Contents 1 - Setup

3 5 7 8 9 10

Colour Chess: - Chess Piece Movement - How to Play - Missing Moves - Moving into Check - Castling / En Passant / Pawn Promotion - Tactics: Forcing Moves

11 13 14 15 17 19

Chess & Colour Chess Variations: - Swarm - Sequence - Switch - 4 Player Colour Chess - Non-Standard Boards & Pieces - Action Tiles

21 23 24 25 26

Lure: - How to play - The Pieces - Example End Game - Advanced Pieces - Game Setups

27 - Hybrid Games

Setup 1. Build the frame By using the different size frame pieces, you can make different size boards. The classic 8x8 board shown here is a good place to start.

2. Fill the board The way the tiles are laid will massively influence how the game plays. There will be more tiles than you need to fill the board, so you can either play with a fairly even number of each tile or with a shortage of certain colours (the latter will create a game with more forced moves). There are three different ways to fill the board: - Randomly: Place the tiles anywhere (recommended to start with) - Patterned: Place the tiles in an arranged fashion to create shapes and patterns

1

- Competitively: Each player randomly takes enough tiles to fill half of the board, then places them so the other player can see which colours they have. In turn, they then add one tile at a time anywhere on the board, that must touch either the frame or an existing tile.

3. Place your pieces Decide which game you are going to play and set up the pieces. The playing pieces are double-sided; you will need the second side for playing the Swarm game variations, but for all other games you can use either side as long as theyʼre all the same way up.

Colour Chess For Colour Chess, the pieces are set up the same way as for traditional Chess. If you have not played traditional Chess before or need a refresher, turn to page 3 to learn how the pieces move. Alternatively, turn to page 5 if you are already confident with the game and are ready to learn Colour Chess.

Lure You can set up Lure with a number of different piece arrangements. This is a basic variation for learning the game: each player has only one King and one Sword. Turn to page 21 to learn how to play. Note: when setting up the tiles for Lure, avoid long vertical runs of 5 or more tiles like the green run highlighted in white on the left. Replace a tile or two to break the long run. Also, note that tiles on each player’s back row should not be adjacent to the same colour on their second row (like the orange tiles at the bottom highlighted in black). Again, replace tiles to correct this. This is to avoid making it too easy to get to the back rows.

2

Chess Piece Movement In Colour Chess, pieces move exactly the same way as in traditional Chess.

General Movement Rules - Pieces cannot share a space: if an opponent has a piece on the space you are trying to move to, then you capture it and remove it from the board. If you already have a piece there, you cannot move to that location - Pieces cannot move through other pieces: they must have a clear path from their start space to their finish space (with the exception of the Knight)

King

Queen

The King can move just one space in any direction, diagonally or orthogonally (vertically and horizontally). If you can capture the opponentʼs King then you win the game.

The Queen can move as far as it wants in any direction, diagonally or orthogonally.

Rook

Bishop

The Rook can move as far as it wants in an orthogonal direction. (It can also perform a special move with the King called castling, see page 9).

The Bishop can move as far as it wants, in a diagonal direction only.

3

Knight The Knight moves two spaces orthogonally, then one space to the side in either direction. This gives it its characteristic ʻLʼ shaped movement. It is the only piece that can jump over other pieces in its movement path.

Pawn The Pawn moves just one space forward, but if it is the first time it has moved, it can move two spaces forward (from the second to the fourth row). The Pawn is different from all other pieces, as it cannot capture when it moves forwards orthogonally. Instead, it has a separate capturing movement, where it goes one space diagonally forwards.

If a Pawn makes it to a space on the opponentʼs back row, it is instantly promoted: it gets removed from the board and replaced with any other piece from the game (apart from the King).

4

How to Play To win you must capture the opponentʼs King (checkmate does not exist in Colour Chess). The movement of pieces in Colour Chess is the same as in traditional Chess, but the turn structure is different. After the first turn, each player makes two moves. The first must be onto the same colour that your opponent just moved to. The second must be with a different piece and onto a different colour. Your opponent will then move to that colour in the first part of their turn, and so on. Letʼs look at an example:

1. White has moved to a purple space As itʼs the first turn of the game, White makes just one move.

5

2. Black must now make a move to the same colour: purple Black only has a choice of two moves to purple, so must move one of their pawns.

