Played on an electronic board, all pieces look exactly the same, aside from the two side's colors. A small display on your side shows you which pieces of yours are what. The board keeps track of this, and beeps angrily at you if you try to make an illegal move.

The trick is to keep track of which enemy piece is what.

Optional rules (Not neccessary for game, just a few variations):

1) Players may set up their side any way they like, as long as it is in the two back rows.

2) Players set up a screen, so that they cant see the other player move, and must figure out which piece has changed position, and wht type it is.
-- DesertFox, Dec 19 2005

Stratego http://www.edcollins.com/stratego/
Game where you can't visually ID enemies pieces [5th Earth, Dec 19 2005]

Chess Variants http://www.pathguy.com/chess/ChessVar.htm
Baked here somewhere... [roleohibachi, Dec 19 2005]

Stratego http://www.edcollins.com/stratego/
Game where you can't visually -- oh, goddammit... 5th Earth beat me to it. [AfroAssault, Dec 22 2005]

don't get me wrong, this is interesting but this screen thing might prove difficult as each side's pieces intermingle.
-- po, Dec 19 2005


There are two screens, one for each player, and imbedded chips tell which pieces are who's and whch are where. Each screen only displays tht players pieces types, the other player's pieces are represented by dots.
-- DesertFox, Dec 19 2005


so its more like battleships then?
-- po, Dec 19 2005


If the pieces start in their original positions then you just have to note which piece moved. There is no mystery. If you come into a game part- way through or are allowed to swap pieces from their original line-up then the game turns into s logic problem -- what can't I move and what does this tell me about the enemy forces.

I like the concept of hidden-piece games -- trying to figure out pieces from the opponents strategy -- but I don't think that chess is the best starting point.
-- st3f, Dec 19 2005


The thing is [DF], that anyone who can play an even half-decent game of chess can think at least two moves ahead and won't find this much of a challenge. Those who have difficulty remembering which pieces are which aren't paying nearly enough attention to win a normal game. I fall into category two.
-- wagster, Dec 19 2005


Exactly. There are plenty of blind players and I've seen people play blindfold.
-- DrCurry, Dec 19 2005


Blind people can feel to see which piece it is (no pun intended).

Here, each piece is just an identical lump.

I also fall into category two, as do most people.
-- DesertFox, Dec 19 2005


Stratego with chess pieces? Not that this is a bad idea, I like Stratego and many people like Chess.
-- 5th Earth, Dec 19 2005


Yes. See my first anno as mentioning chips for the board.
-- DesertFox, Dec 19 2005


Been done. I don't remember the name, but I remember playing it. See the linkage, it was on that site somewhere. good thinking, though.
-- roleohibachi, Dec 19 2005


I'm bad at chess to begin with. This game just sounds like torture.
-- notmarkflynn, Dec 22 2005


No it doesn't, [notmarkflynn], it sounds like great fun, for some reason the second condition of the game reminds me of poker, you have to figure out when they're bluffing and why.
-- froglet, Dec 22 2005


This is one of a few known, played chess variants. We played it back in "chess club" in high school. (Yes, I'll admit to that). You just use checkers instead of pieces, and each player keeps track of which one is which. You just run into problems if people disagree on the actual piece midway.

A similar one is to play "diversity" chess, where you intermix black & white on an otherwise normal setup, and each player easily figure out who's is who's, but anyone coming in late will be quite puzzled.

So, pretty baked, but I'm not fishboning b/c I like it anyway.
-- sophocles, Dec 22 2005


I think its better off without the screen.
-- MikeOxbig, Dec 23 2005


<raises hand> Category two wannabe.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 23 2005


Yes, you could play some interesting games: moving the queen up one square at a time, like a pawn, and then jumping on the King from a great distance.

What could make it very complicated is if each piece is not defined until you move it in a certain way. i.e pick up any piece and move it two forwards and one to the side; provided that piece was never previously defined, and there are not already two knights, then it can be defined. It would need computer tracking, I think.
-- Ling, Dec 23 2005



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