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Image of four level 3D chess set from 1960s Batman TV series[Subject Thread] [Add Response]
Kevin Pacey wrote on Tue, Oct 9, 2018 05:01 AM UTC:

Here's a link that has an image of a four level 3D chess set from the 1960s Batman TV series episode 'The purr-fect crime', with Bruce Wayne (Adam West) thinking over his next move (vs. Dick Grayson [Burt Ward]):

https://www.google.ca/search?q=wikipedia+batman+1966+the+purr-fect+crime+3d+chess+images&biw=1280&bih=682&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=BoL7JUIdWlnk4M%253A%252CGJ0zH6Ek0V9a-M%252C_&usg=AI4_-kQhuhSOFrIfIoa-815PDIaHIzpw5w&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjkhK7-xfjdAhXNt1kKHRH1BewQ9QEwAnoECAUQCA#imgrc=BoL7JUIdWlnk4M:


🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Tue, Oct 9, 2018 04:41 PM UTC:

I watched this show before I was into Chess variants. The pieces are Renaissance set pieces. I have a set of those myself. This looks like a very crowded game with a full Chess set on each level. I can clearly enough see the Kings on the top two levels, and it looks like I can see parts of the White King on each level.


Kevin Pacey wrote on Tue, Oct 9, 2018 05:06 PM UTC:

I wonder what the rules might have been for that variant. :) There seems to be few 8x8x4 variants in CVP database.

Here's the wiki for 3D Chess; perhaps some of the variants linked to or mentioned aren't listed on CVP:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-dimensional_chess


Kevin Pacey wrote on Tue, Oct 9, 2018 10:49 PM UTC:

Here's a blurb from a search result about the 1960s Batman TV series episode The Purr-fect Crime (i.e. Holy re-watch...):

"The Bat-phone interrupts Bruce and Dick playing four simultaneous games of chess piled on top of each other"

If this is to be taken literally (and as true), the game being played isn't at all typically 3D chess-like, but rather it could also be played using 4 seperate chess sets (though piling them on top of each other sort of saves space in one's living room).

My guess would be that the rules are simply that whichever game on a level (i.e. board) ends with a checkmate first would decide the whole 4 level 'battle' (unless all 4 levels result in drawn games, in which cases the whole battle's a draw). The moves are to be made one board at a time by each player, say from the top level down to the bottom level, and then back up to the top level again, and so on, until the overall battle ends.

A preset for Game Courier could be made for this 'battle variant' (I'll call it a 'game' from this point on).

I tried a little bit to see if I could come up with more info on this game on the internet, but so far little luck. I was hoping it was based on something sold commercially long ago. Calling the game 3D Batman Chess or some such might be a copyright violation of some sort, but maybe giving it another name, if used on CVP at some point, say with my hypothesized rules, would be okay. Perhaps 3D Chess War (rather than 3D Battle Chess) might do.


🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Wed, Oct 10, 2018 12:41 AM UTC:

It could be that each is just a separate game of Chess to be won or lost on its own terms, and they are playing four games at once, because that is the kind of challenge their intellects need.


Kevin Pacey wrote on Wed, Oct 10, 2018 12:48 AM UTC:

You're probably right, in hindsight. Still, I'm still thinking over my hypothetical alternative rules. Could make for an interesting variant, if the idea is sound; I'd say in that case it's sort of a 3d variant after all, vaguely like Greg's 'Backlash', yet somehow simpler(!). It's also like that in that apparently the same player always gets White, or Black, on every board.


Kevin Pacey wrote on Sun, Oct 14, 2018 01:05 AM UTC:

Here's a test diagram:

I'm thinking of a variant idea that might be called '3D Chess War' after all. The rules I'm thinking of at the moment would be: each player moves, in virtually 'independent' chess games played on each of the 4 boards, until a checkmate occurs on one board (or a resignation), and that wins the whole 'game' (or war). White on his first 'turn' moves once each only on boards C and D, and from then on each player makes one move on each of the four boards, from his left to his right (i.e. Black in order moves once on board D then on C, B and A, then White moves once on board A then on B, C and D). White moved only on two boards on turn one to compensate Black for the disadvantage of having the second turn to some degree. If any board is agreed to be a draw, one player places his king on that board next to the other player's king, where adjacent squares for the kings are possible, and play on that board is discontinued for the rest of the 'game' (war), with any draws not counting (except that draws resulting on all 4 boards would mean that the 'game' [war] is a draw). A draw offer for any specified particular board(s) is offered at the end of a player's overall turn, with a comment to that effect.

It seems that the 4 boards would simply be almost totally independent of each other (checkmate on one deciding the war, aside), and that this variant idea is not truly 3D-like, but I can imagine if a player gets into a disadvantage on some board(s) he may well be able to start taking bigger risks on other board(s) than he might normally. This variant idea also has the point that if ever played between strong players, an overall draw result would be less likely than for a single game of chess, and perhaps fewer premature draw offers would be made (for particular board[s]). Also, upset wins against a stronger opponent might happen more often than in case of a single game of chess.


Kevin Pacey wrote on Thu, Nov 1, 2018 01:49 AM UTC:

Here's a sub-wiki re: Glossary of Chess, under which a brief description of two-board-using 'Basque Chess' can be found. I'm wondering if this match playing technique in any sense properly qualifies as a chess variant. It sort of reminds me of my own recent attempt to create a four-board-using variant (as inspired by this thread's subject heading), i.e. my '3D Chess War' idea, which I'm also not sure should be called a real variant (whether or not it proves to be at all enjoyable, if tried):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_chess#B


Garth Wallace wrote on Fri, Nov 2, 2018 04:17 PM UTC:

AIUI for tournament purposes those would be considered two separate games (in a double round robin or double Swiss), so I wouldn't really call it a variant. I suppose since you have to split your turn time between two boards, then it would be a variant if you consider Blitz Chess to be a variant. Otherwise it's equivalent to playing two games in a row.


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