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This page is written by the game's inventor, Andy Maxson.

The prince's game

After reading the entry for quang trung chess i realised that one of the main qualities of a good game is it has something chess or xiangqi doesen't or could have evolved from chess. so here goes

Setup

b*nkcn*b
*g****g*
pppppppp
********
rrrrrrrr
********
PPPPPPPP
*G****G*
B*NCKN*B
G:cannon
C:chariot
P:pawn
K:prince
N:knight
B:boat
R: equals river square

Pieces

Boat: move one square diagonally to an empty square not stopping and continues as rook but mast go at least two squares in continuing in same direction
chariot: moves as queen but when capturing must go one or more paces away from captured piece
Knight: moves normally
prince: royal piece, moves when not taking as knight when captures as queen that jumps to square just beyond piece to capture can make a knight move to square occupied by friendly piece and swap places a may do this any time as long as prince isn't under attack Can check enemy prince without being counter attacked.
Cannon: moves as bishop but must go at least two squares may jump diagonally adjacent squre then contiue as bishop in same direction can only jump first square this is NOT the move of the vao
Pawn: moves one square diagonally forwards if hasn't moved before. Promotes to any piece except prince on reaching last rank. Upon moving onto river (central rank) it gains the move of chinese pawn (one square straight forwards.

Rules

1.You win by checkmate or stalemate threefold repittition is a draw
2. red goes first (uppercase letters in diagram)
3. riders other than boats that move through river cannot move more than more than one square past river that includes a chariot not being able to move past square just beyond enemy piece on river also, princes on one side of river cannot capture an enemy piece across river only a piece on river unless there are available pieces on the side price is on.
4. optional if you have captured six points worth more than you opponent you win unless your opponent can make another capture which makes it so your opponent doesen't have six points over you which he/she should make (but doesn't have to) here is the scoring system (not piece values necceasrilly): pawn:1 point cannon, knight:2 points boat:3 points chariot: 6 points (note if your opponent takes your chariot and you have haven't scored more than your opponent on on your previous move and cannot take any pieces you lose the game) it is not illegal to let your opponent capture six points worth more than you have and not make any captures though it is foolish.

Notes

This game was based off quang trung 2nd edition but there are some differences. This game does have some things chinese chess and chess doesen't have. The optional rule is the most complicated sounding but is pretty simple you may skip it if you want but it is much easier to learn if you are shown the rule. Why the prince swap move you may ask? beacause i feel it gets annoying having to to use two colorbound instead of one non colorbound piece and think about this imagine thare is this great fok available but wait! you only have a cannon on the opposite color! look at chariot you would have won if it was on the other color! the board should be checkered. i feel regular chessboard is small and a 9x9 board is a bit big. The chariot and prince ignoring defended units was chosen becuse with having cannons being able defend each other this would make the game less sacrificing pieces like in orthochess. The cannon was based off the quang trung II cannon and the quang trung IIII cannon being a bishop isn't cannon like and the queen is a bit powerful so intermixed it so it takes a away the rook component also called the cannon in quang trung 10 so it is more bishop like and cannon like in strength i was going to use the quang trung 10  cannon but that would be copying and my idea is also original. if this game gets a game courier preset you should use use the vao symbol for this piece it sort of looks  like Vu Vo's symbol for the cannon. the boat was made because it is griffon like but not too powerful. The pawn was partially taken from quang trung IIII. The optional rule was chosen beacause when i found a new chess set i realized those pieces looked like xiangqi pieces and would work with my  shogi board. I realized i could use the dominoes wich had up to six dots on them for part of the game i realised those could be used to keep score. This is based off Vu Vo's works which are pretty original. the ability to move one straight forwards after crossing central rank is based of xiangqi along wih river river restricting piece movement.  Enough of my rambling


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By Andy Maxson.
Web page created: 2007-04-10. Web page last updated: 2007-04-10