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Apocalypse (chess variant)

Chess-Family War Games

Apocalypse is a small modern chess variant created by C. S. Elliott in 1976. It is played on a 5x5 grid and each side has only seven pieces, two knights and five pawns. The pawns, called soldiers in the Ludii record, move and capture as chess pawns do, and the knights, called kings in that record, move and capture as chess knights do. A soldier that reaches the last rank is promoted to a king if its owner has fewer than two kings. If the owner already has two, the promoted soldier is taken off the board and placed on any empty cell instead. A player loses by having no soldiers left on the board. The Ludii Portal lists the game as a modern board game of war and replacement in which the aim is to eliminate the opponent, and it names A World of Abstract Games as its reference. The compact board and short list of pieces make it a quick game that borrows the chess pieces but changes the promotion and winning rules.

Facts
Sport
Game Type (category)
Board Game 2
Classification
Player Count
Two-Player 1
Origin Year
1976 2
Connections

Derived From

Chess, Games
Source Ludii Portal (Digital Ludeme Project): Apocalypse
Sources
1. Apocalypse (chess variant) (Wikipedia)
Lead
Quote, Lead
The two sides make their moves simultaneously.
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2. Ludii Portal (Digital Ludeme Project): Apocalypse
  • Creation date
    Creation date 1976
  • Category
    Board, War, Replacement, Eliminate, All
  • Derived From: Chess, Rules
    Soldiers move and capture like chess pawns, while kings move and capture like chess knights.
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