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Rules for Roberto Lavieri's Maxima
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| k-King | Q-Withdrawer | m-Mage | B-Chameleon | n-Long Leaper | I-Immobilizer | r-Coordinator | C-Guard | s-Pawn |
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Pieces
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Pawn |
The Pawn moves any number of squares horizontally or vertically. If the Pawn moves orthogonally next to an enemy piece and there is another friendly piece of any type on the square directly beyond the enemy piece, the enemy piece is squeezed between the two pieces and captured. (This is also called a "sandwich" or "custodian" capture.) The Pawn may capture several pieces on a single move. |
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Guard |
A Guard can move to any adjacent square. The Guard captures an enemy piece on the square its moving to, by replacement. |
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Long Leaper |
The Long-Leaper is a powerful piece that can slide any number of squares in any direction, like a FIDE Queen, but with stronger capturing abilities. If it runs into an enemy piece, the Long-Leaper captures by leaping over the enemy piece to the vacant square directly behind it. If the square behind it is occupied, then the piece may not be jumped. After jumping, the Long-Leaper may continue to slide in the same direction and may in fact jump over subsequent enemy pieces it encounters, capturing them also. |
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Mage |
A Mage always moves one square diagonally. On that square, it may stop or it may continue moving in an orthogonal direction away from the starting square. The Mage captures an enemy piece on the square its moving to, by replacement. Note that a Mage cannot be immobilized. |
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Chameleon |
The Chameleon can slide any number of squares in any direction, like a FIDE
Queen. It captures using the capture method of the piece it is capturing (except
for Mages or the King).
The Chameleon cannot move like a King or a Mage, but it can still capture the enemy King or a Mage if the Chameleon is adjacent to a Mage or a King. It then may capture by replacement, in a single step. When a Chameleon is next to an enemy Immobilizer, the Chameleon immobilizes it, though it cannot immobilize any other pieces. A Chameleon cannot capture an enemy Chameleon. |
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Immobilizer |
The Immobilizer can slide any number of squares in any direction, like a Queen in Chess. It does not capture, but rather immobilizes almost any enemy pieces (not a Mage, Mages are immune to Immobilizers!) that are adjacent to it. These pieces cannot move as long as the Immobilizer is there. An Immobilizer does not affect pieces that are simply moving past it, though if the piece ends its movement beside an Immobilizer it will immediately be frozen. Enemy adjacent Immobilizers will immobilize each other until one of them is captured. An Immobilized piece (except a King) has the option of committing suicide, capturing itself as a move. This is occasionally useful to clear the way for an attack on the Immobilizer, or attack-defense on the Goal Squares or the King. |
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Coordinator |
The Coordinator moves like a Queen in FIDE Chess, but it captures any opposing pieces located at the corners of rectangle formed with friendly King. The Coordinator can slide any number of squares in any direction. When it finishes a move, it captures any enemy piece on an intersection of the orthogonal lines that pass through the Coordinator and through the friendly King. Imagine the rectangle formed on the chess board by the Coordinator and the King of the same side; the captured pieces are any located on the rectangle's other two corners. |
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Withdrawer |
The Withdrawer can slide any number of squares in any direction, like a Queen in FIDE Chess. If the Withdrawer begins adjacent to an enemy piece and then moves in a straight line directly away from it, the enemy piece is captured. |
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King |
Description: A King can move in an "L", like the Knight in FIDE Chess, but with a
peculiarity: the King can jump from the "a" or "b" files to
the "g" or "h" files, and vice-versa, with the same "knight-type" jump.
This move is made as if the board were cylindrical where the "a" file is joined with the
"h" file.
The King can capture an enemy piece on the square its moving to, by replacement. There is no castling. |
Rules
There are three ways of winning the game:
- Checkmate the opposing King. A King that is less vulnerable that the King in FIDE Chess or Ultima, because of its peculiar movement -- like a Knight on a cylindrical board. (The King is the only piece in this game that makes its movements as if the "a" file were joined with the "h" file.)
