Riftwalker Chess
Forget 3 dimensional chess, let's go crazy. Riftwalker Chess is a chess variant played on a 4 dimensional 3x3x3x3 board which, for the sake of sanity, is shown as a 3x3 grid of 3x3 boards. Each player commands an army of 27 pieces.Setup
Each player arranges their pieces as shown on the above diagram. To summarize:
- In the row closest to you, it goes Rook, Knight, Bishop, King, Queen, Wizard, Knight, Bishop, Rook.
- In the next row foward, it goes Mystic, Scout, Scout, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Scout, Scout, Mystic.
- The third row is empty.
- The fourth row goes Scout, Scout, five Pawns, then Scout, Scout.
Pieces
Pawns (P) -- When moving a Pawn, they can move to any adjacent space. A Pawn in the middle of the board can move in eight different directions.
Scouts (S) -- Scouts move to an adjacent space, then move to a space adjacent to that one; these two moves must be in *different* dimensions. The first space must be empty.
Mystic (M) -- Mystics move like a Scout, but then they make a third step along a third dimension. A Mystic can never stay on the same small board after moving.
Rooks (R) -- Rooks move one step like a Pawn, but if the first space is unoccupied, they may make a second Pawn move in the same direction.
Bishops (B) -- Bishops move like a Scout, but if the first space is unoccupied, they may make a second Scout move in the same direction. They may switch the order of the steps, if needed.
Knights (N) -- Knights move like a Pawn, but if the first space is unoccupied, they may make a second move like a Scout; the first step of the Scout move must be the same as the Pawn move.
Queens (Q) -- Queens can move like either a Pawn or a Scout, as needed.
Wizards (W) -- Wizards can move like either a Scout or Mystic, as needed.
Kings (K) -- Kings move exactly like Pawns, but are subject to restrictions about check and checkmate.
Rules
The basic rules are the same as normal Chess, except for the following differences.
The Dimensions and Adjacency
As was stated before, there are four dimensions on the board. The first two are the normal dimensions of a chess board, connecting spaces on the small boards. The other two are the connections between the small boards, referred to a meta-directions.
Two spaces are adjacent if they are directly adjacent on a small board (which makes them adjacent in the normal directions) or if they are the same space on adjacent small boards (which makes them adjacent in the meta-directions). Diagonals never count!
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By Nick Fletcher.
Last revised by Nick Fletcher.
Web page created: 2022-10-03. Web page last updated: 2023-02-04