3. Black now makes a second move to any colour apart from purple. Remember, the same piece cannot move twice in a turn. They move to yellow.

4. White now has to move to the same colour that Black just moved to: yellow. They will then move to a different colour with a different piece in the second part of their turn.

Play continues in this way, two moves at a time until a King has been captured.

Keeping Track If you need help remembering which colour was moved to, or whose turn it is, place one of each colour tile at the side of the board at the start of setup. (1) At the end of a playerʼs turn, they pass the tile to their opponent that matches the colour they just moved to. (2) When they have moved to that colour, they turn the tile to face-down in front of them. The tiles left at the side show the available colours they can now move to. (3) After they move to their chosen colour from the remaining options, they return the tile they were given to the side face-up and pass the new matching colour tile to their opponent. (4)

1 2 3 4

Pausing the Game At the end of a playerʼs turn, you can flip the last piece that they moved so that it shows the reverse side. Now you can return to the game later exactly where you left off, without losing track of whose turn it is or which colour to move to.

6

Missing Moves If you cannot move to the colour that your opponent called for the first part of your turn, then you miss that movement and take the second part of your turn, moving to a different colour.

Example: Black has just moved their Knight to purple. White has no pieces that can move to purple, so they miss the first part of their turn. White now takes the second part of their turn as usual, moving to a colour of their choice to get their King out of check.

If you cannot move during the second part of your turn, you must miss it and pass the turn to your opponent. As they donʼt have a colour to copy, they skip the first part of their turn, but are now free to choose any colour (including the last one chosen) for the second part of their turn. Example: Black has just moved their Bishop to green. White moves their King to green to get out of check in the first part of their turn. In doing so, they have left themselves with no available moves; they cannot move their King a second time this turn and they cannot move one of their Pawns forward to green as that colour has already been used.

7

Play now skips to the second part of Black’s turn, where Black may choose any colour (including green).

Moving into Check Unlike in traditional Chess, the game of Colour Chess is only over once a King has been captured. The King is allowed to be in check, they can move through check when castling and can also intentionally put themselves in check! (They can even capture an opposing King). Note that players should still make their opponent aware when their King is placed in check. Depending on how lenient you are feeling, you may also allow your opponent to retake their last turn if they make a mistake; winning accidentally is unsatisfying!

Example: Black has moved their Knight onto purple, reversing the threat on the White Bishop and threatening the Queen. The Knight is covered by their Bishop so in traditional Chess it would be protected. However...

White goes on the attack and captures the Knight with their King, intentionally putting themselves in Check. They now have the second half of their turn to leave themselves in a safe position and avoid capture next turn. They can do this by capturing the Bishop with their Queen.

8

Castling You castle by moving the King two spaces towards the Rook. It is the colour the King moves to that counts for the move, it doesnʼt matter which colour the Rook finishes on. Here, Black can either castle by moving the King to blue, or to yellow. The Rook is then placed on the other side of the King. Note: both pieces are treated as though they have moved during this manoeuvre, so you couldn’t move either of them again this turn. Here, Black cannot castle on either side as there are pieces in the way in each direction. You also cannot castle if you have already moved the King or the Rook earlier in the game. Unlike in traditional Chess, you are allowed to castle through or into check, so Black could castle to either side here.

En Passant After a Pawn makes a 2 space move, an opposing Pawn can capture it en passant by moving onto the space it passed over. This special capture is only possible on the very next turn (either on the first part of the turn or the second). Here White moved to green, so Black made a green move elsewhere, then captured en passant on blue in the second part of their turn.

Pawn Promotion 9

When a Pawn reaches the opponentʼs back row, remove it from the board and replace it with any other non-King piece type. The promoted piece cannot move again this turn.

Tactics: Forcing Moves By carefully choosing which colour you move to, you can force your opponent to make unfortunate moves during the first part of their turn. Example: White has just moved onto purple, forcing Black to move onto purple. There are only two purple moves available to Black (the empty highlighted spaces); both involve moving their Queen under threat from a Pawn. Black has to choose one of them, then won’t be able to move their Queen again this turn to escape trouble. The Queen is surely lost?