- The board is 8x9 plus four Goal Squares, two in each side. If two pieces of one side simultaneously occupy the enemy Goal Squares (invasion of King's palace), the invading side wins the game. The "goal" concept has been used in games like Bombalot and Thronschach. Here the "goal" concept is used with new rules about occupation. You can occupy temporarily one of your own Goal Squares, as a strategic defense if you want to do so, but not both squares, or you lose the game.
- If you reduce the enemy pieces to a lone King, you win the game.
How to Move Pieces
Full Algebraic Notation
Algebraic notation identifies each space by a coordinate that begins with its file label and ends with its rank label. On the Chess board, files go up and down from one player to the other, and ranks go from left to right. In most games, files are represented by letters, and ranks are represented by numbers, but there is no fixed rule requiring this for all games, and some games, such as Shogi, reverse this convention. If you look at the diagram, you will usually see the file labels going from left to right and the file labels going up and down. And if you hover your mouse over a space, you will normally see the name of the coordinate appear in a tooltip.
It is not uncommon to see algebraic notation being used for Chess, but it is often in an abbreviated format that requires you to know both the rules of the game and the current position to know exactly which piece moves where. For example, the notation "Ne6" indicates that a Knight is moving to e6, but it doesn't indicate which Knight, and it doesn't specify where the Knight is coming from. To figure this out, you need to know how a Knight moves and which Knight on the board can make a legal move to e6.
Although rules may be programmed for individual games, Game Courier itself does not know the rules of any game, and it is unable to parse abbreviated algebraic notation. Therefore, it relies on full algebraic notation, which completely specifies the move without requiring any knowledge of the game's rules or the current position. The most usual type of full algebraic notation indicates the piece that is moving by its label, the space it is moving from, and the space it moving to. In Chess, a typical first move might be written as "P e2-e4". When you hover your mouse over a piece, you will normally see the piece label followed by the coordinate for the space, and when you hover it over an empty space, you will normally see the coordinate label. Including the piece label in your notation allows Game Courier to check that the piece you're moving is the right one, and it makes game notation easier to follow, but it is not mandatory.
You may promote a piece by including a promotion move after your regular move. A promotion move has a piece go directly to a coordinate. Here is an example: "p e7-e8; q-e8".
You may remove a piece from a space by adding an @ to the space or by omitting the destination coordinate. For example, both "@-e4" and "e4-" would remove the piece on "e4". This is useful for en passant when you are playing a game that does not handle this automatically. For example, "P d5-e6; e5-" removes the Pawn on e5 after a Pawn moves from d5 to e6.
You will not need to remove spaces for most games, but if you should need to, you can do this by omitting the first coordinate in a move. For example, "-e4" would remove e4 from the board. To add or return a space to the board, you may add an @ or any other piece to it.
Available Pieces
Pieces are represented by labels, usually using uppercase letters for White and lowercase letter for Black. When you enter a move or specify the starting position for a game, you should remember that piece labels are case-sensitive. Many piece sets are available for use with Game Courier, and this table shows you which pieces belong to the piece set you are currently using.
The inclusion of a piece does not indicate that it is used in the game you are playing. But if your game uses pieces not included here, you should choose a different piece set.
Credits
Game Courier was created, programmed and written by Fergus Duniho.
Game Courier, Copyright © Fergus Duniho, 2001-2017
WWW Page Created: 15 August 2001
Kibbitzing Etiquette
Kibbitzing is the practice of commenting on a game you are not playing. In commenting on a game, please follow these rules of etiquette.
(1) If you notice that someone has made an illegal move, please mention it. Some Game Courier presets cannot enforce rules, but Game Courier does enable players to take back any previous move. Details on how to take back a move are provided in the User's Guide, linked to above the board.
(2) Unless otherwise specifically asked to, do not offer hints or suggestions to players on what moves they should make. In general, avoid coaching comments.
(3) Once a game is over, it should be alright to offer your analysis of the game and your specific comments on what moves players should have made. If some players don't want this, they may mention it in the Kibbitzing section, and you should honor this request by not commenting on the game.
(4) Be polite. At the appropriate time, offer any criticism you have in a constructive manner. Avoid heckling players for bad moves.
(5) Don't spam this space with irrelevant comments. If you have a comment about Game Courier, rather than about the specific game you're viewing, please post it on Game Courier's Index page to give it.