Football chess

As with so many of the chess sets in my collection, I saw this American Football set on eBay, for not very much at all. 

Now there is such a thing as 'football chess'! The aim of 'football chess' is not to capture the king, but to get a ball into the goal or over the goal line. The now out-of-print Encyclopedia of Chess Variants actually lists five different versions, one of which uses a standard 8 x 8 board with the standard line-up of pieces. The difference with FIDE chess is just that there is a ball, which must be 'kicked' over the goal line, and each piece 'kicks' the ball the same way it moves. 

So I decided to just add a small ball to this set to turn it into (American) football chess. 

Board is the usual fold-out cardboard, depicting an American football field with two end zones. The 'Rivalry' refers to the Super Bowl where the champions of the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference play against each other. Hence the 'A' and 'N' in the two end zones.

The pieces, made of plastoy, show players with various roles (e.g. the queens are the quarterbacks). Each of the 32 pieces has a different helmet, representing the 32 teams in the League. 

It wasn't so easy to find a miniature American football! Eventually, I found a small acorn of pretty much the right size and shape, and used a permanent marker to make it look more like a real (American) football.

More basic xiangqi sets

Over time, I've picked up a bunch of basic xiangqi sets, and posted on a bunch of them here. Since then, I've added a couple more to the collection, so let me show these to you now. 

First up is a very cheap basic set, with a plastic film as board, and plastic pieces with metallic red / green writing.

Then there is an other magnetic portable set, this time with pieces shaped like small flat stones.

Another magnetic travel set, smaller than the one above, and with simple round yellow pieces

And then finally, a basic set from Vietnam, consisting of a standard paper board and plastic pieces. 

In Vietnam, xiangqi is called Co Tuong. According to one source, Co Tuong is identical in every way to xiangqi, but another source states it is 'mostly similar'. I've never come across any source specifying how Co Tuong differs from xiangqi, so my assumption is that it indeed is the same game under a different name. Unless I see evidence to the contrary, that is ...

Wizard-dragon set

Not much I can say about this particular 'wizard and dragons' set. Sets identical or very similar to this pop up on eBay every once in a while (the design of the dragons/pawns varies between sets), so there came a point the set was added to my collection. It didn't come with a board, but I felt it looked good on the red wooden board that originally came with my Roman set, and which I also used for my Louis XIV set. 

Two more Dou Shou Qi sets

As I argued in a recent blog post, I consider the game of Dou Shou Qi to be derived to some degree derived from xiangqi. I won't go into details as to why here; you can read the blog post if you're interested. 

Recently, I picked up two more Dou Shou Qi sets. The first one of these is marketed as "Jungle King". No date is given anywhere, but I guess it dates back to the 1960s or 1970s. 

Both board and pieces are made from sturdy cardboard. 

The different animal pieces are indicated by pictures and a number, which matches the number on their starting squares on the board.

The second set is a more recent plastic magnetic travel set.

Here, the pieces are indicated by a small picture and Chinese writing.

I will keep my eye open for more Dou Shou Qi sets ...

Children's xiangqi set

Saw this rather unusual xiangqi set on eBay, and couldn't resist .... 

The board is made from wood, and looks quite neat.

The pieces are all figurines, also made of wood, and with Chinese writing clarifying the identity of each piece. 

Seems to me that this particular set is mostly targeted at children, in the hope of enthusing them for the game. 

Definitely a unique addition to my collection of xiangqi sets!

Xiangqi set for the garden

Saw a xiangqi set with large jade pieces on eBay for not very much, and I snapped it up. The set didn't come with  board, and, given the size of the pieces, it didn't fit on any of the boards I have. And that also meant that any board I'd buy or make would have to be quite large ... 

And then I had an idea .... Why not create a temporary board in the garden, on the garden table? After all, I'd already created a 'garden board' for my Royal Beasts set, so ... On top of that, the colour of the garden table would match the jade-green of the pieces nicely ...

Easy enough to create a board on the table using electrical tape.

Looks quite good with the pieces on it!

Not sure how long the tape will hold on the table; the first rain may well be the end of it, but a new grid is easily put in place again.

Minotaur chess

I got this Minoan set quite a long time ago. My aim was to create a board for it, but good ideas for that never materialised, so the set remained in its box for some years. Recently, I thought that it would actually fit well on the mother-of-pearl board of my Egyptian set. And if I ever get a good idea for a custom-made board for it, there will be nothing stopping me doing so ...

For a Minoan chess set, there can only be one appropriate variant: Minotaur chess! Check the link for the backstory of this variant, as well as the full rules. A major difference with FIDE chess is that the non-moving queen is the target rather than the king.

One of the two bishops on each side, the one on the dark squares, can be placed on any of the remaining dark squares in front of the other pieces.

Even though capturing the queen is the aim for winning a game of Minotaur chess, and her powers are basically zero compared to the queen in FIDE chess, you still have to go through all the other pieces to get to her ...