pocket Mutation Chess by Michael Nelson.
    Take one of your pieces off the board, maybe change it, keep it in reserve, and drop it on the board later.
    17.  
  17. 🧡 10 (7.895) - Makruk (Thai chess).
    Rules and information.
  18. 🧡 11 (7.855) - Ultima by Robert Abbott.
    Game where each type of piece has a different capturing ability. Also called Baroque.
  19. 🧡 14 (7.849) - Eurasian Chess by Fergus Duniho💖.
    Synthesis of European and Asian forms of Chess
  20. 🧡 13 (7.766) - Omega Chess by DanielMacdonald.
    Rules for commercial chess variant on board with 104 squares.
  21. 🧡 10 (7.313) - Jetan - Martian Chess by Edgar Burroughs.
    Martian Chess, coming from the book The Chessmen of Mars.
  22. 🧡 12 (7.289) - Falcon Chess by George Duke💖.
    Game on an 8x10 board with a new piece: The Falcon
  23. 🧡 13 (7.250) - Opulent Chess by Greg Strong💖.
    A derivative of Grand Chess with additional jumping pieces (Lion and Wizard)
  24. 🧡 11 (7.054) - Wildebeest Chess by R. Schmittberger.
    Variant on an 10 by 11 board with extra jumping pieces.
    25.  
  25. 🧡 12 (6.761) - Caïssa Britannia by Fergus Duniho💖.
    British themed variant with Lions, Unicorns, Dragons, Anglican Bishops, and a royal Queen.
  26. 🧡 9 (6.497) - Shatranj.
    The widely played Arabian predecessor of modern chess.
  27. 🧡 10 (6.488) - Centennial Chess by John Brown.
    10x10 Variant that adds Camels, Stewards, Rotating Spearmen and Murray Lions to the standard mix
  28. 🧡 10 (6.245) - Courier Chess.
    A large historic variant from Medieval Europe
  29. 🧡 9 (6.193) - Crazyhouse.
    A two-player version of Bughouse.
    30.  
  30. 🧡 8 (5.911) - Janus Chess by Werner Schoendorf.
    Variant on 10 by 8 board.
  31. 🧡 11 (5.827) - Gross Chess by Fergus Duniho💖.
    A big variant with a small learning curve
  32. 🧡 10 (5.814) - Opulent Lemurian Shatranj by David Paulowich💖.
    Joe Joyce's Shaman and Hero pieces are now on a larger board.
  33. 🧡 11 (5.802) - Glinski's Hexagonal Chess by Wladyslaw Glinski.
    Chess on a board made out of hexagons.
  34. 🧡 8 (5.734) - Chaturanga.
    The first known variant of chess.
  35. 🧡 8 (5.646) - Capablanca's chess by Jose Capablanca.
    An enlarged chess variant, proposed by Capablanca
  36. 🧡 11 (5.325) - Expanded Chess by Daniel Zacharias💖.
    An attempt at a logical expansion of Chess to a 10x10 board
  37. 🧡 6 (5.221) - Arimaa by Omar Syed and Aamir Syed.
    Board game playable with standard chess set, hard for computers
  38. 🧡 7 (5.175) - Bughouse.
    4 player variant where pieces taken from your opponent are given to your partner.
  39. 🧡 10 (5.094) - Shogun Chess by Daniel Lee💖.
    Pieces promote and can be dropped, similar to Shogi
  40. 🧡 7 (5.020) - Musketeer Chess by Zied Haddad.
    Adding 2 newly designed extra pieces
    41.  
  41. 🧡 6 (4.982) - Losing Chess.
    Taking is obligatory; the first player that loses all his pieces wins
  42. 🧡 9 (4.873) - Wormhole Chess by Fergus Duniho💖.
    When a piece leaves a square, it `folds' together
  43. 🧡 8 (4.846) - Dimension X by Gary Gifford.
    Chess on two planes - one with the usual chess pieces, the other with spooky trans-dimensional pieces with strange interactions
  44. 🧡 6 (4.791) - Minishogi by Shigenobu Kusumo.
