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Joe Joyce wrote on Thu, Jun 7, 2007 12:10 AM UTC:
Sam, I'm moving this part of the discussion off Charles' Armies of Faith
game page. You make a good point:
'I mean, we have thousands of variants here, yet I don't see people
doing any play testing or trying to develop an opening stratefy for their
variant. Instead, they move on to their next chess variant invention,
leaving a variant with little or no testing, no real sense of strategy,
and certaintly no opening library.' S. Trenholm 6/6/07
 I have 1 game hanging that I'm still trying to pound into shape, but not
very hard [because the !@#$%^&*! thing *won't* put icons up, or keep all
the lines straight, or... yes, I have problems with computers], and
another that needs playtesting because it is so radical; so I may be
guilty of what you said. However, I will cheerfully play any or every one
of my games against you, or anyone else who wishes to play them. Every
game I've posted has a preset; and every game I've posted is, I believe,
playable, or I would not have put them up. I also think they are all good
games, or they would not be online [I suspect not everyone would agree
with me here, and may wish many were not online]. 
So offer me a challenge for any game of mine, or offer me a double
challenge: one game of your choice and one of my choice. I will cheerfully
play *anyone* [maybe not very well], and be happy to discuss tactics and
strategy.
Joe

David Paulowich wrote on Thu, Jun 7, 2007 01:27 AM UTC:

Let me start off by confessing that I never learned how to mate with King and Archbishop versus King. I kept stalemating Zillions the one time I tried. Substitute a Unicorn (B+NN) for the Archbishop and I can more-or-less manage.

But after 100 years have passed, I would expect the Raumschach page to have a brief outline of how to force mate with King and three Rooks. Or is it four Rooks? Who is actually playing 3D chess variants nowadays? Does anyone still read Jim Aikin's page on the 4x4x4x4 game Chesseract?


Joe Joyce wrote on Thu, Jun 7, 2007 01:39 AM UTC:
This topic is meant as a discussion of what we do, and why. My first post
gave my basic position on my designs, which is that I [try to] design
playable variants, and I enjoy playing all of them. Not everybody has the
same motives as I. There are a number of games that are truly beautiful
and will be played rarely, if at all. I'll mention one or two. 
This discussion started with 'Prince' by Gavin Smith. It's a fine game,
an intellectual tour-de-force, and barely playable because it's so
complex. The author speaks to this. But some of what we do is art, and
there's nothing wrong with that. 
As a work of art, 'Salmon P. Chess' by Dale Holmes is a masterpiece. The
game is brilliant in scope, very well thought out, and effectively
unplayable. It is art. It is beautiful. 
Both of these games are a credit to the CV site; we are all better off for
having them here. [And I hope both gentlemen will forgive me for dragging
them into this discussion, but I think their games illustrate perfectly
what I am trying to say here. If I presume too much of either of you
gentlemen, please let me know, and I will edit this comment
appropriately.]

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