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Martian Chess
Martian Chess is an abstract strategy game for two or four players invented by Andrew Looney in 1999. It is played with Icehouse pyramids on a chessboard. To play with a number of players other than two or four, a non-Euclidean surface can be tiled to produce a board of the required size, allowing up to six players. In his review in ''Abstract Games Magazine'', Kerry Handscomb stated: The first thing to note about Martian Chess is that it is not a chess-type game at all. Instead, the objective is to accumulate points by capturing pieces. Martian Chess is ..an original game with novel tactics and strategy. In 1996, Looney had invented Monochrome Chess, a similar two-player game that uses regular chess pieces where the half of the board determined who controlled a piece. While the king is not royal, the king and rook can castle. History Martian Chess was one of four games in the '' Icehouse: The Martian Chess Set'' released by Looney Labs in 1999. The set was Looney Labs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Looney
Andrew J. Looney (born November 5, 1963) is a game designer and computer programmer. He is also a photographer, a cartoonist, a video-blogger, and a marijuana-legalization advocate. Andrew and Kristin Looney together founded the games company Looney Labs, where Andrew is the chief creative officer. Looney Labs has published most of his game designs, such as ''Fluxx'', ''Chrononauts (game), Chrononauts'', and the Icehouse (game), ''Icehouse'' game system. His other game designs include ''Aquarius (game), Aquarius'', ''Nanofictionary'', ''IceTowers'', ''Treehouse (game), Treehouse'', and ''Martian Coasters''. Biography Andrew Looney as a youth became an Eagle Scout. He entered the University of Maryland at College Park in 1981 as a freshman with an undecided major between English and computer science. He eventually selected computer science. He and Kristin, his future spouse, met in 1986 when he started at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center as a software programmer. Kristin was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IceTowers
Icehouse pieces, or Icehouse Pyramids, Treehouse pieces, Treehouse Pyramids and officially Looney Pyramids, are nestable and stackable pyramid-shaped gaming pieces and a game system. The game system was invented by Andrew Looney and John Cooper in 1987, originally for use in the game of Icehouse. History Andrew Looney in 1987 penned a sci-fi short story, "The Empty City", that included a game called Icehouse, an ancient Martian game. Readers requested to learn how to play the game. Thus actual rules were invented for Icehouse by Andrew Looney, Kristin Wunderlich (then future wife of Looney) and John Cooper, then plastic pyramid pieces were made to play the game. The first commercially available set were solid non-stackable pyramids released in 1989 with only 100 sets made. The pieces were made from resin in his apartment, which upset the landlord. After several years, Looney shut down Icehouse Games, Inc. and soon started another gaming company, Looney Laboratories, in 1996. Ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen (chess)
The queen (♕, ♛) is the most powerful piece in the game of chess. It can move any number of squares vertically, horizontally or , combining the powers of the rook and bishop. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first next to the king. Because the queen is the strongest piece, a pawn is promoted to a queen in the vast majority of cases; if a pawn is promoted to a piece other than a queen, it is an underpromotion. The predecessor to the queen is the '' ferz'', a weak piece only able to move or capture one step diagonally, originating from the Persian game of shatranj. The queen acquired its modern move in Spain in the 15th century. Placement and movement The white queen starts on d1, while the black queen starts on d8. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts on a white square and the black queen starts on a black square—thus the mnemonics "queen gets her color", "queen on er wncolor", or "the dress uee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rook (chess)
The rook (; ♖, ♜) is a piece in the game of chess. It may move any number of squares horizontally or vertically without jumping, and it may an enemy piece on its path; it may participate in castling. Each player starts the game with two rooks, one in each corner on their side of the board. Formerly, the rook (from ) was alternatively called the ''tower'', ''marquess'', ''rector'', and ''comes'' (''count'' or ''earl''). The term "castle" is considered to be informal or old-fashioned. Placement and movement The white rooks start on the squares a1 and h1, while the black rooks start on a8 and h8. The rook moves horizontally or vertically, through any number of unoccupied squares. The rook cannot jump over pieces. The rook may capture an enemy piece by moving to the square on which the enemy piece stands, removing it from play. The rook also participates with the king in a special move called castling, wherein it is transferred to the square crossed by the king after th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pawn (chess)
The pawn (♙, ♟) is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess. It may move one square directly forward, it may move two squares directly forward on its first move, and it may capture one square diagonally forward. Each player begins a game with eight pawns, one on each square of their second . The white pawns start on a2 through h2; the black pawns start on a7 through h7. Individual pawns are referred to by the on which they stand. For example, one speaks of "White's f-pawn" or "Black's b-pawn". Alternatively, they can be referred to by the piece which stood on that file at the beginning of the game, e.g. "White's king bishop's pawn" or "Black's queen knight's pawn". It is also common to refer to a ''rook's pawn'', meaning any pawn on the a- or h-files, a ''knight's pawn'' (on the b- or g-files), a ''bishop's pawn'' (on the c- or f-files), a ''queen's pawn'' (on the d-file), a ''king's pawn'' (on the e-file), and a ''central pawn'' (on the d- or e-files). The p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chess
