A chess game for 4 players. You can play with a partner or individually.
4 Man Chess
Number of people: 2~4 ｜ hours: about 45 minutes
You can play with a partner or individually. There are two main ways to play
One is to be the last player standing and the other is playing for points.
- 1 game board (with 4 sets of pieces)
- Red chess pieces
- Green chess pieces
- Blue chess pieces
The queen is always placed on a black square.
Image when game setup is complete.
- In 2 vs 2 team play, teammates should face each other.
Example: In the image above, green and gray are on the same team, while red and blue are on the same team.
- [a] Team Play
Objective : Checkmate one of the opponent's kings.
Divide into two teams and arrange so that teammates face each other.
The queen is always placed on a black square.
Select a starting player and proceed clockwise.
Rules: You cannot move your teammate's pieces. You also cannot capture your teammate's pieces or checkmate your teammate.
If a pawn reaches the 11th rank from your starting position or the end of either side of the opponent's board, it is promoted to a queen. (For example, if you are the green pieces, your pawn is promoted to a queen when it reaches the yellow line.)
* En passant is not allowed.
* Checkmate and * stalemate are only determined once the player being threatened has had a turn and a chance to respond to the threat, thus giving their teammate a chance to rescue them.
Decide at the start whether teammates can talk or strategize during the game.
The team that checkmates one of the opponent's kings first wins immediately.
- [b] Last Player Standing
Objective: Survive and be the last player standing.
The queen is always placed on a black square.
Select a starting player and proceed clockwise.
If your pawn reaches the 8th rank from your starting position, it is promoted to a queen.
* En passant is not allowed.
* Checkmate and * stalemate are determined only after the player under threat has had a turn to respond to the threat.
In this game, players are not allowed to strategize together, form teams, or create alliances.
When a player is checkmated, they are removed from the game, but all their pieces remain on the board. These pieces do not move, cannot check a king, and cannot be passed through. To occupy a space with a piece of a removed player, you must capture that piece.
If a player is stalemated, that player is removed from the game. However, if only two players remain, the game ends in a draw between those two players.
The game ends when three players have been eliminated and the last remaining player is the winner.
- [c] Points Game
Objective: Play for points and earn the most points.
The queen is always placed on a black square.
Select a starting player and proceed clockwise.
If your pawn reaches the 8th rank from your starting position, it is promoted to a queen.
* En passant is not allowed.
Points are earned as follows:
- Checkmating an opponent earns you 20 points.
- Stalemating yourself earns you 20 points.
- Stalemating an opponent gives 10 points to each remaining player.
- Checking two kings simultaneously with a queen earns you 1 point, and checking three kings earns you 5 points.
- Checking two kings simultaneously with a piece other than a queen earns you 5 points, and checking three kings earns you 20 points.
- Capturing a living player’s pieces earns you points: 1 point for a pawn or promoted pawn, 3 points for a knight, 5 points for a bishop or rook, and 9 points for a queen.
- Capturing pieces of already eliminated players does not earn points.
The game ends when only one player remains or the remaining player is stalemated. The player with the most points wins.
* Checkmate : In chess, when a king is under attack, it is in "check." "Checkmate" occurs when the attacked king cannot escape check. The game ends with the player who checkmates the opponent's king as the winner.
* En passant : A special pawn capture rule in chess.
If an opponent's pawn moves two squares forward from its starting position and lands beside your pawn, your pawn can capture it by moving to the square it passed over.
- However, this rule is not allowed in this game.
* Stalemate :
When a king is not in check but any move it makes would place it in check, the game is in stalemate. In this case, the game ends in a draw, regardless of the number of pieces the opponent has.
Stalemate can be used strategically when winning seems unlikely.
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