Magi

        Because of the nature of 2 player, turn based games with each player possessing perfect information, if one of the players manages to gain an advantage in material over the other player, then life often becomes very difficult for the player who is down on material. Chess players know that winning an exchange or gaining an advantage of 1 - 2 pawns in material is frequently enough for the player with material advantage to convert into a victory. The advantage in material needed to win is often surprisingly small, amounting to 1 - 5 percent of the entire strength of the army that is given to players. I wanted Magi to be a game where players could conceivably lose entire pieces (5 percent or more) of material and still have the potential to win. I will show a sample game which I played against the Zillions of Games program where I was actually 3 full pieces down at a single move during a game and still managed to pull out a victory.

        Perhaps most importantly, I realized during play testing that a game of Magi takes somewhere between 20 - 150 moves to come to a resolution. In 2 player, turn based games like chess where both players have perfect information, usually at some point in the game the balance of power tips in favor of one of the two players. I realized that playing a lengthy game where one of the players has gained an advantage can be rather depressing for the losing player, unless of course the player with the advantage fails to convert his / her advantage into victory. Therefore I was inspired to devise another set of outcomes that differ from the normal outcomes that occur in chess - i.e. win - loss, loss - win, draw (1-0, 0-1, 1/2 - 1/2). I believe that my new idea for outcomes (which involve playing for more than one point) will help inspire players of lengthy 2 player games in such a way that even players who are losing will continue to play to the best of their ability. This is because they will see that they will still have something to play for even if they are being badly beaten by their opponents.

        Rules:

        Board and Opening Setup:  Magi is played on a 10x10 board. Each player starts off with an army of 24 pieces, including a King, 12 Pawns, 2 Rooks, 2 Bishops, 2 Knights, 2 Dukes, an Cardinal, a Queen, and a Wizard. The initial piece setup is shown in the picture depicted below. WP = White Pawn, WN = White Knight, WB = White Bishop, WC = White Cardinal, WQ = White Queen, WK = White King, WW = White Wizard, and WD = White Duke. Likewise, B(X) = the corresponding Black pieces. |::::| = a colored square and if the square has :letters:, then it is a square occupied by a piece. Of course, the table below denotes the ranks and columns at the right hand side and at the bottom of the table respectively.

BR	:BN:	BB	:BC:	BQ	:BK:	BW	:BB:	BN	:BR:	10
:BP:	BP	:BP:	BP	:BP:	BP	:BP:	BP	:BP:	BP	9
BD	::::		:BP:		::::	BP	::::		:BD:	8
::::		::::		::::		::::		::::		7
	::::		::::		::::		::::		::::	6
::::		::::		::::		::::		::::		5
	::::		::::		::::		::::		::::	4
:WD:		::::	WP	::::		:WP:		::::	WD	3
WP	:WP:	WP	:WP:	WP	:WP:	WP	:WP:	WP	:WP:	2
:WR:	WN	:WB:	WC	:WQ:	WK	:WW:	WB	:WN:	WR	1
A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J

     

    PIECE MOVEMENTS:

    In this game, the King, Queen, Rooks, Knights, and Bishops all move (and capture) as they do in orthodox Chess. Note the change in the rules on castling below. 

    Pawns: In general, pawns act much as they do in orthodox Chess. Pawns may move only in a forward direction except when capturing. The pawns that are on the third and eighth ranks (located at squares D3, D8, G3, and G8 at the beginning of the game) can move 1 or 2 squares forward on their first move. All other pawns can move 1,2, or 3 squares forward on their first move. Afterwards, pawns are allowed to move only one square forward every time the pawn moves, unless the Pawn performs a capture move. If a player moves his / her pawn one or two squares on the first move, they still may move their pawn only square forward (unless performing a capturing move) from then on. Pawns are not allowed to jump or move over pieces that are in its path on its first move.

    Pawns capture opposing pieces in a diagonal move as they normally do in orthodox Chess. Pawns can perform a standard orthodox Chess En Passant capture move of their opponents' pawns if their opponents move their pawns from their original positions to either the 4th or 5th ranks - if Black, or to the 6th or 7th ranks - if White on their first move of that pawn. 