    On a 5 by 5 board.
  45. 🧡 8 (4.742) - TenCubed Chess by David Paulowich.
    Variant on 10 by 10 board with combination pieces
  46. 🧡 6 (4.689) - Scirocco (revised) by Adrian King.
    On ten by ten board with over thirty different pieces.
  47. 🧡 8 (4.631) - Great Shatranj by Joe Joyce💖.
    Great Shatranj
  48. 🧡 7 (4.626) - Tenjiku Shogi.
    Fire Demons burn surrounding enemies, Generals capture jumping many pieces
  49. 🧡 7 (4.553) - Philosophers Chess by Darren Izzard.
    Chess variant on two small boards with usual and `philosophical' pieces.
  50. 🧡 7 (4.387) - Colossus by Charles Daniel.
    Large-board chess with standard pieces and double the number of bishops, rooks and knights.
  51. 🧡 6 (4.296) - Tori Shogi by Ohashi Soei.
    Tori Shogi, or Bird Shogi. A variant of Japanese Chess on a 7 by 7 board.
  52. 🧡 6 (4.052) - Fantasy Grand Chess by Peter Hatch.
    Variant of Grand Chess with different armies and fantasy theme.
  53. 🧡 7 (4.047) - Fusion Chess by Fergus Duniho💖.
    Variant in which pieces may merge together or split apart.
  54. 🧡 6 (4.004) - Seirawan Chess by Yasser Seirawan and Bruce Harper.
    FIDE chess, put players have N+R and N+B in hand to drop.
    55.  
  55. 🧡 5 (3.950) - Orwell Chess by Glenn Overby II.
    Three player variant themed on George Orwell's 1984.
  56. 🧡 7 (3.940) - Cetran Chess 2 by Carlos Cetina.
  57. 🧡 6 (3.851) - Raumschach by Dr. Ferdinand Maack.
    The classical variant of three-dimensional chess: 5 by 5 by 5.
  58. 🧡 6 (3.848) - Universal Chess by Carlos Cetina.
    Introducing castling and the possibility of Black making the drops before White.
  59. 🧡 8 (3.790) - Apothecary Chess-Modern by Aurelian Florea💖.
    Large board variant obtained through tinkering with known games
  60. 🧡 6 (3.741) - Bear Chess by Mikhail Sosnovsky.
    A popular Russian game; bears leap to second perimeter
  61. 🧡 5 (3.736) - Shatranj of Troy by Gary Gifford.
    A Shatranj variant with Shogi-like drops, a Trojan Horse (with 6 pieces inside),
  62. 🧡 6 (3.712) - McCooey's Hexagonal chess by Dave McCooey.
    Chess on a board, made out of hexes. Variant of Dave McCooey.
  63. 🧡 6 (3.614) - Wolf Chess by Dr. Arno von Wilpert.
    Half-century old variant on board of size 8 by 10.
  64. 🧡 6 (3.584) - Dragonchess by Gary Gygax.
    A three-dimensional fantasy variant.
  65. 🧡 5 (3.574) - Extinction chess by R. Schmittberger.
    Win by making your opponents pieces of one type extinct
  66. 🧡 6 (3.545) - Chak by Daniel Lee💖.
    A modern vision of what a Mayan chess would look like
  67. 🧡 4 (3.535) - For the Crown by Jeremy Lennert.
    A commercial crossover with deck-building games
  68. 🧡 6 (3.397) - Perfect 12 by Jean-Louis Cazaux.
    36 pieces per player on 12 by 12 board.
  69. 🧡 6 (3.376) - Dai Shogi.
    Large armies including a multi-capturing Lion battle each other on a big board
  70. 🧡 5 (3.334) - Grant Acedrex.
    Medieval large chess variant according to recent historians's work
  71. 🧡 7 (3.330) - Terachess II by Jean-Louis Cazaux.
    An unrealistic summit on a very large board of 16x16 squares and 128 pieces
  72. 🧡 7 (3.275) - Grand Shatranj by Joe Joyce💖.
