Check out Janggi (Korean Chess), our featured variant for December, 2024.

This page is written by one of the game's inventor, Arvind Pillai.

JURASSIC CHESS

Me and my friend Tarun invented this game. Hope you have fun playing it.

Equipment

  1. A chessboard
  2. Normal chess pieces
  3. 2 scrabble pieces

Set-up, Teams, Objective

The objective of the game is to either kill the general or everyone but the general.

To make the teams one player must hide the pile (the pile must contain 2 bishops, 1 queen, 1 king, 2 horses, 2 rooks and 4 pawns) from the other player. The first player (the one that hid the pile) then picks out any piece in a clenched fist (the other player must not see the piece or know what piece it is) and asks “mine or yours?” If the second player says mine then the piece goes to him and if he says yours then it goes to the first player. This procedure continues until one of the players has 6 pieces, the remaining pieces then go to the other player.

Once the teams are made the players decide on their colour. Pieces of the wrong colour are exchanged with those of the right colour. In short all your pieces should be of the same colour. After this all the pieces in the players team can be placed anywhere in any order on the first rank on the player’s side of the board. This requires some kind of strategy

Generals, Pieces, Moves

General

General: each player must have a general. The player can make any one of their pieces a general. If this piece is captured or every other piece but the general is captured then the player has lost. Basically if you have 2 pieces left on the board if either one is killed you lose the game. The general can be distinguished by placing a scrabble piece under the piece. There is no such thing as check if the general is under likely capture.

Pieces

Velociraptor: this piece can move 1 or 2 squares horizontally or vertically. It is represented by a pawn. There are four velociraptors in the game

Pterodactyl: this piece can move 1 or 2 squares diagonally. A bishop represents it. There are 2 pterodactyls in the game

T-rex: this piece can move one square in any direction just like a king in chess. It has extra armour this means that your opponent must capture it twice to kill it. For instance if a velociraptor attacks a t-rex the velociraptor is put back to its original position and a pawn is placed next to the t-rex (the pawn must be in the same square as the t-rex). The t-rex can move normally even when it has a pawn next to it however if it is attacked again the piece is captured and the attacker takes its place. If a spinosaur attacks a t-rex the t-rex is killed immediately and a pawn is not placed at its side and the spinosaur takes its place. If a players team does not include t-rex’s or spinosaurs then the player’s general is equipped with armour break this means that it can kill an elephant in a single attack just like a spinosaur. A king or a queen represents t-rex. There are two t-rex’s in the game

Spinosaur: spinosaurs move exactly like a horse in orthodox chess. It can kill a t-rex in a single shot. It is represented by a horse. There are two spinosaurs in the game.

Utahraptor: Utahraptor moves one square horizontally or vertically it kills by jumping over a piece if there is yet another piece that can be killed in the same manner then go ahead and kill it. It can also jump over friendly pieces (not killing them) working on the same principle (it can jump over yet another friendly or enemy piece). It is represented by a rook. Note: it jumps over the piece horizontally or vertically. However if it attacks an elephant it is put back to its original position it stops there and is put back to its original position (even before it jumped over anything) and a pawn is placed next to the t-rex.

Note: if the players wish they may play with equal armies but its more fun playing with different ones.

Credits

Arvind S Pillai
Tarun Gupta

Please feel free to comment on my variant. this game has been playtested several times.