But wait! Black moves their Queen to purple, then their King onto green. As it is their only available move on the colour, White must now move their Pawn forward to green, saving the Black Queen!

10

In the Swarm Colour Chess variation, every piece that can make a move, has to make a move. Once each piece has moved, flip it over so that you know not to move it again this turn (then unflip all pieces at the end of turn).

Example Game Start White has moved their Pawn onto purple, and has then moved every other piece that can move to that colour (the Knight and the King). They could have moved their pieces differently; for example by moving their Knight first, they would have blocked the other pieces and left them without any other purple moves. The order you choose to move pieces in will determine which other pieces are free to move; this is key to winning the game. Both players should check that there are no more possible moves remaining on that colour before moving on.

The turn structure is identical to Colour Chess, so Black must now move to purple with every piece that is free to do so. Any pieces that move during the turn are flipped; they cannot move again this turn. Note that even if a piece starts on the chosen colour, it must still move to it if possible (for example the Black Rook in this diagram).

11

Black then chooses to move to red (remembering that previously flipped pieces can’t move again this turn). After moving the Bishop out of the way, they were able to castle by moving the King onto red and placing the Rook the other side of it. Note that the Rook is flipped as it counts as having moved from castling. Once both players have agreed that there are no more moves that can be made, the pieces unflip.

White now moves to red and the game continues! It is not uncommon for most or all of your pieces to move during your turn, so later in the game missing part of your turn becomes common and working out which opponent pieces to lock by forcing them to move is a key strategy.

You can also play Swarm as a variation of traditional Chess on a standard board. When doing so, Chess plays as normal with each player having just one turn, but they must move every piece that is able to move. Again, the order in which pieces are moved will determine the game.

12

Sequence Colour Chess This is a single move variation with a focus on looking ahead, where players make just one move FROM each colour in sequence (matching the order of the dots at the edge of the board). White will move a piece that occupies a red tile, then Black will do the same. They then do the same for blue, and continue on until orange. After this the sequence repeats. As you know which colour will be moved from in the future and when, you can look very far ahead. By landing on the right colours you can move the same piece several times in a row over several turns. You are allowed to move to the same colour that you moved from. If you have no move available from a colour, you simply miss that turn. To prevent rare forced wins in the first few turns, pieces cannot be captured during the first cycle through the colours.

Example Game Start

White moves their Knight off a red tile, then Black does the same.

13

The next colour is blue; White is forced to advance their Pawn, while Black moves their Knight again.

Swarm Sequence Colour Chess This plays in the same way, except that every piece on the currect colour must move off it if possible, rather than just one piece moving. This is possibly the most difficult game variation for calculating moves in advance. You have been warned!!

Switch Colour Chess This is another single move variation. This time, the colour that you move TO, is the colour that your opponent must move FROM (eg. if White moves to a green tile, Black must move a piece that is already on a green tile). You are allowed to move to the same colour you moved from. If a player cannot make a move from the colour you just moved to, then they get to choose any colour to move from (there are no missed parts to turns), so be careful not to leave your opponent without a move.

White has moved onto a purple tile, so Black must now move a piece off a purple tile.

Black moves their Knight off purple and onto a red tile. White must now move a piece off a red tile.

14

4 Player Colour Chess This is played in two teams on an extended board; you sit opposite your partner and cannot capture their pieces. Note that this requires a second copy of the game to play. The first team to capture either opponent King wins the game. To accommodate for 4 players, the turn structure is slightly different. It helps to use a turn counter (any tile or piece you are not using in the game). Player 1 starts with the turn counter. They move to a colour (in this case yellow) and pass the turn counter to their RIGHT (to player 4). Each player to their LEFT, in turn, makes a move to that colour (Player 2, then Player 3, then Player 4). The game now looks like the diagram below: Player 3

Turn Counter

Player 4

Player 2 Player 1

The last player to move to that colour (Player 4, the one with the turn counter), will now make a second move to a different colour, with a different piece. They will then pass the turn counter to their RIGHT, while play continues to their LEFT.

