Grand Dice Chess

1.31.2022

Grand Dice Chess

 Grand Dice Chess

Copyright (c) Vadrya Pokshtya

Grand Dice Chess

The Rules

The game uses a 12x12 board.

Each player has:

4 Kings
24 Pawns
8 Knights
8 Bishops
8 Rooks
4 Queens

White and black occupy the 1st-6th and 7th-12th ranks, respectively, as shown in the diagram.
White starts the game first.
The game uses four dice.
Opponents make moves alternately, throwing 4 dice. The piece to move is determined by a die:
1 = pawn, 2 = knight, 3 = bishop, 4 = rook, 5 = queen and 6 = king.

The player makes four moves at the same time based on the indications of the dice and has the right to refuse any move that does not suit him, unless it is a pawn move. Exactly! Unlike in regular dice chess it's allowable to pass moves. And this rule was already applied about a thousand years ago in old variant of Shatranj (Shatranj al-Mustatîla or Oblong Chess), the Arabic pre-decessor of modern chess. However it's not allowed to pass on pawn-moves, except when they are blocked.

Chess pieces move across the board as they do in ordinary chess - according to the standard rules of move and capture.
The only minor exception is for a pawn that is not allowed to move forward two squares from its starting position.
Upon reaching the last rank, the pawn can be promoted to any piece except the king and itself.
There is no castling, check and checkmate in the game.
The goal of the game is to capture four enemy kings.

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Intellectual Property Rights: Anyone is free to make use of Grand Dice Chess for any purpose, including commercial purposes. The only limitation is that the name may not be changed, and Vadrya Pokshtya must be given credit for the invention.

2 comments:

  1. If you give White two dice on the first turn only, that will balance the game. As it is, with White getting four dice also on the first turn, White has the same kind of initial advantage as in chess.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your comment! Surprisingly, but true - according to statistics based on more than 100 tournament games, Black has the advantage. They win 51% of the time. This paradox seems to be inexplicable. However, when it comes to games involving dice, talking about the advantage of the first move is useless. When using the generation of a random event, it does not matter at all who will be the first to use this event.
      When playing backgammon, for example, the starting side does not roll 1 die. Although everyone knows that with a successful initial roll, the player receives an advantage. Here, in Grand Dice Chess, even after White's first roll 1-1-1-1 and winning the Queen, everything is just beginning.
      If we introduce two dice for White, then we deprive them of the opportunity to win Queen in the first move, while Black will have such an opportunity. Thus, parity will be violated and disharmony will be introduced into the game.

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