Chess-like game for kids

[Sgt. Groovy]

I work in a kindergarten, and after getting tired of the kids kicking my butt in Memory, I've started inventing new board games for them. This one is intended as a "gateway drug" into chess, designed to be simple enough for kids from 3 years up to play, but containing the basic elements of chess: pieces with different movement, grid board, capturing and an intended target to attack.

The board with the initial positions of the pieces is shown below:

eskarishakki.png (35.13 KiB) Viewed 4520 times

There are two players, white and black, each with five pieces of two kinds: foxes (F) and wolves (W). Foxes move one step in any direction. Wolves move one or two steps in any direction and they can jump over foxes. Pieces are captured as in chess, by moving your own piece to the hex occupied by the captured piece. Capturing is not compulsory. Each player moves one piece on each turn.

The gray hexes are called "lairs" and the objective of the game is to move one of your pieces to the lair on the opponent's side of the board. The game is also won if you capture all opponent's pieces.

There are two modes to play the game in:
1. The blitzkrieg mode: It is enough to move one of your pieces to the lair. In this mode the games tend to be quite short. This mode should be better suited to very small kids, since the objective is simpler. In this mode, it might be good idea to restrict the movement of wolfs in straight lines.

2. The war of attrition mode: To win, you must not only have your piece in the opponent's lair, but none of the opponent's pieces must be in a position where they could capture your piece in the lair on the opponent's next turn. This way, it becomes much harder to take the lair and the game becomes about capturing. The problem with this mode is, though, that with skilled players playing without taking risks, the game can easily end in a draw.

The game is still under development, so far I've only playtested it with my dad. Here's a set I made him for Christmas:

Here's a board to print for anyone who wants to try it out, you'll just have to fashion out the pieces somehow:

[Reepurr]

Looks like quite a nice idea! Though I must admit, my first thought was something along the lines of "Chess meets Wesnoth"...
("Move x unit to the signpost by going across the hexes
Alternative objective:
Defeat all enemies)
Er sorry, but...


It does look like a nice idea, and I especially like the relationships foxes and wolves have to pawns and knights. Also, on the board in the screenshot, shouldn't the "lair" be marked in some way, for beginner players?

[Crendgrim]

Reepurr:
He, why not?
So the little children are going to like Wesnoth, too. That's a nice way of advertising

Sgt. Groovy:
This sounds indeed interesting. It should also be possible to implement it in WML, so we can really widen our community
However, I don't understand the second sentence in the Blitzkrieg description:

In this mode, it might be good idea to restrict the movement of wolfs in straight lines.

What do you mean with this? How do the wolfs go normally? I thought they are able to jump over foxes, but that is a straight line...


Crend

[thespaceinvader]

No - with no restiction on movement, a wolf could move from its starting square to any of the three squares in front of it. If it could only move in straight lines, it would be unable to reach the square in the middle.

For the Attrition mode, I suspect a slightly bigger board would be useful - my instinct is that the game will really grind at this size if you have to prevent your opponent from being able to capture your lair at the same time as you capture his.

[Sgt. Groovy]

Also, on the board in the screenshot, shouldn't the "lair" be marked in some way, for beginner players?

It is, the lairs are the gray hexes.

If it could only move in straight lines, it would be unable to reach the square in the middle.

It would still be also able to move only one hex, so it would be able to reach any hex on the board. An for clarity, any direction means that the pieces are not restricted to moving forward, the can also move backward.

For the Attrition mode, I suspect a slightly bigger board would be useful - my instinct is that the game will really grind at this size if you have to prevent your opponent from being able to capture your lair at the same time as you capture his.

My dad made the same suggestion, but I said he's only saying so because he kept losing.

But yeah, that might be worth trying out.

[Kalajel]

Nice idea, but since it's supposed to be a kid's game; kittens and bunnies, KITTENS AND BUNNEHS! lol.

No but seriously, looks like a really nice game.