Author Topic: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS (Read 188 times)

Asher Hurowitz · « **on:** March 08, 2018, 01:58:03 pm »

Wow... we're at over 500 posts now!

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

ebinola · « **Reply #1 on:** March 08, 2018, 03:13:42 pm »

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.

ubersketch · « **Reply #2 on:** March 14, 2018, 05:37:10 pm »

Quite unfortunate I couldn't participate. Oh well, I'll enjoy seeing all of the submitted variants.

Asher Hurowitz · « **Reply #3 on:** March 14, 2018, 09:52:53 pm »

@ubersketch if you want just submit something

John_Lewis · « **Reply #4 on:** March 15, 2018, 12:56:16 pm »

How many entries do you currently have?

chilipepper · « **Reply #5 on:** March 18, 2018, 02:43:42 pm »

Quote from: ebinola on March 08, 2018, 03:13:42 pm

...though I hope every entry gets its own spotlight.

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).

RichV · « **Reply #6 on:** May 22, 2018, 11:39:34 am »

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 The now outdated original version, Round Table Chess, is listed on the Chess Variants website.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 (http://www.chessvariants.com/large.dir/contest/rtc-rules.html) 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: 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

Asher Hurowitz · « **Reply #7 on:** May 22, 2018, 01:09:29 pm »

Quote from: RichV on May 22, 2018, 11:39:34 am

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 (http://www.chessvariants.com/large.dir/contest/rtc-rules.html) 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: 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

Welcome to the forum!
I absolutely love your variant and can't wait to see you future contributions.

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

The Chess Variant Forum

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Author Topic: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS (Read 188 times)

Asher Hurowitz

100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS

ebinola

Re: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS

ubersketch

Re: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS

Asher Hurowitz

Re: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS

John_Lewis

Re: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS

chilipepper

Re: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS

RichV

Re: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS

Asher Hurowitz

Re: 100 Posts Chess Variant Contest RESULTS