124 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
124 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
A SIMPLIFIED HALF-BOARD GAME
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USING A CHINESE CHESS SET
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BY ROLEIGH MARTIN
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CIS 71510,1042
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5511 Malibu Drive
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Edina MN 55436
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1-18-94
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I received an interesting Compuserve (CIS) email from a
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downloader of an earlier upload of CCHESS.ZIP from Dave
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Franz (CIS ID 71172,2115). I am reproducing relevant
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parts from his email. It shows how to play another
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game with Chinese Chess that might be easier to teach
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newcomers. I've known Chinese mothers and young kids
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to play this game quite enjoyably. According to Dave
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Franz, a lot of Chinese men play this game too. I
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haven't played it myself though. It is reproduced here
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to achieve written (in English) posterity.
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To: Roleigh H. Martin > [71510,1042]
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#: 67 S0/CompuServe Mail [MAIL]
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05-Jan-94 09:52 CST
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Sb: XiangXi half-board chess
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Fm: Dave Franz [71172,2115]
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I was wondering if you knew of the half-board version
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of this game. I learned it in Taiwan from Taxi
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drivers. (It is played on half the board, with all the
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pieces turned down, in the center of the squares. A
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move consists of flipping a piece over or moving a
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piece... well hopefully you know all of this.)
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* * *
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To: Roleigh Martin > [71510,1042]
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#: 68 S0/CompuServe Mail [MAIL]
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06-Jan-94 15:38 CST
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Sb: XiangXi half-board chess
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Fm: Dave Franz [71172,2115]
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First to answer your questions, I downloaded your
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upload from IBMNEW forum. I was taught how to play the
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full board version once, but that was long ago, and I
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never practiced enough to retain the knowledge. I
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haven't played the half board game in two years now, so
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I'm also getting rusty at that. In this game, there
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are two players, and the game is very fast and
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exciting. Kind of a mix-up of Checkers, Chess, Stratego
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and Poker.
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PRE-GAME
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All pieces are turned upside down, mixed up, and placed
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in the center of the squares of a half board (on a 4x8
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grid).
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STARTING
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CAI CHUAN (paper-rock-scissors) determines who will
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turn over the first piece to see who makes the first
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move (turns the first piece.) The color of the first
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piece is played by the turner of that piece.
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PLAY
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A move is either (1) turning over a piece, (2) moving a
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piece one square horizontally or vertically (not
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diagonally) to another blank square, or (3) capturing
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another piece. Obviously, at first, most of the moves
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are turning over pieces. The object of the game is to
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eliminate all the tiles of the other player.
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HIERARCHY OF PIECES
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The general can take a knight, can take a elephant, can
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take a chariot, can take a horse can take a pawn.
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Pawns can take a general, but generals can't take
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pawns. Any piece just mentioned can capture its own
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kind or below (except general to pawn). Cannons can
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take anything, but only by jumping over another piece,
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regardless of how far away the piece is, so long as
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there is only one piece. (The piece captured is the
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one it lands on, not the one it jumps.) When not
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capturing, cannons can move to adjacent free squares
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just like any other piece. Further, cannons can be
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taken by anything but a pawn. Capturing takes place
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for any other piece by moving to an adjacent square.
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COMMENTS
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Stalemates are possible. The end of the game can get
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very strategy oriented.
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Games are not based entirely on strategy, sometimes a
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game can be won by the luck of the draw (the luck of
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the turn).
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Cannons tend to be the most interesting pieces in the
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game.
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The rules I just laid out are subject to wide
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variations. Some of my favorite: Cannons can jump
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consecutively, taking many pieces in one move. Various
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pieces can move on the diagonal. Horses can only move
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two up one over (like in regular chess). Various
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pieces can move on the diagonal (or can move only on
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the diagonal). Turn all pieces up at start. etc. etc.
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etc. Half-board Xiang Xi works like poker, when the
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dealer calls the game (ie, 7stud, draw, etc.).
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Well I hope this gives you a better idea of the game.
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I just wrote this on the fly, so it may not be a very
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good description.
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