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. The players, referred to as White and Black in chess, "White" and "Black", each control sixteen Chess piece, pieces: one king (chess), king, one queen (chess), queen, two rook (chess), rooks, two bishop (chess), bishops, two knight (chess), knights, and eight pawn (chess), pawns, with each type of piece having a different pattern of movement. An enemy piece may be captured (removed from the board) by moving one's own piece onto the square it occupies. The object of the game is to "checkmate" (threaten with inescapable capture) the enemy king. There are also several ways a game can end in a draw (chess), draw. The recorded history of chess goes back to at least the emergence of chaturanga—also thought to be an ancesto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Chess Variants Society
David Brine Pritchard (19 October 1919 – 12 December 2005)''David Pritchard.'' The Times (London). Features; p. 66. 17 January 2006. was a British chess player, chess writer and indoor games consultant. He gained pre-eminence as an indoor games and mind sports consultant, a role that he in effect created. A natural games player, it was to him that inventors or publishers would turn to organise a championship of a new game, write about it or generally promote it. Though nearly a million copies of his chess books have been sold, Pritchard is best known for authoring ''The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants'', in which he describes more than 1400 different variants. In addition to authoring books on games, Pritchard was editor of ''Games & Puzzles'' magazine from 1972 to 1981. He was also a games director for the Mind Sports Organisation, and president of the British Chess Variants Society. Biography During and after the Second World War Pritchard was an RAF pilot who served mainl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martian Chess Startpos
Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. Trends in the planet's portrayal have largely been influenced by advances in planetary science. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s, when it became clear that there was no life on the Moon. The predominant genre depicting Mars at the time was utopian fiction. Around the same time, the mistaken belief that there are canals on Mars emerged and made its way into fiction, popularized by Percival Lowell's speculations of an ancient civilization having constructed them. ''The War of the Worlds'', H. G. Wells's novel about an alien invasion of Earth by sinister Martians, was published in 1897 and went on to have a major influence on the science fiction genre. Life on Mars appeared frequently in fiction throughout the first half of the 1900s. Apart from enlightened as in the utopian works from the turn of the century, or evil as in the wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Origins Award
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the gaming industry. They are presented by the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for games released in the preceding year. For example, the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 game fair. Award categories include board games, card games, tabletop role-playing games, strategy games, and game accessories. History History of Categories The Origins Awards were initially presented at the Origins Game Fair in five categories: ''Best Professional Game'', ''Best Amateur Game'', ''Best Professional Magazine'', ''Best Amateur Magazine'' and ''Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame''. Since the first ceremony, the game categories have widened to include Board games (Traditional, Historical and Abstract), Card games (Traditional and Trading), Miniature wargaming (Historical, Science Fiction and Fantasy), Role-playing games and play-by-mail games. There are additional categories for Graphic D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castling
Castling is a move in chess. It consists of moving the king (chess), king two squares toward a rook (chess), rook on the same and then moving the rook to the square that the king passed over. Castling is permitted only if neither the king nor the rook has previously moved; the squares between the king and the rook are vacant; and the king does not leave, cross over, or finish on a square attacked by an enemy piece. Castling is the only move in chess in which two pieces are moved at once. Castling with the is called ''kingside castling'', and castling with the is called ''queenside castling''. In both Algebraic notation (chess), algebraic and descriptive notation, descriptive notations, castling kingside is written as 0-0 and castling queenside as 0-0-0. Castling originates from the ''king's leap'', a two-square king move added to European chess between the 14th and 15th centuries, and took on its present form in the 17th century. Local variations in castling rules were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Looney Labs
Looney Labs, Inc. is a small game company based in College Park, Maryland, United States. It is named after its founders, Andrew Looney and Kristin Looney, and is best known for creating the Fluxx line of card games. The company has three U.S. patents and eight Origins Awards. The company's games are distributed by ACD Distribution, Alliance Game Distributors and GTS for the US hobby game market, Lion Rampant for Canada and Publisher Services, Inc. for U.S. mass market and book trade and the international market. Icehouse Games: predecessor company Andrew and Kristin Looney previously entered game design and manufacturing with Icehouse Games which was started to manufacture pieces for the formerly fictional ''IceHouse'' game in 1989. In 1996, Looney shut down Icehouse Games, Inc. as the cost to create Icehouse pyramid molds would cost $12,000 and to focus on designing a card game. History Home based Andrew Looney soon designed the '' Fluxx'' card game. Looney Laboratories w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
