YORKTON - So are you a board gamer who has tried chess, and not liked it because it’s a bit more thinking than you want to invest in a game you play to relax?
If you answered yes, you are not alone.
Chess is not a game for all, yet most gamers will have a set somewhere in their hall closet or a box in the basement.
But, there is now a reason to dig the chess board back out and give it another try, this time using a set of Zugzwang cards.
Zugzwang is an 18-card chess ‘add-on’. That means the cards are only usable when combined with a regular chess set.
The design by Richard Harriman and Hezekiah Harriman is super simple.
You set up a chess game as normal. Then each player gets a set of nine cards, shuffles those, draws three and you are ready to go.
The cards typically show a caricature of a chess piece, with art by Brooke Penrose.
Now I must say it is Penrose’s art that shines brightest here. While not all will like the slightly dark, slightly cartoonish-stylings here, but they work for yours truly.
On your turn you select one of the three cards in-hand, and your opponent must move a piece that matches. If unable to do so they must move a pawn. Still not able to move then they must move the king.
You draw back to three cards and continue.
When your deck of six cards runs out, reshuffle and continue.
As a variant the card you play can be the move you must make.
This takes out a lot of the long-range thinking which is typically the core of chess. With Zugzwang chess becomes a highly reactive exercise as you and the opponent try to force bad moves on one another within the confines of only three cards to choose from each turn.
“Players should expect the unexpected; risky plays, epic comebacks, hysterical laughter, ruined friendships and sleepless nights dreaming up new strategies,” suggested co-designer Richard Harriman via email. “The most unique mechanic in Zugzwang is trolling players with a “gotcha” card each turn. It makes the game a lot more interactive.”
Now there have been other efforts to put greater randomness into chess with cards – the best might still be the 1994 released Knightmare Chess. Zugzwang is not that diverse, but as a low-cost free print and play at www.pnparcade.com you really cannot go wrong giving this one a try.
Check it out at wickedweirdgames.com