15

Below, Player 4 has moved to purple and passed the turn counter to their right, to player 3. In turn, Player 1, Player 2 and Player 3 then moved to purple. Next it would be Player 3’s turn to take a second turn, moving to a different colour with a different piece. Player 3

Player 2

Player 4

Turn Counter

Player 1

When making any move, pay close attention to whose turn it is to lead the next colour choice, especially whether they are your ally or opponent and who gets to move before and after you. There are a few other rules that arise to deal with the board setup: - The White playersʼ Queens are setup to the left of their Kings, the Black playersʻ Queens are setup to the right of their Kings, as normal - Pieces that havenʼt previously moved cannot capture any piece that is in an opponentʼs starting area (the two rows where their pieces start the game. This stops the corner Pawns from immediately attacking and also stops early forced long-range attacks) - Pawns can always move either 1 or 2 spaces forward (if they move 2, they are vulnerable to a diagonal en passant capture on the space behind them) - If a Pawn is prevented from moving forwards by an allied Pawn, they may use their move to switch the places of the two Pawns - Pawns can promote on the back row of any other player.

16

Non-Standard Boards By using different combinations of frame pieces, or by placing some tiles with the coloured side face-down, you can block off parts of the board to create unusual boards. With two sets of the game, you can even make giant boards! Here are two examples to get you started:

Most pieces cope fine with these non-standard setups, but Pawns have some special rules you can add so they donʼt get stuck against walls. Choose from the following 4 options; each gives a very different aspect to Pawn manipulation. 1 - Pawns may move sideways one space instead of forwards 2 - As above, but only if they have a wall in front of them 3 - Pawns may rotate 90 degrees in either direction instead of moving (they now move and capture diagonally in that direction. They can end up facing backwards!) 4 - As above but it is in addition to their movement, either before or after it (eg. rotate 90 degrees, then capture) (You can also add these options as game variations, even when you aren’t using additional walls) If you are on a large board, you may want to allow Pawns to always be able to move 2 spaces forward if they choose (see the 4 Player Chess rules). If you are playing with a right-angled board like the one above on the right, then Pawns can promote on the back wall opposite them, as well as on the opponentʼs back row as usual.

17

Non-Standard Pieces As well as setting up the board in a different way, you can also add different pieces to the game. By combining pieces or changing how they behave, you can create hundreds of new pieces to add into your games. For example you can have a Knight that also has the movement ability of a Bishop, a Queen that can jump, or even pieces that explode when captured! An internet search for ʻFairy Chess piecesʼ will give you plenty of ideas, or experiment and try out your own! We recommend only mixing in one or two different pieces at a time, as too many changes at once can make it hard to form any kind of strategy when playing.

You can represent different pieces by rotating or flipping standard pieces. You can then add these to traditional Chess, Colour Chess or any other game variation (just donʼt use flipped pieces if playing a Swarm variation!!) Above for example you have a standard Knight, which when placed upside-down on the board could be the afore-mentioned Knight with additional Bishop movement. The flipped Knight could represent a Knight that can move multiple times and the flipped and upside-down Knight could be a Knight that canʼt jump. Itʼs entirely up to you! Use the pieces in a way that visually makes the most sense to you. You can add Lure pieces to your Colour Chess games (see page 27), or you can use Lure pieces to represent additional Fairy Chess pieces.

Lure Piece Attributes On pages 23 and 25 you will learn how Lure pieces work and the unique abilities they possess. You can combine these abilities with Chess pieces to create even more Fairy Chess pieces. Here are some ideas: - A Knight that protects adjacent pieces from capture (Lure Shield) - A Queen that cannot capture, but instead sits on top and traps pieces (Lure Spider) - A Bishop that can shunt pieces out of the way instead of capturing them (Lure Ram) - A Pawn that wins the game if it gets to the other side (Lure King, but without the ability to lose the game if captured)

18

Action Tiles By using the light and dark sides of the coloured tiles, you can create a regular Chess board and then add in a few coloured tiles with special attributes.

Wall Tile This is a solid barrier that pieces cannot pass through, jump over or stop on top of.

Quicksand Tile Pieces must stop on these tiles, they cannot pass through them. Jumping pieces are unaffected.

Lava Tile Pieces can pass over this tile, but if they stop on it then they are destroyed and taken off the board.

Water Tile Pieces that are on this tile can be passed through by other pieces that are on their way to another tile.

Turbo Tile

19

Pieces that finish their movement on this space immediately make another movement if possible. You can then move again onto another Turbo Tile (previously used Turbo Tiles wonʼt activate again in the same move).

