💡📝Joe Joyce wrote on Mon, Sep 17, 2007 10:14 PM UTC:
Or is the phrase 'well struck'?
As far as the number of squares actually in the game, I feel a certain
amount of ambiguity is good for the soul. I was quite happy to see Doug
Chatham's ambiguous square count turn up in the contest.
As for the possibility of allowing the 2 taxis, with or without passengers,
to end a move orthogonally adjacent to an edge board square, well, the
board was modelled after a [poor] map of Manhattan, which is surrounded by
water. In fact, when the 45 square contest never materialized, I considered
adding 3 7-square rows to the middle of the board, changing the one black
and one white taxi [remember Black and White Cabs?] to two Checker[ed]
cabs, usable by either side if empty and callable, and calling that variant
64 [not 66] square Manhattan Taxi Chess, since the board would more closely
resemble that poor map of Manhattan. This concept precluded me from even
thinking of your idea, Charles.
It is a perfectly viable optional rule, however, and does fit in well with
the 45 square theme. Thank you for pointing it out. Grin, shows how blind a
theme can make you in design.