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#Post#: 546--------------------------------------------------
100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS
By: Asher Hurowitz Date: March 8, 2018, 12:58 pm
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Wow... we're at over 500 posts now! :o ;D
Anyway, the panels are being formed.. sorry for the delay but
people are hard to assemble and schedules are hard to deal with.
Thanks,
Asher
#Post#: 547--------------------------------------------------
Re: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS
By: ebinola Date: March 8, 2018, 2:13 pm
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A testament to how well this forum has done, considering it's
been around for 3-4 months.
I'm eagerly anticipating the results, though I hope every entry
gets its own spotlight. :)
#Post#: 604--------------------------------------------------
Re: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS
By: ubersketch Date: March 14, 2018, 4:37 pm
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Quite unfortunate I couldn't participate. Oh well, I'll enjoy
seeing all of the submitted variants.
#Post#: 608--------------------------------------------------
Re: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS
By: Asher Hurowitz Date: March 14, 2018, 8:52 pm
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[member=32]ubersketch[/member] if you want just submit something
#Post#: 611--------------------------------------------------
Re: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS
By: John_Lewis Date: March 15, 2018, 11:56 am
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How many entries do you currently have?
#Post#: 612--------------------------------------------------
Re: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS
By: chilipepper Date: March 18, 2018, 1:43 pm
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[quote author=ebinola link=topic=82.msg547#msg547
date=1520540022]
...though I hope every entry gets its own spotlight. :)
[/quote]
I agree. Actually I feel that it is often easier to invent a new
game, than even to play one complete game of a well-designed
variant. A game can be invented in a day or two. But some games
can require many days (or even weeks) to be played carefully.
It would be nice if each of the entries can be listed in an
outline somehow, with a few comments about each one (either by
the contest committee, or everyone in general). :)
#Post#: 903--------------------------------------------------
Re: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS
By: RichV Date: May 22, 2018, 10:39 am
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Asher,
I just stumbled across this forum late last night. Has the
judging for the variant contest started yet? If not, can
variants still be entered into the contest?
On and off for the past 20 years, I have been
developing/testing/improving/enhancing a collection of variants
that began as a cross between Byzantine Chess (aka Circular
Chess) and traditional chess. I invented the game board,
CirSquare 96, in 1997 as a way to add a third direction of
attack to Byzantine chess. The now outdated original version,
Round Table Chess, is listed on the Chess Variants website. I
entered the 96 square version--Round Table Chess
(
HTML http://www.chessvariants.com/large.dir/contest/rtc-rules.html)<br
/>in a Chess Variants contest. The game achieved the highest
rating but did not win because not enough judges evaluated it.
Over the years, I revised the board slightly, greatly enhanced
the graphics, computerized it Zillions of Games with 18
variations (which are available for download online for people
who own a copy of Zillions of Games), and most recently
finalized 4 levels of the game, which are now: (traditional
chess is Level 1 and is on the back of my quad-fold board),
Castle Siege Chess (Level 2), Castle Action Chess (Level 3) ,
Castle Attack Chess (Level 4), and Castle Challenge Chess (Level
5, which is a team game for 4 to 6 players). Attached is a pic
of Castle Siege Chess in its latest form (the attachment failed
because "the folder is full"; the file is only 108 kb) (so I am
reposting without the attachment).
All of my games are very well explained on my website:
CastleStrife.com
I also have a chess meetup group:
HTML https://www.meetup.com/Castle-Chess-Club/
where you can see
many pictures of both my game and traditional chess being played
by club members of the Chess Club at VCU (Virginia Commonwealth
University).
For the past 2-1/2 years, I have been an Associate Advisor for
the Chess Club at VCU in Richmond, VA. I started the club to
begin introducing my games to the public. Unfortunately for me,
the large US Army project that I was working on at Northrop
Grumman in Richmond came to an end this past February and I am
now back at home in Cary, NC retired. The Chess Club at VCU is
still going, but they are not meeting during the university's
summer break.
While I was working in Richmond, a co-worker asked me if I would
conduct a program at her son's Boy Scout troop (the largest and
oldest one in VA) to help them earn their Game Design badges. I
gave them 4 lessons, using my game as the example for the board
game development process. After the last lesson, I asked them to
practice the testing part of development by having a tournament
to test my Castle Challenge Chess game. Although it is the most
involved level of my games, I knew it would be the most fun for
them. Four teams of 2 to 3 players each participated. The two
youngest team (a 10 year-old and an 11 year-old) won the
double-elimination tournament. The 15 and 13 year-olds were not
happy at all that they lost to a pair of 5th graders. All the
players really liked the game.
Last November, I received my order of 1,000 game boxes and
quad-fold game boards from a small-time game manufacturer in New
Jersey. I order my chess sets in small quatities from the House
of Staunton and 3D print my new pieces--Archer and Catapult--at
home. I also produce all the paper-based products (instructions,
cards, weapons, etc. at home). So far, I have sold 8 prototypes
and 4 manufactured sets to members of the Chess Club at VCU. I
have just started to market my games locally and will soon have
an online store on CastleStrife.com.