Tunnel Tile Pieces that are on this tile may move to any other tunnel tile as their movement; if the other tunnel is occupied by an opponent piece, they make a capture (they canʼt move there if it is a friendly piece).

Alternative possibilities for tiles

Portal Tile Pieces can warp out of or onto any other Portal Tile, continuing their movement in the same direction.

Swap Tile When a piece on a swap tile is captured, it swaps places with the piece that captured it (where its movement started). You may capture friendly pieces to swap with them. This makes pieces safe from capture while on a Swap Tile. Note: to prevent stalemate, you are not allowed to repeat a board position when players are making several swaps in a row. Note: Lava and Wall tiles are inactive if they have a piece on top of them at the start of the game. They activate once the piece has moved off. Similarly, pieces that start on a Tunnel or Portal cannot be captured using another Tunnel or Portal, but they can be used to travel from by the pieces starting on them.

Action Tiles in Colour Chess If you are playing Colour Chess, you can choose which colours work as action tiles, and which are just standard coloured tiles. (For example, if using Lava Tiles you can force your opponent to move onto one, but you would have to move to one first!) You can also use the light and dark reverse tile sides and choose any of the actions for those tiles, eg. the dark tiles are all Swap Tiles.

20

The aim of this game is to gain points by capturing your opponentʼs pieces and by getting your own pieces to your opponentʼs back row. These pieces are immediately removed from the board and placed in front of you to keep track of your score (each piece is worth 1 point). The first player to a set number of points wins the game, but you can also win instantly by capturing your opponentʼs King, or by getting your King to your opponentʼs back row. Each piece in Lure moves in the same way by travelling to any adjacent tile. Then if there are adjacent tiles of the same colour, you may choose to keep moving the piece along the colour as far as you like before stopping. All of your other pieces must then make a move to that colour if they can (even if they are already on that colour). You can move the pieces in any order, which will determine the available moves. Here are two examples of moves White could make on red: White moves their Sword one space, then their King moves along several connected red tiles.

White moves their Sword to block their King, stopping it from moving as pieces cannot pass through each other.

In the following simple example game, there is no point limit so a win can only come from getting the King across the board or by capturing the opponentʼs King: 1. White moves their King to red, choosing to advance cautiously by moving it just one space. White is also able to move their Sword to an adjacent red tile, so must do so.

21

Each turn after the first turn is made up of two parts: in the first part you must move to the colour that your opponent last moved to, then in the second part you move to a different colour of your choosing. All pieces move in each part of the turn if they are able to, so at the end of each part of turn both players should check that there are no possible moves remaining before continuing, to ensure no possible moves are missed.

2. Black must now move onto the same colour that White just moved to. They must move if they can, even if it means moving backwards or into danger.

3. In the second part of their turn, Black makes a move to a different colour (green). Pieces move in both parts of the turn if they can. 4. White must now move to green, even though it is unhelpful for them as it sends their Sword backwards and away from their King. They now have the second part of their turn to move to any colour other than green, which Black will then move to and so on. Play continues until a King is either captured or gets to the other side (one Sword can also capture the other, but it wonʼt win or lose the game in this simple game setup).

Note: If a player cannot move in the first part of their turn, they skip to the second part. In the extremely rare case that they cannot move any piece in the second part of their turn, skip to the second part of the next playerʼs turn who may then move to any colour. Stalemates (draws) are technically possible if players keep repeating the same colour choices, but they are usually avoided as pieces shift around and different options present themselves.

22

The Pieces King

Kings allow you to instantly win or lose the game but are capable of nothing else. They spend the game trying to survive and get to the opponentʼs back row if possible. The White King has made it to the opponent’s back row. The game is instantly won so threats from other pieces are ignored.

Sword

Swords are the only piece that can capture other pieces which they do by moving on top of them (this ends their movement). Each piece they capture is worth one point.

White moves their Sword on top of Black’s Sword and captures it.

Shield

Shields prevent your adjacent pieces from being captured by Swords but with one exception: they cannot protect the King. Note that Shields can protect other Shields. The green circles show pieces that cannot be captured because they have a friendly Shield adjacent. The red circles show pieces vulnerable to capture.

