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Game Reviews by MichaelNelson

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Heroes Hexagonal Chess. Hexagonal variant with special Hero piece which enhances other pieces. (Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Wed, Jan 22, 2003 03:48 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
I have been playing this game with the author by email. I find it highly playable--the moves are much easier to visualize than in Glinski's. The whole concept of the Hero piece is fascinating. By far the best hex game I've played.

ximeracak.. A leaper-heavy fantasy variant designed for play with a standard set. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Sun, Jan 26, 2003 08:22 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
I have discoverd the Fool's mate for ximeracak.  by having a longer variant
of it sprung on me in a game.

1.   Wizard d1-c4     X
2.   Wizard c4-b5 mate


Where X is any move that does not vacate a square adjacent to the General
or defend b5.

A beautifully treacherous game indeed.

Touring Chess. Pieces can either move normally or leap on a Knight's tour only known in advance to the referee. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Tue, Jan 28, 2003 10:28 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
A really great imperfect information variant. 

With regard to Knight moves, shouldn't non-touring Knight moves be sent
directly?  

If the opponent receives Ra1-c3 from the moderator, he knows it is a
touring move from the move itself, not just from having received it from
the moderator.  So both sides get the same information. Similarly, if the
opponent got Bc1-f4 from his opponent, he would recognize it as a
non-touring move from the move itself, not just from having received it
directly from the opponent.

But if all Knight moves go through the moderator and a player receives
Nb1-c3, he can't tell whether it is a normal move or a touring move, but
the player who sent the move does know. Why should there be a disparity
for Knights, when in all other cases equal information is obtained?

One of the things I like about this game is that when you obtain
information you also give it to the enemy--mkaes you think twice about
exploring.

Poker Chess. Squares contain cards, and players win by forming poker hands with the cards on the squares occupied by their pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Fri, Feb 7, 2003 10:51 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Excellent game concept.  I would suggest a rule change.  Like many
non-Poker games that use Poker hands, the relative values of different
hand types get distorted.  It is always harder to get three of a kind than a pair, 
but a straight or flush may or may not be harder to get than three
of a kind.  So why not use Poker hands with the provision that straights
and flushes don't count?  

A amusing variant might be to play for high hand on turns 1-5, say, and
play for low hand on 6-10, etc.  For the endgame, if a player doesn't have
5 cards, a missing card ranks low. So in playing for low hand, K-7-5 beats
K-7-5-2 (which is logical, since the latter hand wins playing for high).
Of course the five turn alternation frequency can be changed as well.

Caïssa Britannia. British themed variant with Lions, Unicorns, Dragons, Anglican Bishops, and a royal Queen. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Thu, Feb 20, 2003 06:54 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
A really good game--the pieces are unusual, but no so unusual that clarity is seriously compromised. The piece set works well together.

Pied Color Chess. Oh no! All the colors on the board have been scrambled -- however will the pieces move? (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Fri, Feb 28, 2003 07:46 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
What a fine game concept!  Some possiblitities:

1.  (For equal armies) Randomly choose colors for ranks 1-4 and make
corresponding squares opposite colors, thus if a1 is white, a8 is black.
The symmetrical board will not favor either side.

2.  (For different armies) All squares start out uncolored.  Black chooses
his army, then white chooses his army and makes the first choice of
squares. Players alternate choosing the color of any square on their half
of the board--the corresponding square becomes the opposite color as
above. The armies are then put on the board and play begins. The board
almost certainly will favor one side.

Pocket Polypiece Chess 43. Game with off-board pocket where all pieces of a type change when one piece of a type is moved normally. (7x6, Cells: 43) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Wed, Apr 9, 2003 11:22 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
This game deserves an Excellent for the concept, but a small reworking
might be nessessary.

Some limitation on hogging the pocket seems needed--perhaps the cube
variant is some help, but I would suggest that the pocketed piece be
immune from capture for only a limited time (2 or 3 turns perhaps,
playtesting would be required to determine the limit).  After the limit is
up, opponent can move to an occupied pocket and capture. 

I don't think that pawn pocketing variant is a good idea in view of the
pocket hogging issue.   

I would also suggest this variant about flipping.  A piece in the pocket
is affected by flipping, but a move to or from the pocket doesn't cause
filpping.

