The male offspring and I invented a chess variant after a rousing game of “regular” chess.

Behold the splendor of Queen War:

Board Setup

• All pawns go in their regular places.
• Each queen too.
• The rooks (we chess amateurs call them castles) go on the left and right of the queen

Movement and Capture

• Pawns move 1 square in any direction, including diagonal. Pawns can only capture diagonally.
• Queen moves and captures as in regular rules, except the queen may jump over her own rooks.
• Rooks do not move. They can not capture anything. Rooks can only be captured by Pawns.
  • At first attempt to capture, the Rook is considered “knocked over” and is laid on it’s side in it’s current square. The Pawn that attempted the capture stays in it’s original square (it doesn’t move into the Rook’s square). The move is over.
  • Second attempt by a Pawn is handled as a normal capture– the Rook is removed from play and the Pawn takes it’s place.

Game over, man, game over!
There are two ways to win.

• When all the opposing player’s Pawns are captured, you win. Or:
• When the opposing player’s Queen is captured, you win.

If you have the chance to play this game, please let us know how it went and if you enjoyed it!

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