23

Example End Game

1. This game setup needs 4 points to win. White is on 2 points (1 capture, 1 piece home). Black is on 1 point (1 capture). White’s King is threatening to win the game on their next turn.

2. White had just moved to red so Black must now do the same and move every piece that can move to an adjacent red tile. Black must now stop White from being able to get their King home on the next turn.

3. Black has chosen to move to orange; this will allow White to get their Sword home and put them on 3 points, but it will also force them to move their King backwards and prevent them from winning the game this turn. It has also left Black in a very strong position, ready to either get their King home for an instant win, or to win on points from other pieces.

24

Advanced Pieces Once you are more experienced with the game, you may wish to add the following pieces; each creates different available strategies (see Game Setups on page 26 to add them).

Spider Spiders can finish their move on top of any other piece (or pile of pieces), which then becomes trapped. Trapped pieces cannot move and trapped Shields stop defending. Moving onto another piece ends the Spiderʼs move for that turn. In the example on the left, the White Spider moves to trap the Black Shield, allowing White to then capture the undefended Black Sword.

If a Sword attacks, it captures the top piece of the pile and then sits on top of the trapped pieces, which remain trapped until it moves away (the Sword can in turn be captured, leaving the pieces trapped below the new captor).

Ram Rams allow you to shunt other pieces around and off the board, even onto the back row to score points. To shunt a piece, you move to occupy the tile it was on, pushing it one space in the same direction of travel (this does not count as a move for the shunted piece).

25

(left picture) You need an empty space to shunt into; the King here prevents the shunt. (right picture) Pushing an opponentʼs pieces off the board captures them. You cannot push your own pieces off the board (this includes piles with your trapped pieces in).

page Rams can shunt piles as though they are one piece. Trapped opponent pieces that you push off the board are scored as points, but if the pile contains any friendly pieces, you are not allowed to push it off the board. Trapped pieces stay trapped if they are moved to the back row, but are instantly home once freed there).

Game Setups Here are some piece setups for you to try; Blackʼs pieces should be set up to mirror Whiteʼs. The point totals show how many points you need to accumulate to win, but you can always instantly win or lose with the King. Feel free to experiment with your own setups and different board sizes.

Duo

Race

King win/loss only

4 Points

Standard

Pushy

4 Points

4 Points

Spider Defence

1 of Each

3 Points

3 Points

Flanks

Full Set

4 Points

6 Points

26

Hybrid Games Colour Chess with Lure pieces Add Lure pieces to any of the Colour Chess game variations to create entirely new strategies! The Lure pieces move and function exactly as they would in a Lure game, except they can only move once per turn as per the rules of Colour Chess. They are not removed from the board when they reach the other side. Pawns can be promoted to any non-King piece that is in the game. You could for example add a Shield or two to defend other pieces (apart from Kings), or even add a Lure King that can provide an instant win if it gets to the other side, but canʼt capture. Experiment! Remember that you can use non-standard board sizes and action tiles as well. Here are some ideas (setup Blackʼs pieces to mirror Whiteʼs):

Chess + Sword & Shield

King + Guests

9x8 Board

5x6 Board

Towers No Pawns 8x8 Board

27

5x13 Board

Lure with Chess pieces Following Lure rules, Chess pieces can move twice a turn if possible, so adding Chess pieces to Lure needs to be done carefully at first as they can vastly change the feel of the game. Rooks for example are able to charge across the board, then move at a right-angle to make a capture, so if you are careless it is possible to easily lose the game. You can also draw long-range pieces off the board by making them move to your back row, so pay close attention to your options! Chess Kings win the game if they get to the other side and they will lose you the game if captured. They canʼt be protected by Shields. Pawns do not promote when they reach the far side (they are removed as points), but they retain their double starting move and en passant abilities. Alternatively, you could have them promote but re-appear as the promoted piece back on their starting row (in the same column that they promoted onto, or as close as possible).

Standard + Rooks

Ranged Rampage

5 Points. 8x8 Board

4 Points. 8x8 Board

Pawn Wall

Animal Escort

7 Points. 8x8 Board

3 Points. 5x6 Board

Royal Ram Race

Simultaneous Sovereigns

2 Points. 8x8 Board

3 Points. 9x8 Board

28

www.dogearedgames.com

/dogearedgames