I entered Castle Attack Chess in the Mensa Mind Games 2018
contest, going up against well established professional board
game manufacturers. I knew that some of the parts and graphics
for my game were not polished enough yet to win a Mensa award,
but I wanted to see what they thought of the basic look, feel,
appeal, and playability of my game. Even though about half of
the judges had no interest in chess (and some of them actually
had either never played chess or did not like chess at all), 54%
of the 92 judges who played my game said that they would
recommend it to their family and friends. On a scale of 1 to 5,
with 5 being the highest, my game received mostly 4s and 5s for
"Play appeal" and "Play value" from those judges who would
recommend my game. One judge enthusiastically said that he will
buy my game (at $44) as soon as it is available for sale.
If it is too late to enter my game(s) into this forum's chess
variant contest, could I at least have it
tested/evaluated/reviewed somehow?
Sorry for long email.
Thanks,
Rich V
#Post#: 904--------------------------------------------------
Re: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS
By: Asher Hurowitz Date: May 22, 2018, 12:09 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=RichV link=topic=82.msg903#msg903 date=1527003574]
Asher,
I just stumbled across this forum late last night. Has the
judging for the variant contest started yet? If not, can
variants still be entered into the contest?
On and off for the past 20 years, I have been
developing/testing/improving/enhancing a collection of variants
that began as a cross between Byzantine Chess (aka Circular
Chess) and traditional chess. I invented the game board,
CirSquare 96, in 1997 as a way to add a third direction of
attack to Byzantine chess. The now outdated original version,
Round Table Chess, is listed on the Chess Variants website. I
entered the 96 square version--Round Table Chess
(
HTML http://www.chessvariants.com/large.dir/contest/rtc-rules.html)<br
/>in a Chess Variants contest. The game achieved the highest
rating but did not win because not enough judges evaluated it.
Over the years, I revised the board slightly, greatly enhanced
the graphics, computerized it Zillions of Games with 18
variations (which are available for download online for people
who own a copy of Zillions of Games), and most recently
finalized 4 levels of the game, which are now: (traditional
chess is Level 1 and is on the back of my quad-fold board),
Castle Siege Chess (Level 2), Castle Action Chess (Level 3) ,
Castle Attack Chess (Level 4), and Castle Challenge Chess (Level
5, which is a team game for 4 to 6 players). Attached is a pic
of Castle Siege Chess in its latest form (the attachment failed
because "the folder is full"; the file is only 108 kb) (so I am
reposting without the attachment).
All of my games are very well explained on my website:
CastleStrife.com
I also have a chess meetup group:
HTML https://www.meetup.com/Castle-Chess-Club/
where you can see
many pictures of both my game and traditional chess being played
by club members of the Chess Club at VCU (Virginia Commonwealth
University).
For the past 2-1/2 years, I have been an Associate Advisor for
the Chess Club at VCU in Richmond, VA. I started the club to
begin introducing my games to the public. Unfortunately for me,
the large US Army project that I was working on at Northrop
Grumman in Richmond came to an end this past February and I am
now back at home in Cary, NC retired. The Chess Club at VCU is
still going, but they are not meeting during the university's
summer break.
While I was working in Richmond, a co-worker asked me if I would
conduct a program at her son's Boy Scout troop (the largest and
oldest one in VA) to help them earn their Game Design badges. I
gave them 4 lessons, using my game as the example for the board
game development process. After the last lesson, I asked them to
practice the testing part of development by having a tournament
to test my Castle Challenge Chess game. Although it is the most
involved level of my games, I knew it would be the most fun for
them. Four teams of 2 to 3 players each participated. The two
youngest team (a 10 year-old and an 11 year-old) won the
double-elimination tournament. The 15 and 13 year-olds were not
happy at all that they lost to a pair of 5th graders. All the
players really liked the game.
Last November, I received my order of 1,000 game boxes and
quad-fold game boards from a small-time game manufacturer in New
Jersey. I order my chess sets in small quatities from the House
of Staunton and 3D print my new pieces--Archer and Catapult--at
home. I also produce all the paper-based products (instructions,
cards, weapons, etc. at home). So far, I have sold 8 prototypes
and 4 manufactured sets to members of the Chess Club at VCU. I
have just started to market my games locally and will soon have
an online store on CastleStrife.com.
I entered Castle Attack Chess in the Mensa Mind Games 2018
contest, going up against well established professional board
game manufacturers. I knew that some of the parts and graphics
for my game were not polished enough yet to win a Mensa award,
but I wanted to see what they thought of the basic look, feel,
appeal, and playability of my game. Even though about half of
the judges had no interest in chess (and some of them actually
had either never played chess or did not like chess at all), 54%
of the 92 judges who played my game said that they would
recommend it to their family and friends. On a scale of 1 to 5,
with 5 being the highest, my game received mostly 4s and 5s for
"Play appeal" and "Play value" from those judges who would
recommend my game. One judge enthusiastically said that he will
buy my game (at $44) as soon as it is available for sale.
If it is too late to enter my game(s) into this forum's chess
variant contest, could I at least have it
tested/evaluated/reviewed somehow?
Sorry for long email.
Thanks,
Rich V
[/quote]
Welcome to the forum!
I absolutely love your variant and can't wait to see you future
contributions. ;D Long posts are encouraged! Thanks so much!
Unfortunately only variants specifically created for the contest
are allowed in, if you have any ideas please do submit them!
Thanks again,
Asher
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