    Additional clarifications of En Passant captures are needed in this game. If a player moves his or her Pawn two or three squares forward on that Pawn's initial move, and the opposing player is in possession of 2 Pawns that are "doubled up"on a file that is adjacent to the file of the recently moved Pawn, then the opposing player has the following options regarding how to react to the Pawn move:

    If the player playing White moves a Pawn forward to the 5th rank (or 6th rank if playing Black), and the opposing player has Pawns on the 4th and 5th ranks (if White) or the 6th and 7th ranks (if Black) on an adjacent file, then the opposing player can capture the Pawn with either of his/ her Pawn's on the adjacent file in an En Passant manner.

    Example #1: White has an unmoved Pawn on the C2 square and Black has doubled Pawns on B4 and B5 :

    If White moves his / her Pawn to C4, then the B4 pawn can capture only by En Passant methods only. However, the pawn on B5 can capture as a Pawn normally would in Chess. If White moves the Pawn to C5, then either the B4 or B5 Pawn can capture the White C Pawn, but they can do so only by the En Passant method.

    The same moving and capturing principles hold if players has "tripled up" pawns on adjacent files. If White has a Pawn on C2 and Black has Pawns on B4, B5, and B6, then if White moves his / her Pawn to C5, the Black Pawns on B4 and B5 can capture via En Passant, while the B6 Pawn can capture by normal means. If the tripled up pawns are on B3, B4, and B5, then only the B4 and B5 pawns can capture the opposing pawn.

    In the case of the D and G pawns, opposing players can make En Passant captures of these pawns if they have pawns on either the 4th or 5th ranks (if Black) or 6th and 7th ranks (if White). 

    Example #2: White has pawns on the C6 and C7 squares and Black moves her D8 pawn forward one square to D7. White can capture the D pawn with the C7 pawn En passant or can capture normally with the C6 pawn. If Black moves her pawn to D6, either the C6 or C7 pawn can capture via En passant.

Promotion of Pawns: Pawns may promote to pieces when they reach the last rank on the opposing side of the board as in orthodox Chess. Pawns may be promoted to a Queen, a Duke, a Rook, a Bishop, a Knight, an Cardinal, or a Wizard.In practice, players will either promote to either Queens or Wizards.

    Dukes: Dukes can move 1 - 3 squares in a horizontal or vertical direction, controlling anywhere from 6 - 12 squares. Dukes are line pieces and cannot jump over other pieces. Players can think of the Duke as being a weak Rook with a short reach. 

    The Cardinal: Is also a line piece. His holiness can move either as a King (one square horizontally, vertically, or diagonally), or as a Bishop in orthodox Chess. The Cardinal can control 11 - 21 squares.

    The Wizard: The Wizard can move (1) one square horizontally or vertically, (2) jump as a Knight in orthodox Chess - or (3) jump 2 squares diagonally. Therefore the Wizard can control 5-16 squares. A Wizard thus combines the moving powers of a Wazir, an Alfil, and a orthodox Chess Knight.

    Castling: The King can execute a castle move as in orthodox Chess, but when the his Majesty castles, he moves 3 squares in the direction in which he is castling instead of two squares. Therefore, if the White King castles "kingside", he moves to to the I - 1 square, while the kingside Rook at J -1 moves to the H - 1 square. If the King castles to the "queenside", he moves to the C - 1 square, while the queenside Rook at A - 1 moves to the D -1 square. For the Black King, castling "kingside" means moving to the I - 10 square, while the kingside Rook moves to H - 10. Similarly, castling "queenside" means moving to the C - 10 square, while the Rook moves to D - 10. All other rules regarding castling are the same as the are in orthodox Chess.

        At the outset of this form of the game, players are playing for a checkmate outcome. A player who is threatened with checkmate may offer to resign the game. Only one resignation offer may be offered per game! Once one player makes an offer to resign to the other player, no more resignation offers may be made by either player for the rest of the game and play resumes with any outcomes still possible. More rules regarding Resignations and resignation payoff matrix are both covered in rules described in section D below.

    B) "STALEMATES: A stalemate results in a 7 point payoff to the player who stalemates the other player, while the stalemated player receives 5 points. Playtesting indicates that stalemate outcomes occur in less than 1 percent of games in Magi. 

    C) DRAWS: Any form of draw (outside of a draw that arises from stalemate) result in a 6-6 point payoff for each player. All methods of drawing games and rules regarding draws that exist in orthodox Chess are still in effect in Magi. Playtesting indicates that draws are also rare in Magi, occuring in less than 5 percent of games.This achieves one of my desires for a chess variant in that draws are relatively rare.

