Star Trek 3-D Chess Rules
Charles Roth, 8 October 2010
( Techblog top)
I. Introduction
I recently bought the instructions for
building your own Star Trek 3D chess set,
and my 10-year-old daughter Emma and I proceeded to build it
from scratch (which was a lot of fun all by itself).
While the booklet had great construction details, I admit I had to
puzzle over the description of the rules for a while.
There were also a few ambiguities in the booklet that
were cleared up on the web site (linked to above).
So I thought it would be an interesting challenge to write a clear
and concise description of the rules...
II. The Rules ("Federation Revised Standard")
- Board layout.
The image at the top-right shows the full board in
perspective.
There are 3 "main" boards (4x4 squares each),
and 4 "attack" boards (2x2 each).
The main boards are fixed, but the attack boards can move(!).
More on that later.
The "flattened" diagram to the right shows a view of the board
at the start of a game,
looking down from above, with some
main boards partially overlapping each other.
Each square is uniquely identified by
- its file (the letters a thru f)
- its rank (the numbers 0 thru 9)
- its elevation or z-level (the numbers 1 thru 7)
The main boards are, starting from the bottom, elevations 2, 4, and 6.
The attack boards in their starting position
are at elevation 3 and 7.
I'll use these square notations to show specific
examples of how pieces move.
- Starting position.
Shown below.
The white Bishops and Knights
are at elevation 2 on the low main board,
and the King, Queen, and Rooks are at
elevation 3 on the attack boards.
Note that the King and Queen pawns
are directly over the Knights.
(Well, just slightly off of directly over,
due to the way the board is designed.)
The black pieces have the equivalent starting
position on the high main board and attack boards,
but mirrored, so that
each side's Queen is, as in normal chess,
on it's own color.
- Moves on the main boards.
Moving across the main boards is like normal chess,
but with an option to change levels.
Look "down" at the stack of boards, and imagine
that you are moving a piece in its normal style
across the board(s).
The important difference is that you may choose to
end the move on a different level (any different
level) than you
started.
For example, assume we have a completely empty
board, with just one Rook were at c1(2),
meaning file c, rank 1, elevation 2.
It could move to any of:
- c2(2), c3(2), c4(2)
- c3(4), c4(4), c5(4), c6(4)
- c5(6), c6(6), c7(6), c8(6)
The square you want to move to is called the
target square.
The rule for moving a piece is this:
- There is one and only one path it can take from
the starting square to the target square...
- ...which must be the highest possible path
of squares...
- ...that are not above the higher of the start
or target squares.
That's a mouthful.
But we can break the rule down into three simple cases:
- If the start and target squares are on the same level
(same elevation), then the path just stays on the squares
on the same level, like normal chess.
(If there are other pieces in the way on that level, then
you just can't get to your target square.)
- If the target square is higher than the starting
square (i.e. you're moving up),
then you must take the highest possible
path that does not go above the target square
level.
That is, you can't zig-zag, meaning go up higher
and come back down again.
(If there are other pieces along that highest path,
then you just can't get there.)
- If the starting square is higher than the target
square (i.e. you're moving down),
then you must take the highest possible
path that does not go above the starting square.
(Ditto about blocking pieces.)
This sounds complicated, but put just a couple of pieces
on the board and try it out, and it will become clear.
Just remember -- "highest path, no zig-zagging".
- Moves on the attack boards.
The attack boards make things more... interesting.
They break the previous rule... a little bit.
When an attack board is mounted above (or below -- more later)
a main board, the squares on the attack board are allowed to
be an alternate route to the matching (directly above or below)
squares on that main board.
An example will make this clearer.
- Imagine a poor, solitary white King on it's initial square
at e0(3).
- Now put a black Rook at e4(2).
- The Rook has the King in check... and it can
attack thru either square e1(2) or
e1(3).
- If you put a white Pawn at e1(2), the King is
still in check.
You must block both e1(2) and e1(3) to save
the King.
Or turn it around the other way... imagine a white Rook at
b0(3).
It can attack a black Bishop at b3(4), even though it
zig-zags down to b1(2) and then goes back up to get to b3(4).
It's as if the attack board square at b0(3) were really
at b0(2), even though that square doesn't actually exist.
In Star Trek terms, we might call this a "quantum superposition"
of the attack and main board squares, or maybe a (very tiny)
set of parallel universes.
- Pawn Promotion.
This is an easy one.
White Pawns promote (normally) whenever they reach
rank 8 or rank 9.
Similarly, black Pawns promote whenever they reach
rank 1 or rank 0.
- Moving the Attack boards.
Yes, the attack boards can move.
The white player initially owns the attack boards
at (mounted in the corner of) squares b1(2) and e1(2).
The black player owns the other two.
On their turn, a player may, instead of moving a piece, move one of their
attack boards.
The board must be empty, or contain only one of their own pawns.
- The board may invert.
This means flip to the opposite post on the same square, turning
the board upside down. (If it was mounted above a main board,
now it "hangs" below that same board.) Or...
- The board may move 1 or 2 squares to another post, or
- The board may move 1 or 2 squares to another post and
invert.
Moving an attack board that is "piloted" by a single pawn can be
a very fast way to advance a pawn to promotion.
It can also open an alternate path to a piece that was blocked
by squares on a main board.
- Capturing Attack boards.
If the black player captures the last (only) white piece on one of
white's attack boards, that board now belongs to black, and may
be moved by black in the normal way.
And vice-versa for white.
A board with no pieces on it is safe and cannot be captured.
- Castling.
The King and the Rook in question may not have previously moved.
The King must not be in check on either its original
or destination square.
- King-side.
The King may switch places
with its Rook.
- Queen-side.
If the Queen has moved out of the way from its original square
on the b file, then the King "teleports"
to the Queen's home square, and Queen's Rook teleports
to the King's home square.
King-side castling in particular is a good way to move
a Rook into play.
- Special pawn moves.
All special pawn moves (first move option to move 2 squares,
and "en passant" captures) play out normally.
It can be tricky to remember, however, that a pawn
that started at (say) b1(3) and moved to b2(2)
cannot then move directly to b4(2), since it
has already taken its first move.
- Rook Pawn option.
A standard (but optional) rule handles the case of the
"stuck" Rook Pawn (e.g. at a1(3), or anywhere on the a or f files).
The darn thing can't normally go anywhere,
unless the opponent is dumb enough to place a piece
on the diagonal (e.g. b2(2)), or if the whole attack
board moves.
So the standard-but-optional move allows (only!) pawns
on the a or f files to (also!) move inwards one
or two (if 1st move) squares, or to attack
diagonally inwards.
Once the pawn is anywhere on the b thru e files,
it behaves normally.
III. Thoughts on game play.
 - The best way to play the game is to put it on the floor
and look down.
This makes it much easier to see "through" the boards
and see which squares are directly above and below
which.
Remember that the squares line up by color, i.e.
a red square is always directly above or below another
red square.
Spock and Kirk may have played looking sideways along
the board, but they were, after all, just acting...
- Bishops seem less powerful than in normal chess,
and Rooks and Queens are probably more powerful.
Center control seems to matter less than opening up
long files to attack along.
- Pawns are often a nuisance, at least early in
the game.
But watch out for those warp-speed "piloted by a pawn"
attack boards!
- Have fun, and forgive your opponent's easy/obvious mistakes
while you're both learning.
Live long and prosper!
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