A Chess Knight is limited to moving two spaces away. In this game, all pieces share that limitation. And since the Knight was the inspiration for this game, all pieces are also leapers, with the Pharaoh being the sole exception. First player to checkmate their opponent's Pharaoh wins.
The types of pieces and the way they move are:
Ushabti: jumps two spaces in any direction. An Ushabti can only reach a quarter of the spaces on the board.
Obelisk: moves horizontally or vertically, stepping one space or jumping two spaces.
Cat: jumps like a Knight.
Ankh: moves diagonally, stepping one space or jumping two spaces.
Sphinx: combines the powers of the Cat and the Pharoah.
Pyramid: combines the powers of the Cat and the Ushabti.
Queen: combines the powers of the Obelisk and the Ankh.
Pharaoh: steps one space in any direction.
Scarab: combines the powers of the Cat and the Ankh.
Baboon: combines the powers of the Cat and the Obelisk.
'The banks of the Nile overflow.' - There is a problem with having a Chess variant composed entirely of short-range pieces. As play continues and pieces become more sprarse and spread out, they have less and less interaction with one another. To fix this, each player begins the game with four Water tiles in hand. On their turn, instead of making a normal move, a player may drop a Water tile on an empty space, with the restriction that it has to be along the edge or adjacent to an already placed Water tile. These act as blocks and contracts the size of the board. |