    Draws may be made at any time during the game. Only one draw may be offered per game! Once one player makes a draw offer to the other player, no more draw offers may be made by either player for the rest of the game. Draws by other methods can still arise. If the player who has been offered the draw refuses the offer, then the rules that govern resignations (see below) come into effect. Players may offer to resign after a draw offer has been made by one player to the other, but refused. Players may also offer to draw after a resignation offer has been offered, but subseqently refused provided that a draw offer has not been previously made. Offering a draw after refusing resignation would appeal to players who are playing under the optional 150 move rule (see below), as accepting a draw would save a 6-6 outcome rather than resulting in a 0-0 outcome. To stave off a 0-0 outcome, a formal offer of a draw must be made and accepted. Conceivably, if players are playing in a tournament situation and both players hate each other, then one of the players could spite the other player by intentionally accepting a 0-0 outcome! This idea is meant to give weak players a powerful weapon to use against very strong players, if they manage to play all the way to 150 moves.

    D) RESIGNATIONS: As described in section A above, only one resignation offer may be made per game.  If the resignation offer is accepted, the game outcome is described by the payoff matrix described below. Likewise, if the resignation offer is declined, play resumes until an outcome is reached described by the payoff matrix below.

    E) OPTIONAL RULE REGARDING GAMES THAT LAST MORE THAN 150 MOVES: Such games result in a 0 - 0 outcome. Players may disregard this rule at their discretion.

    VICTORY / LOSS PAYOFF PAYOFF MATRIX:  

    As noted above, players are automatically playing for a checkmate payoff until either a resignation offer is made, a draw offer is made, or if a draw or a stalemate outcome arises. In the payoff matrix band described below, a resignation before move 45 results in a 12 - 0 payoff. This is to reflect the brilliant (or horrible!) play that is needed to achieve such a result. Players who play so badly that they get checkmated so early in a game such as Magi deserve to be fully punished!

    A resignation offer by one player to the other which is not accepted causes game play to continue. If the player in the superior position achieves a checkmate within the current game band of moves, then the result is  a 12 - 0 payoff to the victor no matter which band of moves the players happen to be in. For example,  if a game has reached move 53 and player B makes a resignation offer to player A  but player A refuses the offer, then if player A then proceeds to checkmate player B (say) at move 58, then player A gets a 12 point payoff victory, while player B gets zero. The idea is that players who are in the weaker position will always have at least a glimmer of hope for something better (as long as they aren't checkmated very early in the game), but they have to make the best of their poor situation in order to be rewarded. Players who are in the weaker position still have to watch out, as players who are in the stronger position can still achieve an 12 - 0 absolute victory if they analyze the situation correctly and play their cards right. 

    NOTE: A resignation offer that is not accepted sets the terms of payoff such that if a checkmate is not achieved within the current band of moves, the payoff then becomes whatever the payoff happens to be when the checkmate is actually achieved. See rules on draws and resignations above. For example, if a player offers a resignation on move 68 (which would result in a 10 - 2 outcome in the payoff matrix below), and a checkmate is not achieved by the start of move 76, the payoff outcome immediately becomes 9 - 3. This lowered payoff  is the case even if the player who is in a superior position manages to achieve a checkmate outcome against the other player in subsequent play. Moreover, if a player still has not achieved a checkmate within the next band of payoffs in the payoff matrix (by the start of move 91 for example), then payoff then becomes a 8 - 4 payoff, and so on. The idea here is that the player who was in the superior position when the resignation offer was made should have taken the resignation offer because they are proceeding to throw away their advantage with continued play. In other words, the player who was in the superior position should have quit while they were ahead.

    The rules regarding payoff matrices are not set in stone. Players may experiment with other payoff matrices, but keeping the spirit of these ideas. For example, payoffs may be set with different move bands (say moves 41-60, 61-80,etc) or setting the payoff for the first set of bands at 10 - 2.  Players could play for other stakes, such as 16 points. This can be done at players' discretion.

    The general idea with payoff matrices and multipoint game payoffs is that victories are rarely clean and complete. Sometimes wars are long and drawn out, with either side beating each other to a pulp. Sometimes wars result in so - called "hollow victories".

    What this payoff matrix introduces is the idea that players who are losing will still have incentives to play to the best of their ability. These ideas make players think very hard about the terms regarding the game's outcome. Players who are in an inferior position have to try to determine when to sue for surrender, or whether they can continue to hold on and hope for better fortunes.. Players in superior positions have to determine whether they can in fact achieve that truly sweeping victory, or whether they should perhaps settle for what they already have. They also help to keep lengthy games interesting.

                SAMPLE PAYOFF MATRIX: