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TAXI: The Nuclear C.a.B. Chess Game. Missing description (2x(7x9), Cells: 45) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Joe Joyce wrote on Mon, Sep 17, 2007 10:14 PM UTC:
Or is the phrase 'well struck'?

As far as the number of squares actually in the game, I feel a certain
amount of ambiguity is good for the soul. I was quite happy to see Doug
Chatham's ambiguous square count turn up in the contest. 

As for the possibility of allowing the 2 taxis, with or without passengers,
to end a move orthogonally adjacent to an edge board square, well, the
board was modelled after a [poor] map of Manhattan, which is surrounded by
water. In fact, when the 45 square contest never materialized, I considered
adding 3 7-square rows to the middle of the board, changing the one black
and one white taxi [remember Black and White Cabs?] to two Checker[ed]
cabs, usable by either side if empty and callable, and calling that variant
64 [not 66] square Manhattan Taxi Chess, since the board would more closely
resemble that poor map of Manhattan. This concept precluded me from even
thinking of your idea, Charles.

It is a perfectly viable optional rule, however, and does fit in well with
the 45 square theme. Thank you for pointing it out. Grin, shows how blind a
theme can make you in design.

💡📝Joe Joyce wrote on Mon, Sep 17, 2007 09:10 PM UTC:
Charles, well hit. Truthfully, I never considered the question of pawn promotion when I finished this up for posting. Embarrassing to admit, but there it is. I kept going back to the game with the feeling that something was missing, but the taxi rules seemed solid, I had the combination and breakdown rules set, the dyads and triads had their possible moves trimmed down to what I thought worked best [the original had R+R movement options of 'hookrook' and planar rook, for example, but those moves were too powerful]. Good thing this is a non-competing entry, apparently.
My initial thoughts, way back when, were that there was no promotion, the pawns would have to be carried off the back row by a taxi or as part of a combination piece, or using the optional pawn moves I left in the rules, should the situation ever arise. This is clearly a weakness in a *chess* variant design. Following are promotion rules.
Promotion would occur on the opponent's 3-square back rank. 
To promote, a pawn must, by itself, move onto one of the 3 promotion squares. It may not promote if brought to a promotion square by taxi or as part of a combination piece.
A pawn may only promote to a rook, bishop, or knight. This is freely chosen, there are no restrictions on availability of pieces or any other such conditions.
I hope this is satisfactory.

Charles Gilman wrote on Mon, Sep 17, 2007 07:07 PM UTC:
What happens when Pawns can go no further? Are they promoted, or must they
wait until they can be combined with something? You don't mention ny
promotion, but you don't mention no promotion either.

One way of getting round the 'is this really 45 squares?' question would
be to allow a taxi to end a move anywhere orthogonally adjoining the board
as well as anywhere on it.

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