Working name is Martian Coaster Chaturanga.
Required materials: One set of Martian Coasters (promo coaster not
required), One Treehouse set.
Four players. A player's color is the color of the coaster he/she is
seated at. The color of the pyramids that the player gets should NOT be
the same as his/her own color.
Arrange the boards in a square, alignment dots in the outer corners.
Each player sets up their pyramids with the Queen on the outer corner
square, and the Drone and Pawn on the two squares orthagonally adjacent.
Movement is with the arrows only, maximum distance being the number of
pips.
Capture is by replacement, as in normal chess.
A player may move a piece of his/her own color no matter where it
appears on the board, or may move a piece of any color if it starts on a
space of his color.
Captured pieces MAY be re-entered on the center square of the coaster of
the player's color. (The center squares are called "portals".)
Re-entering a piece is considered to be moving a piece. Captured pieces
are associated with the PLAYER, not with the color the player is
playing.
On a player's turn, the player rolls the Treehouse die. The player MUST
either do the Treehouse die action indicated OR move a piece OR both,
but cannot pass. If the player chooses to do both, he/she may do so in
either order.
If a piece is moved onto a portal, and has not been moved its maximum
distance to get there, it may be moved to any other portal as though
that portal were adjacent and with an arrow pointing to it. If after
being moved to another portal, it still has not been moved its maximum
distance, it may continue to be moved according to the arrows.
Die Actions:
AIM: The entire board (all four coasters) MAY be rotated one-quarter
turn in either direction at the player's discretion. Alternatively, it
may be easier for the players to get up and move around the board. THIS
CHANGES EACH PLAYER'S COLOR. A player carries/retains captured pieces
when his/her color changes.
(Clarification: If the board is currently arranged BG ,
RY
and the player decides to AIM counterclockwise, the board
now looks like GY . If the player's color was RED before, it is BLUE
BR
now.)
DIG: The player MAY take a piece of his/her own color captured by
another player and place it in his hand as though he had captured it.
HOP: Any piece that the player may legally move may be taken from
wherever it is and placed on any "portal".
SWAP: The player may take any two coaster from the board, and exchange
their positions (along with all the pieces that are on them). The
alignment dots should continue to conform to the current arrangement of
the board (e.g., if the alignment dots were at the outer corners before
the SWAP, they should be at the outer corners after the SWAP).
TIP: All of the board coasters are rotated in place so that the
alignment dots are in a different corner. All four coasters must be
rotated in the same direction by the same amount. Pieces are carried
along.
WILD: The player may choose ANY Treehouse die action OR may move a
second piece according to the rules.
The game is over when any player has no legal move. If all of the
pieces of a player's color are off the board, and there are no pieces on
the player's color, and the player has no captured pieces in hand, but
rolls a Treehouse die action that is possible, the player has a legal
move, and must take the action.
(Comments, please? Also, if anyone has any ideas for including the
fifth color of the Treehouse stash in the game, I'm all ears.)