Rook Mania. Game where all pieces have different sorts of Rook-like moves. (7x7, Cells: 43) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Wed, Apr 9, 2003 11:45 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
I like the overall flavor of this game and am looking forward to your revisions. Personally, I don't care for the Coordinator. Pehaps the last pawn should instead promote to a piece its owner has lost (any time after the capture of the next-to-last pawn, counts as a move)--maybe you could extend this to the last two pawns, at the players option--this strengthens the pawn by making capturing them self-defeating beyond a certain point.

Ataturk Chess. One of your pieces in addition to your King is royal (your vice-president), and it can be changed. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Thu, Apr 10, 2003 11:49 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
A really fine game concept. I can't help but wonder how well Attaturk Lag Chess would play.

Outback Chess. New pieces on plus-shaped board. (10x10, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Fri, Apr 18, 2003 05:07 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
I have playtested this game extensively in the course of judging Group A. The rules make it sound like a cute game and it is--but it has surprising depth. I will be giving more detail after the judging is complete, but I really wanted to recommend this fine game.

Ready Chess. Pieces cannot capture right after capturing, they have to be restored first. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Tue, May 20, 2003 04:10 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
This is worth an excellent because the concept's elegant simplicity is
applicable to virtually any variant (though I wouldn't want to apply it
to a game slower than FIDE Chess--Ready Shogi would be interesting but
would take forever to play).  The ready concept is particlary meritorious
in games that are faster and more tactical than FIDE Chess -- slowing them
down might give them a strategic/tactical balance like FIDE whiler hasving
a very different feel.  Examples: Ready Tripunch Chess, Ready Tutti-Fruiti
Chess, Ready Progressive Chess.

This game also works with thematic Kings, which personally I really prefer
(when playable) from an esthetic standpoint.

PromoChess. Everything but the king can power up. Mix of Japanese/Western/fairy pieces. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Wed, May 21, 2003 02:45 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
I really like this game. If a King promotion is desired, perhaps a mW2F2cK
allowing more mobitity with the stipulation that the 2-square move
couldn't cross check (like castling).  This would be worth having as the
promoted King could get out of a dangerous position quicker, but most
mating positions would still be the same.

Let's take a look at promotions:

Knight is a two atom piece that promotes to a five atom piece--this is the
strongest promotion and a good thing -- the 9x9 board weakens the Kinght
vs the Bishop and the stronger promotion rebalances the eqaution.

Bishop is a two atom piece that promotes to a four atom piece, as is the
Camel; the Rook is a three atom piece that promotes to a five atom piece. 
These promotions are of appoximately equal value.

The Silver (FfW) is worth maybe 1 1/3 or so atoms and promotes to a three
atom piece, clearly a a bigger gain than Bishop, Rook, or Camel,  but a
lessar gain than Knight.

The Pawn is harder to evaluate -- it can promote in two steps vs five in
FIDE but does not promote to a decisive piece, so FIDE's 2/3 atom is
probably a good guess.  The Gold (WfF) is worth 1 2/3 atoms, so this is
the weakest promotion--but Pawn promotions collectively can add a lot of
power.

Orwell Chess. Three player variant themed on George Orwell's 1984. (7x12, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Thu, May 22, 2003 08:31 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
I am more than a little surprized that this game was not chosen as a finalist in the 84 spaces contest. This is an enjoyable, playable three-handed game and that is a very rare thing. I feel that the innovative shifting alliances rule will revitalize the three-handed genre.

Evolution Chess. Game where pieces add the abilities of pieces they capture. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Mon, Jul 14, 2003 11:07 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
A very pretty game, more playable than absorbtion.


It gives me an idea a variant:

When one piece captures another, any DNA the captured piece has that the
capturer does not have is added to the capturerpiece, but any DNA that the
pieces have in common is removed form the capturer:

Rook captures Bishop = Queen
Rook captures Queen = Bishop
Rook captures Amazon = Cardinal
Cardinal captures Queen = Marshall
Knight captures Knight = nothing! (suicide capture)


I wonder how this would play?

Glenn's Decimal Chess. A 10x10 blend of FIDE, Shogi, and Xiangqi influences. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Wed, Jul 23, 2003 04:13 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
A most pleasing blend of Western Chess, Xiangqi and Shogi. The piece set is most entertianing and seems to work well together. The Ogyo is more valuable in this game than it would be in a FIDE-like variant: it has the same horizontal King interdiction power as the Rook, and vertical interdiction isn't needed--the King facing rule provides it.

