P I L L A R S O F M E D U S A

A game of strategy and tactics.

This document is a condensed and slightly modified version of the pamphlet entitled,
"How to Make and Play Medusa Chess" © 1997 by Gary K. Gifford.*

* The game was renamed to Pillars of Medusa in 2003 when it came to my attention that another
game known as Medusa Chess already existed.

 

Origin of "Pillars of Medusa"

I created Pillars of Medusa for my in progress fantasy novel, Orion’s Sword. In the novel the Zeus-like god Winstor created Pillars of Medusa as a game requiring great feats of calculation and imagination. Winstor’s game also stood as a symbol of life, in that people started out as statues, were given the power of life, and were influenced by the gods.

Pillars of Medusa is based largely upon Turkish Great Chess (circa 1797). It is in Turkish Great Chess that we find one piece which has the combined moves of Bishop and Knight (the vizir); another which moves like Rook or Knight (war machine), and a third which moves like Queen or Knight (giraffe); these three being in addition to the normal chess army and taking place on a 10x10 board.

Pillars of Medusa contains equivalents of the standard chess pieces, the three special Turkish pieces, plus two additional pieces [the Morph and the Medusa], which are discussed in the next section. In addition, the board has been expanded to 121 squares (11 x 11).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

White’s Initial Setup

The Medusa has the ability to freeze all of the opponent’s pieces, which reside on squares adjacent to it. The Morph has the option of changing into the piece it captures (however it now serves your army and it is still a Morph). These pieces, along with all others, are discussed in the section, How the Pieces Move.

 

Object of the Game

Pillars of Medusa is played by two players, one having light pieces (traditionally white), and the other having dark pieces (traditionally black). The object of the game, as in traditional Chess and Turkish Great Chess, is to checkmate your opponent’s king. A king is checkmated when you threaten to capture it on your next turn, and the capture of the king cannot be prevented. Another objective of the game, equally important, is to prevent your own king from becoming checkmated. Checkmates are illustrated later in this booklet. Note that the principles of stalemate apply to Pillars of Medusa, as in traditional chess.

 

How the Pieces Move

This section discusses the movement of pieces. Where possible, piece movements are compared with traditional Chess movements.

A Sample Game

In this game white puts his Medusa to work early and tears up black’s A-side of the board. In the final moments of the game the white Medusa deflects its black counterpart, allowing for a clever checkmate. Algebraic notation has been used, with a square A1 positioned at white’s left and square K11 at black’s left. The following chess notation symbols are used in Pillars of Medusa.

When no piece designation is provided (see previous listing), the move being made is by a Sword. For example, white’s first, E3 - E5 means the Sword on E3 is moving to E5.

Medusa Self Test

This test consists of three problems, each with a partial board. In each case you do not need to be concerned with what might appear on other squares, which aren’t shown. However, in a real game you must constantly look over the entire board.

The purpose of the test is to find out how well you do. If you do poorly on the test, don’t be discouraged. In fact, if you get each problem wrong, its not so bad as long as you understand the correct answer when it is shown later. 

Until you are confident on how each piece moves, please make use of the movement table on pages 2 and 3.

Answers to the problems appear on the last page of this document..

Questions and Answers

The following questions are answered by the game's creator.

Answer: The piece moves by, unaffected. For example, assume a Tower on A1 has a clear file all the way to A11, and the opponent’s Medusa is on B6. The Tower can move to A11. However, if the Tower moved to A5, A6, or A7 it would be turned to stone upon completion of the move.

 

 

Test Answers

1. No. White will promote the Sword to a Medusa. Then, if the King was ready to capture on A11, it would find itself check-mated from the Medusa, as it has been both "checked" and "turned to stone," unable to capture the Medusa, and unable to move out of check. This promotion of a Sword to Medusa is a major end game consideration, since in traditional chess [in an equivalent position] the King could take a promoted pawn. Remember: (a) Swords only Promote to Medusas, and (b) Lonely Kings are in big trouble as a lone Medusa (with no assistance) can out run a King, turn it to stone, and checkmate it.
2. Black plays his Serpent to I1, delivering check. White is forced to capture the Serpent with his Mounted-Advisor. Black then delivers checkmate by capturing white’s Mounted-Advisor with black Morph Advisor. He transforms his morph into a Morph Mounted-Advisor, which provides the checkmate.
3. Black plays his Morph-Pillar to K5. This is checkmate as the Sword on J4 is pinned by an Advisor, and thus cannot capture the Morph-Pillar. Note that the white King cannot move out of check.

How to make an Inexpensive Pillars of Medusa Set

Disk Set

The easiest set to make involves using disks (such as checkers) and gluing the piece symbols to them. The reverse side of the disk should have the symbol of the opposing player’s Morph version. For example: A disk with a White horse would have a Dark Morph Horse on the flip-side. This is convenient because when you capture a piece or pawn with a Morph, just flip the captured piece over to reveal the new Morph, assuming that you want the Morph to assume the new identity.

Please send questions or comments to Gary Gifford.