The original game was invented by Richard VanDeventer in 1997. The current versions were invented in 2015. The games and rules are copywrited by him and all rights are reserved.

To play the game, you must have purchased and installed at least Version 2.0 of Zillions of Games. (Although, it may run on version 1.0, which I have not been able to test.)

Castle Siege Chess merges three 20-space circular bands (similar to those used in Byzantine Chess) with a 6x6 rectangular area of spaces into the middle of the inner ring of spaces. This board, dubbed the CirSquare 96, provides 3 directions of attack (frontal and two sides) on the opponents castle. The 96 squares are exactly 50% more than traditional chess and there are 50% more pieces--4 more pawns, 2 Archers, and 2 Catapults. The are 4 rows of spaces (12 spaces wide) between the two opponents' castles.

The standard chess pieces move the same as they do in traditional chess. The Archer and Catapult have very simple moves. The Archer compliments the Bishop and Knight, and the Catapult compliments the Rook and the Knight.

Archer - moves 1, 2, or 3 spaces across corners. It can jump over 1 or 2 pieces across corners. It only captures on the second space.

Catapult - moves 1, 2, or 3 spaces across sides. It can jump over 1 or 2 pieces across sides. It only captures on the second space.

There are only a few more rules than traditional chess:

1. The long range pieces (Queen, Rook, and Bishop) can only cross 2 castle walls on 1 move.
2. When a King is in check, it cannot cross a castle wall to move out of check. This allows the King to be cornered on a round board.
3. Pawns promote when they cross the opponent's castle wall onto Pawn row. This is one row sooner than in traditional chess.
4. Castling and En Passant are not used because I could not figure out how to script them on the unique CirSquare 96 board.
5. Moving through the 4 triangular shaped spaces: since there are no opposite corners or sides in a triangle, a piece moving into a triangle across corners (such as a Bishop) can exit the triangle from either of the other 2 corners, and a piece moving into a triangle across a side (such a Rook) can exit the triangle across either of the other 2 sides. This provides for some unusual moves through the triangular spaces.

Other than these few simple rule differences, Castle Siege Chess plays like traditional chess, but the new pieces, more directions of attack, earlier Pawn promotion, and unusual moves through the triangles make the game more interesting and exciting.

Note: If the game does not fit on your computer screen, increase the screen resolution for your computer to at least 1024x768 for the 800 pixel game.

I hope that you enjoy both the standard version (variant 1) of Castle Siege Chess and all of its other variants.

Since Zillions of Games shows you all the legal moves for a piece when you click on it, there is really no need for additional directions. Eventually, I will have my website complete to have better explanations for the Castle Siege Chess and its big brother Castle Challenge Chess, which includes many aspects of other games so that you have all you need to conduct a medieval war on the CirSquare 96 chess board.

The website (under construction) address for my games is http:www.castlestrife.com. Hopefully, I will complete it within the next few months.