John Sokol asked:


According to an online independent voluntary judiciary committee, there are approximately 43 recognized chess variants, and the number is growing. The increased variety of game play has not only attracted whole new leagues of chess players, but it has also created new chess board designs far different than the original 8 X 8 chess boards.

This adventurous exploration of the game’s various geometrical and multi-plane possibilities has helped to put forward many new and interesting design concepts. Most new chess board designs, however, fail the test of time. This is usually due to the inventor’s flawed understanding of entertainment value and the necessary math that made chess the game that it is in the first place. However, others did, and do, survive. The following are examples of just some of the successful chess board designs:

• Changgi – Also know as Korean Chess, it is played on chessboards that are 9 X 10 with the first two ranks on the 10 square side including 2 X 2 centre sections made up of 8 equilateral triangles. Linear game play on these chessboards takes place on the lines that make up the grid while diagonal play goes corner to corner. This modified system, said to be the descendant of the Chinese chess variant, Xiang-Qi, has maintained a strong following and it, along with its design modification of chess boards, is here to stay.

• Courier Chess – In the Middle Ages, a German variant came to life and increased game complexity by turning the playing field into 8X12 chess boards. Each opponent has 12 pieces to pit against their foe. Some chess pieces move either exactly like or differ very slightly from the older game of Chaturanga, the progenitor of chess. Courier chess adds three new chess piece classes, making game play such that stalemate wasn’t an issue. Courier chess boards and the game itself died out for a long period after the Middle Ages ended, but now the game has experienced an online revival.

• Dragonchess – Gary Gygax, famed creator of Dungeons & Dragons, turned his eye to chess and chess board design. What resulted was three 8 X 8 boards stacked one on top of the other. The upper board is meant to represent the sky, while the middle level is treated as earth and the lowest board is treated as the underworld. As with Gary’s much-played and much praised RPG gaming invention, Dragonchess has a new set of chess piece types based on D&D character classes. With such classes as Griffins, Oliphants, Paladins and Basilisks, players are expected to maneuver their chess pieces in concert according to a complicated mathematical notation. This game and its unique use of multiple chess boards survives due to the legions of cape-wearing, potion-making, spell-casting super-geeks that everyone else cheated off of in high school. A narrow, but dedicated demographic. Speaking of which…

• Tri-dimensional Chess – Ever since sci-fi fans saw Spock playing the mysterious alien game of Tri-Dimensional chess, they have been intrigued with attributing a real and playable set of rules for the fictional game. In the early 90’s, a formal rule set of game play was established. Every Starfleet officer in cyber-distance of this wonderful breakthrough in chess and chess board design began assembling their Tri-dimensional chess boards with fevered anticipation. Star Trek 3-Dimensional Chess, as it is also known, is made up from one 64-space board split into seven different levels. This configuration consists of three 4 X 4 and four 2X 2 chess boards arranged both vertically and horizontally. Seems easy, but the trick is that pieces from different levels interact with each other and pieces can also be transported from one level to another, not to mention that the players can move the 2 X 2 chess boards to suit their strategic needs. Game complexity here can make your head spin and may be better left to the slide rule army.

Now that you’ve had just a taste of what we can come up with when we attempt to reinvent chess and the design of chess boards, you can appreciate the unending evolution of the game. However, that doesn’t mean you have to play these variants.

Traditional chess boards conforming to those familiar age-old rules can be purchased in many designs and beautiful materials. There are many online suppliers ready to cater to your chess board needs. Quality-Chess.net provides a reliable online service that supplies a wide selection of unique and classical chess boards.

John L asked:


Does anyone know of any special Mahjong (MJ) sets that make less noise when you shuffle them? I know you can buy MJ playing cards but I’d like to stick with solid tiles if possible.

Gene Marshall asked:


The expression “free backgammon” is heard a great deal these days and people way well wonder what do we mean by free backgammon? Backgammon has been with us for thousands of years and for much of its long history it is possible to say it has been a free game. The original backgammon set required nothing more elaborate than a flat piece of wood for the backgammon board, small stones for the counters and a dice made out of a discarded bone. Therefore, the ancient world backgammon players could easily get their backgammon set up without having to spend any money. With the commercialization of backgammon set production from the 1800’s onwards, more people were buying their backgammon sets from retail outlets but the option of making your own backgammon set remained and it is still available today for those who don’t wish to buy a set or maybe just prefer to make something themselves.

So, free backgammon might well be applied to the lack of expense involved in procuring the basic items required to conduct the game. It could also just as easily be applied to learning how to play backgammon. The traditional way of learning the backgammon rules has been through observing the games of experienced players. Certainly, today a person may choose to acquire their backgammon instructions from one of the many books that have been published describing the game in detail, but there is no need to pay for a book if they live near a public library. The game’s popularity insures that many backgammon books are usually in stock. Although the most enthusiastic players often opt to join backgammon clubs, membership is frequently available free of charge and the possibility of learning to play without having to pay anything remains available to anyone who is interested. .

The rapid development of Internet backgammon over the past fifteen years has certainly enhanced the possibilities of finding free backgammon. Today, when a person uses this expression they are more likely than not referring to online backgammon. For anyone who has a connection to the Internet, there is no longer any need to even make the minimal investment in buying a backgammon set from the shop but all they need to do is log onto a site and make a backgammon game download from the Internet. The sophisticated backgammon software now available does an excellent job in presenting an attractive 3-D version of the game, its boards, counters and dice. Also freely available are practice games against challenging backgammon computers or against players of various skill levels from around the world.

To participate in backgammon gambling usually involves some small fee paid to the site, and depending on the player’s skills at the game, they may find their winnings at the game exceed by many times the cost of participating and this can be seen as another aspect of free backgammon. If you’re interested in improving your skills then playing online is a great way to do it for free.