Martian Chess

Designer	Andrew Looney
Publisher	Looney Labs
Players	2-4
Playing Time	20 mins
Suggested Age	8 and up
Honors	2000 Origins Awards Best Abstract Board Game Winner
Additional Info	19803/martian-chess http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/19803/martian-chess/forums/63

Martian Chess is a 2-4 player game that uses Icehouse pieces, requiring one stash per player, and a chessboard. It was one of the games included in Icehouse: The Martian Chess Set and Pyramid Arcade.

Much like its namesake, Martian Chess is a game of capturing pieces. Like Chess, Martian Chess is turn based, and played on a chessboard. In both games, players move and capture individual pieces, and each type of piece has distinct moving rules.

However, Martian Chess differs from Chess in critical ways:

• Piece ownership is determined not by color but by location.
• Instead of capturing a specific piece, winning is determined by points, making it possible to force the end of the game and still win with no pieces left in that player's control.
• Lastly, Martian Chess easily supports 4 players as well as two, and can also be played with 3, 5 or 6 players if you use geomorphic chessboard sections; see this photo for an example.