A SIMPLIFIED HALF-BOARD GAME
USING A CHINESE CHESS SET
BY ROLEIGH MARTIN
CIS 71510,1042
5511 Malibu Drive
Edina MN 55436
1-18-94
I received an interesting Compuserve (CIS) email from a
downloader of an earlier upload of CCHESS.ZIP from Dave
Franz (CIS ID 71172,2115). I am reproducing relevant
parts from his email. It shows how to play another
game with Chinese Chess that might be easier to teach
newcomers. I’ve known Chinese mothers and young kids
to play this game quite enjoyably. According to Dave
Franz, a lot of Chinese men play this game too. I
haven’t played it myself though. It is reproduced here
to achieve written (in English) posterity.
To: Roleigh H. Martin > [71510,1042]
#: 67 S0/CompuServe Mail [MAIL]
05-Jan-94 09:52 CST
Sb: XiangXi half-board chess
Fm: Dave Franz [71172,2115]
I was wondering if you knew of the half-board version
of this game. I learned it in Taiwan from Taxi
drivers. (It is played on half the board, with all the
pieces turned down, in the center of the squares. A
move consists of flipping a piece over or moving a
piece… well hopefully you know all of this.)
* * *
To: Roleigh Martin > [71510,1042]
#: 68 S0/CompuServe Mail [MAIL]
06-Jan-94 15:38 CST
Sb: XiangXi half-board chess
Fm: Dave Franz [71172,2115]
First to answer your questions, I downloaded your
upload from IBMNEW forum. I was taught how to play the
full board version once, but that was long ago, and I
never practiced enough to retain the knowledge. I
haven’t played the half board game in two years now, so
I’m also getting rusty at that. In this game, there
are two players, and the game is very fast and
exciting. Kind of a mix-up of Checkers, Chess, Stratego
and Poker.
PRE-GAME
All pieces are turned upside down, mixed up, and placed
in the center of the squares of a half board (on a 4×8
grid).
STARTING
CAI CHUAN (paper-rock-scissors) determines who will
turn over the first piece to see who makes the first
move (turns the first piece.) The color of the first
piece is played by the turner of that piece.
PLAY
A move is either (1) turning over a piece, (2) moving a
piece one square horizontally or vertically (not
diagonally) to another blank square, or (3) capturing
another piece. Obviously, at first, most of the moves
are turning over pieces. The object of the game is to
eliminate all the tiles of the other player.
HIERARCHY OF PIECES
The general can take a knight, can take a elephant, can
take a chariot, can take a horse can take a pawn.
Pawns can take a general, but generals can’t take
pawns. Any piece just mentioned can capture its own
kind or below (except general to pawn). Cannons can
take anything, but only by jumping over another piece,
regardless of how far away the piece is, so long as
there is only one piece. (The piece captured is the
one it lands on, not the one it jumps.) When not
capturing, cannons can move to adjacent free squares
just like any other piece. Further, cannons can be
taken by anything but a pawn. Capturing takes place
for any other piece by moving to an adjacent square.
COMMENTS
Stalemates are possible. The end of the game can get
very strategy oriented.
Games are not based entirely on strategy, sometimes a
game can be won by the luck of the draw (the luck of
the turn).
Cannons tend to be the most interesting pieces in the
game.
The rules I just laid out are subject to wide
variations. Some of my favorite: Cannons can jump
consecutively, taking many pieces in one move. Various
pieces can move on the diagonal. Horses can only move
two up one over (like in regular chess). Various
pieces can move on the diagonal (or can move only on
the diagonal). Turn all pieces up at start. etc. etc.
etc. Half-board Xiang Xi works like poker, when the
dealer calls the game (ie, 7stud, draw, etc.).
Well I hope this gives you a better idea of the game.
I just wrote this on the fly, so it may not be a very
good description.
