Martian Chess

Martian Chess is an abstract strategy game designed by Andrew Looney and published by Looney Labs in 1999 as part of the Icehouse: The Martian Chess Set collection, played on a standard chessboard using pyramid-shaped Icehouse pieces instead of ordinary chess pieces. The board is divided into four quadrants by notional canals, and each of the game's two or four players may only move pieces sitting within their own home territory, unlike standard chess where any piece may cross the whole board. Each player begins with nine pieces split into three types: three pawns that move one space diagonally, three drones that move one or two spaces horizontally or vertically, and three queens that move any distance in a straight or diagonal line, each type worth one, two and three points respectively when captured. Rather than checkmating an opponent's king, the goal is to accumulate the higher point total by capturing enemy pieces, and the game ends the moment any player's own territory becomes completely empty of pieces, at which point scores are compared to determine the winner. The design won the Origins Award for Best Abstract Board Game of 2000.