Designers | Andrew Looney |
---|---|
Publishers | Looney Labs |
Publication | 1999 |
Years active | 1999–present |
Genres | |
Systems | Icehouse |
Players | 2 or 4 |
Skills | Strategy, tactics |
Materials required | |
Released in |
|
Website | Official website |
Martian Chess is an abstract strategy game for two or four players invented by Andrew Looney in 1999.[1] It is played with Icehouse pyramids on a chessboard.[2] To play with a number of players other than two or four, a non-Euclidean surface can be tiled to produce a board of the required size, allowing up to six players.
In his review in Abstract Games Magazine, Kerry Handscomb stated:[3]
The first thing to note about Martian Chess is that it is not a chess-type game at all. Instead, the objective is to accumulate points by capturing pieces.
Martian Chess is [...] an original game with novel tactics and strategy.
In 1996, Looney had invented Monochrome Chess, a similar two-player game that uses regular chess pieces where the half of the board determined who controlled a piece. While the king is not royal, the king and rook can castle.[4]
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