Chess Battle

RULES

1. Introduction
Chess Battle is a variation of chess for 4-12 players with a focus on strategic negotiation. Each player is represented by a single chess piece on the gameboard, and must eliminate all opponents while being the last player alive in order to win the game. Alliances, treachery, bargains and manipulation - with these tools, the most skilled players may try to control the outcome of each move.

2. Setup
First, every player chooses a single game piece of any color to represent them in the game. Move in clockwise order, starting with a player who is randomly selected. There are three kinds of game pieces to choose from:

• Knight can move in an L shape in any direction (two spaces horizontally or vertically, and one space in a perpendicular direction).

• Bishop can move to any position in a diagonal line.

• Rook can move to any position in a horizontal or vertical line.

Note: In the exceptional cases where the boardsize does not allow the knight further movement or two bishops cannot meet, the pieces in question may instead move one space in any direction.

Next, every player chooses a starting position on the game board. Move in counter-clockwise order, starting with the player who chose the game piece last. Choose a starting position on the board that do NOT place any other player under direct attack.

3. Gameplay
Every round consists of a discussion phase, followed by an execution phase.

Discussion phase: Players can discuss and make plans for how to move their individual game pieces. Players can speak loudly or they can whisper in secret, if they choose. A timer may be used to limit the amount of time spent on this phase.

Execution phase: In silence, players write down their move on a private piece of paper. Afterwards, all the moves are revealed and executed all at once. If a player moves to a position at which a second player was standing, then the second player is eliminated regardless of where the second player moved to.

If more than 1 player is alive at the end of the round, the game will continue with another round. If only 1 player is alive, then that player has won the game. If no players are alive, then the game has ended in a tie.

4. Danger Zones
Every round new Danger Zones will appear at the edges of the gameboard, indicated by a yellow light. After one more round, the yellow light will change to a red light. If a player is standing on a red light, they will be instantly eliminated.

5. Variations
Games are fun to play and fun to re-design! Try to modify the game using one of the suggestions below or invent your own rules.

Medals: Every player has 2 unique medal tokens. At any moment in the game, a player may hand over one of their medal tokens to another player. At the end of the game, the last player alive and any dead player who received a medal from said player will all win.

Freezing: Every player has 1 freeze token. During any discussion phase, a player may expend their freeze token in order to “freeze” another player. The frozen player will not be able to move that round.