    Grand Shatranj
  73. 🧡 8 (3.270) - Tamerlane II by Jean-Louis Cazaux💖.
    Modern variant based upon ancient large chess variant.
  74. 🧡 6 (3.192) - Modern Shatranj by Joe Joyce💖.
    A bridge between modern chess and the historic game of Shatranj.
  75. 🧡 6 (3.191) - Brouhaha by Greg Strong💖.
    Like Chess, but it really brings the ruckus!
  76. 🧡 6 (3.147) - Hectochess by A. M. DeWitt💖.
    10x10 variant that can be played with 2 mismatched Chess sets.
  77. 🧡 5 (3.101) - Modern Chess by Gabriel Vicente Maura.
    Variant on a 9 by 9 board with piece that combines bishop and knight moves
  78. 🧡 5 (3.088) - Catapults of Troy by Gary Gifford.
    Large variant with a river, catapults, archers, and trojan horses!
  79. 🧡 5 (3.053) - Cylindrical Chess.
    Sides of the board are supposed to be connected
  80. 🧡 5 (3.040) - Magnetic Chess by João Neto and Claude Chaunier.
    Pieces that moved attract and repel pieces like magnets
  81. 🧡 7 (3.004) - Storm the Ivory Tower by Fergus Duniho💖.
    A Smess adaptation of Chinese Chess
  82. 🧡 4 (3.003) - Paco Shako by Felix Albers.
    Pieces coexist peacefully on target square after capture
    83.  
  83. 🧡 7 (2.993) - Grand Cavalier Chess by Fergus Duniho💖.
    The decimal version of Cavalier Chess
  84. 🧡 5 (2.977) - Hannibal Chess by Kevin Pacey💖.
    Chess with added Modern Elephants (ferz-alfil compound) on 10x8 board
  85. 🧡 3 (2.968) - Existentialist Chess by David Short.
    10x10 board with many different pieces.
  86. 🧡 5 (2.964) - Elven Chess by H. G. Muller.
    10x10 variant with 4 new pieces, of which one can double-capture.
  87. 🧡 5 (2.953) - Rose Chess XII by David Paulowich💖.
    With Nightriders, (Half-)Roses, Spotted Gryphons and War Machines.
  88. 🧡 6 (2.949) - Sac Chess by Kevin Pacey💖.
    Game with 60 pieces
  89. 🧡 7 (2.884) - Shako_Balbo by wdtr2💖.
    Game with Diamond Shape Board
  90. 🧡 3 (2.870) - Dragons, Archers, and Oxen by Jim Aikin.
    Chess variant on a 10 by 10 board
  91. 🧡 4 (2.838) - AltOrth Hex Chess by Charles Gilman.
    Hexagonal variant using pieces moving only one way along each orthogonal
  92. 🧡 7 (2.793) - Apothecary Chess-Classic by Aurelian Florea💖.
    Large board variant obtained through tinkering with known games
  93. 🧡 5 (2.761) - Team-Mate Chess by H. G. Muller💖.
    Variant with 8 different pieces, none of which is able to checkmate a bare king on its own.
  94. 🧡 5 (2.740) - Renniassance Chess by Eric Greenwood.
    With 68 pieces on board of 12 by 12.
  95. 🧡 5 (2.707) - Xhess by David Howe.
    Decimal variant with Nightriders and Cannons.
  96. 🧡 6 (2.679) - Orda Chess by Daniel Lee💖.
    Asymmetric variant where one army has pieces that move like knights but capture differently
  97. 🧡 5 (2.672) - Marseillais Chess.
    Move twice per turn
  98. 🧡 3 (2.665) - Wizard's War by Michael Nelson.
    Game with piece-creating Wizards and a board divided into arena and enchanted sections
  99. 🧡 5 (2.642) - Butterfly Chess by Kevin Pacey💖.
    Large board chess with butterflies (not Ns), advancers (not Qs) & flying dragons added
  100. 🧡 5 (2.635) - Cavalier Chess by Fergus Duniho.
    All pieces except queens have some kind of knight-movement

100 Games Listed