Maxima. Maxima is an interesting and exiting variant of Ultima, with new elements that make Maxima more clear and dynamic. (Cells: 76) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Fri, Jul 25, 2003 08:01 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Roberto,

Maxima is a very fine game. 

With respect to the value of pieces, I wouldn't even attempt to calculate
the values in an Ultima Variant--the multiplicity of capture types means
that this will be far harder than the value of Chess pieces.  But I
believe it is doable in principle.

The reason I'm interested in the value of Chess pieces is for game
design. I want theoretical values so I can have an idea what an unfamiliar
piece should be worth. I particularly have an interest in Chess With
Different Armies and most especially the 'build your own army' variants.
The ideal value won't and cannot be perfect, but it should be a decent
starting place--practical values will always be empirical, and will vary
by game context. For example, play a lot of Chess using Berolina Pawns--do
the Bishop and Rook have the same values relative to each other as in FIDE
Chess?

Zillions values are about useless for pieces that are even slighty
unorthodox--even the Bishop is overvalued compared to the Knight. That's
why Zillions programmers have techniques to inflate piece values.

Ryu Shogi. Large modern shogi variant. (7x12, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Mon, Jul 28, 2003 03:07 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
I judged this game in my group during the preliminaries and have I higher opinion of the game than the author does. A refreshing change of pace for the Shogi player. I think the design as submitted is a good one--in fact I voted Ryu Shogi above the eventual winner. The only design decision I would change if it were up to me is to eliminate the rule that a promoted piece reverts to non-promoted if it returns to the first zone--it makes for a stronger defense if you have the option of anchoring your weak pieces with a strong piece. All in all, a fine design.

Switching Realms Chess. All noncapturing moves must change the board subset a piece occupies. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Sat, Sep 6, 2003 02:57 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Antother fine Separate Realms variant. This should be a very close match with the Separate Realms II army, with more raw power but poorer developement. If it's a little too strong, using a Slip Queen instead of the SwR Chancellor should even it up.

Nova Chess. Members-Only Played on an 8x8 or 10x10 board with a wide range of pieces.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

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Falcon Chess. Game on an 8x10 board with a new piece: The Falcon. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Mon, Apr 12, 2004 04:04 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
For the game. Falcon Chess is quite playable and the Falcon piece has a charming move that makes for interesting tactics.

Michael Nelson wrote on Mon, Apr 12, 2004 04:09 PM UTC:Poor ★

For:

1. The inventor's mistaken belief that this is the best chess variant ever invented.

2. Patenting a game whose distinguishing difference from Chess is a lame Bison with an improved movement--an innovation, to be sure, but a small one.

3. His desire to prevent anyone else from using the Falcon in any game (no matter how unlike Falcon Chess).


Horus. Game with Royal Falcons where all pieces start off board and most captures return pieces to owner's hand. (7x7, Cells: 44) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Mon, Apr 12, 2004 04:16 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
A interesting, highly tactial game.

PiRaTeKnIcS. Pirates on ships fight each other in 44-squares chess variant. (6x8, Cells: 44) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Tue, May 4, 2004 09:15 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
A most fascinating game concept. A world of interesting variants can be
developed from this idea. A large board variant with powerful but
short-range pieces comes to mind. Perhaps an 11x11 board with some empty
ships in the center.

Aviary. New pieces with shogi elements and a bird theme. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Wed, May 19, 2004 08:06 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
I like this game concept. I thinks that the two Kings will be playable and
it isn't necesary to change the win conditon--a player threatend with the
capture of one of his Kings has a move option not present in FIDE
Chess--the counter-check. You check one of my Kings and I defend by
checking back. You capture my King I capture yours. 

I would suggest a small rules change--whenever a player captures an enemy
King, he must drop it on his next turn. This keeps all four kings in paly
and allows the player with a single King some nice chances of
equalizing--he has three royal targets vs. his opponents one.

Cascudo. On 44-square hexagonal board with turns consisting of cascade of moves. (Cells: 44) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Michael Nelson wrote on Thu, May 20, 2004 10:30 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
An intriguing idea indeed. The powerful King as the focal point is most interesting--especially the idea of one King checking the other. I suspect that this would play OK on a square board as well. Perhaps a Capablanca variant to bring in some stronger pieces.

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