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This page is written by the game's inventor, Tim Bostick.

Insect Chess

By Tim Bostick

This is the second chess variant I have created for Zillions of Games. The other one was Kung Fu Chess. In this version, the two sides consist of vicious insects clashing for supremacy on a 12 X 12 board. This game is not for the squeamish. Unlike my previous game, none of the pieces move like normal chess pieces, however they all have this in common - since they are multi-legged creatures, they can all move to and attack the eight squares immediately surrounding them. There are eleven different bugs:

* Note that all flying insects in this game have sliding powers - like rooks, bishops, and queens - and the land-bound insects usually have hopping powers. Only the Locust, which can fly and jump quite well, has both abilities.

In order to succeed in this game, you have to keep the pieces next to each other for their mutual protection. Abuse your cockroaches. They are quite mobile, yet they are worth nothing, so you can eat away your enemy's pawn structure at no cost to yourself. Don't put your Praying Mantis in a corner. That's the quickest way to get it smothered by a Waterbug, Locust, or Tarantula. It is quite mobile, you know! The flying insects don't jump much, but they're very fast. They can get from one end of the board to the other much more quickly than the other bugs. At all costs, try to get your Maggots to the end of the board. Nothing makes an enemy Praying Mantis squeal more than seeing two or three Tarantulas coming after it. In fact, once the board opens up, the Tarantulas pretty much dominate the game.

OPENING SETUP:
		      BLACK
 _______________________________________________
|Wsp|   |Hnt|   |Man|   |   |Tar|   |Hnt|   |Wsp|_ <----- White's promotion rank.
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___| \
|   |Hsf|   |Mos|   |Loc|Loc|   |Mos|   |Hsf|   |__\_____ Black's Cockroach re-entry ranks.
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|  /
|Blk|   |Ckr|   |Wat|   |   |Wat|   |Ckr|   |Blk|_/
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|Mag|
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|Blk|   |Ckr|   |Wat|   |   |Wat|   |Ckr|   |Blk|_
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___| \
|   |Hsf|   |Mos|   |Loc|Loc|   |Mos|   |Hsf|   |__\______ White's Cockroach re-entry ranks.
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|  /
|Wsp|   |Hnt|   |Tar|   |   |Man|   |Hnt|   |Wsp|_/
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|   <----- Black's promotion rank.

		      WHITE

I wish you the best as you play this unique game! If someone out there can design pieces that look like bugs and look good, let me know. I'll put your design in the game and give you credit for it.

Tim Bostick

Zillions of Games

There is an implementation of Insect Chess for Zillions of games. You can download it here:


Written by Tim Bostick.
WWW page created: 30 August 2001. Updated: 10 Oct 2001.