39-cell ascii chessboards, part 4

(continued from part 3)

    Now we're gonna get into the good stuff!  <ha-ha!>

board #12 = form 3.1.1
======================
cell shape #3 = equilateral triangles

concept #1 = 3 players

version #1 = irregular shapes
    notational dimensions: ??

                       /\
                     /____\
              /\    /\    /\                 /\
            /____\/____\/____\             /____\
           /\    /\    /\           /\    /\    /\
         /____\/____\/____\       /____\/____\/____\
                    /\    /\     /\    /\    /\
                  /____\/____\ /____\/____\/____\
                             /\           /\    /\
         d                 /____\       /____\/____\
                    /\    /\    /\
         c        /____\/____\/____\
                 /\    /\    /\
         b     /____\/____\/____\
                          /\    /\
         a              /____\/____\
                 2  3  4  5  6  7

    (notation system as suggested by the inventor)

    SUBMISSION IN THIS FORM: #10 = pirate chess, by guillermo
alcantara.

    Somehow I have the feeling that a lot of chessplayers of the
conventional game wouldn't like this board too much!  <grin>  But
I give it credit for being radically different while also being
weirdly symmetrical.

=====================================================================

board #13 = form 4.1.1
======================
cell shape #4 = diamonds

concept #1 =  3 players

version #1 = hexagonal gemstone shape
    notational dimensions: 6 files, 6 ranks

                          ______ ______
     6                 / \      |      / \
                     /     \  .' `.  /     \
     5             /  `. .'  \     /  `. .'  \
                 /______|______\ /______|______\
     4         / \      |      / \      |      / \
             /     \  .' `.  /     \  .' `.  /     \
     3     /  `. .'  \     /  `. .'  \     /  `. .'  \
         /______|______\ /______|______\ /______|______\
     2   \      |      / \      |      / \      |      /
           \  .' `.  /     \  .' `.  /     \  .' `.  /
     1       \     /  `. .'  \     /  `. .'  \     /
               \ /______|______\ /______|______\ /
                    a      b        c      d        e      f

    SUBMISSION IN THIS FORM: #13 = spIndecision Beryl, by Alexandre
Muniz.

    Wow, this is a real gem!  I just loved drawing this one!  Ascii
art seems to fit it perfectly!  (Appropriate for a gem, no!?)

=====================================================================

board #14 = form 5.1.1
======================

cell shape #5 = combination: squares & triangles & hexagons

concept #1 = lotus board

version #1 = four interconnected lotus petals
    notational dimensions: 9 files, 7 ranks
                            ______
                           /\    /\
          7              /    \/    \
                       /\    /  \    /\
                     /____\/      \/____\
          6          |    |        |    |
                     |____|        |____|
                    /\    /\      /\    /\
          5       /    \/    \  /    \/    \
                /\    /  \    /\    /  \    /\
              /____\/      \/____\/      \/____\
          4   |    |        |    |        |    |
              |____|        |____|        |____|
              \    /\      /\    /\      /\    /
          3     \/    \  /    \/    \  /    \/
                  \    /\    /  \    /\    /
                    \/____\/      \/____\/
          2          |    |        |    |
                     |____|        |____|
                     \    /\      /\    /
                       \/    \  /    \/
          1              \    /\    /
                           \/____\/

                a   b  c  d   e   f  g  h   i

    SUBMISSION IN THIS FORM: #14 = lotus-39, by David Moeser.

    This is my piece de resistance.  The ascii diagram isn't as
graceful and rounded as the real thing, but it does reveal how
different this is from the more conventional ideas.

    This entry wound up in just about last place in the contest.
Most of the variants enthusiasts seem to prefer wild and crazy stuff
for chess pieces or rules, like DDT bombs (remember the video game
Millipede?), or bulldozers (shades of Middle East warfare?), or trap
doors (better to meet Colonel Mustard in the billiards room with?).
Many of them seem to follow one of my taglines, namely a policy of
"anything but chess" -- but not for the same reason.  I was a real
player of the regular game for a long time, retiring with a mildly
respectable USCF rating.  But I also play video games or billiards,
not to mention golf, bowling, or whatever.  Some of these other
dudes never played real tournament chess.  One of them berated my
Lotus Chess, saying "How dull!  Why on earth would you make it like
chess?!"  The inventors themselves were the voters in the contest,
and the atomic bombs and bulldozers and such won the awards.

    Nevertheless, I predicted that as time passed I would be the only
one seriously pushing his invention, and that may be the case.  I
put out a 50-some page booklet about Lotus Chess in 1998 and a
second edition is in the planning stage.
-- 
         >>>----------------------------------------------<<<
         >>>      david moeser -- erasmus39 on yahoo      <<<
         >>>            Censornati, Ohio - USA            <<<
         >>>----------------------------------------------<<<
         *            One Size Does NOT Fit All!            *