Taasen

Taasen: The Game Of Tryslmaistan Chess

Taasen is a board game from the UnicornJelly comic by Jennifer Diane Reitz.

The board looks like this http://www.cheeky.house.cx/~nemo/extras/taboard.gif

When ready for play it looks like: http://unicornjelly.com/images/ta1.gif

This page will attempt to describe a method to exchange and record a board setup and the moves of a game.

Why?

• Facilitate play-by-email (or icq, irc, etc ;)

First up, let us number the positions.

• Numbered 1 through 16
• Orientate the board so the starting corner is pointing "up"left to right in 4 horizontal rows from top to bottom.(this means that on odd-numbered rows, the odd numbered positions are triangles pointing up, while on even numbered rows, it is hte even numbered positions that point "up")
  • Corners are number 1, 10 and 16
  • Center sea is 7
  • Green land around the sea is 6, 8 and 13

(Note that an alternate numbering position could be made whereby there are 7 rows, with each row being made only of "up" or "down" triangles, alternating in styles per row.

Since the board is triangular, there is no tactical advantage to any colour starting at any specific corner. The alignment of starting corners to players is given at the start of the game record. (if we start a record in mid-game, then the matter is irrelevant anyways)

Secondly, identifying the pieces

Players

• R = Red piece/player
• G = Green piece/player
• W = White piece (neutral player can be controlled by either side)

Pieces

• T = Thaum
• S = Sciane
• P = Paupil

Thus, each piece is identified by their two-letter code, for example...

• RS = Red Sciane
• RT = Red Thaum
• WT = White Thaum
• GP = Green Paupil

Next, how do we show the initial piece positions?

A position is shown by giving that piece code, and then =number for the position the piece is on.

For eg, a starting configuration might be

• WT=1, WS=1, WT=1, RS=10, RT=10, RP=10, GS=16, GT=16, GP=16

Finally, how do we show movements, pushes and crushes?

To show a movement, we simply give the piece code, and then the position number that it has moved to. (ie, just like a position statement, but without the "=")

• A push is shown like a move, but enclosed in parenthesis (and also can be given on the same line as the "pushing" move.)
• A crush is also in parenthesis, but the position moved to is non-legal. (eg, position0, 17, or my preference, or precede the piece code with an exclamation (common computerese for a negation) or an "x" (so it reads as "ex-piece", eg (xRS) would be "ex red sciane")

An example in practice...

http://unicornjelly.com/images/tatake.gif

• The Setup
  • GT=6, RP=10, RS=11, GS=12
• Thaum Moves
  • GT5
• Sciane is pushed and crushed
  • (xRS)

In practice, the move and the push or crush would be shown on the same line:

• GT5 (xRS)

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Is there anything I've missed out?

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Taasen is copyright Jennifer Diane Reitz, as are the images on this page.