Fearsome Chess
Inspired by the complex hierarchy of fear found in nature, this game gives a new life to a childhood game like "Fear Me!" by transforming it into a strategic chess variant.
This game has different names around the world and uses different animals in the fear hierarchy according to the local fauna. The game I remember had the following hierarchy:
- Mouse was afraid of the Cat
- Cat was afraid of the Dog
- Dog was afraid of the Wolf
- Wolf was afraid of the Hunter
- Hunter was afraid of the Mouse
I decided to add an extra Bear in this hierarchy (in between the Wolf and Hunter) in order to match the six types of chess pieces.
Setup
The initial setup looks like this:
Pieces
Each player has the following pieces:
- 2 Hunters (Kings),
- 2 Bears (Queens),
- 2 Wolves (Rooks),
- 2 Dogs (Bishops),
- 2 Cats (Knights),
- 8 Mice (Pawns).
Pieces move like their chess counterparts.
Capturing
Capturing follows the hierarchy of fear. Mice can be captured by Cats, or other Mice. Cats can be captured by Dogs, or other Cats, etc. Hunters are the only exception. They can be captured by the Mice, but other Hunters will behave like regular chess Kings and can not move to addjacent squares.
Rules
The objective of the game is to control three of the four red squares. Moving a piece on a red square does not count as controlling it if that piece still has natural predators on the board.
Natural Predators
Each piece has its own natural predators:
- Hunters = Mice and other Hunters,
- Bears = Hunters and other Bears,
- Wolves = Bears and other Wolves,
- Dogs = Wolves and other Dogs,
- Cats = Dogs and other Cats,
- Mice = Cats and other Mice.
Winning the game
- Controlling three red squares by pieces without natural predators
- If these pieces still have natural predators on the board but they are unable to reach these red squares
Additional rules
- Pawns (Mice) can promote to any piece,
- There is no castling, no en passant, no check, and no check mate,
- Pawns (Mice) can move two squares on the first move.
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By Florin Lupusoru.
Last revised by Florin Lupusoru.
Web page created: 2024-02-25. Web page last updated: 2024-03-03