Star Trek 3-D Chess
at a glance
________
/ R*/ p /
/___/___/
/ K / p*/______________
/___/___/N*/ p / */ / ________
/___/___/___/___/____________ / p*/ R /
/ B / p*/ / *// / */ / /___/___/
/___/___/___/___//___/___/___/_____/ p / K*/
________ B*/ p / */ // */ / *// //___/___/
/ Q*/ p /__/___/___/___//___/___/___//___/___/___/
/___/___/N / p*/ / *// / */ // */ p / B*/
/ R / p*/__/___/___/___//___/___/___//___/___/___/
/___/___/ / / */ / *// /________
/___/___/___/___//___// p*/ Q /
/ / *//___/___/
/___/___// p / R*/
/___/___/
figure 1
The Star Trek 3-D Chess set-up is comprised of 7 boards in all. Three boards
are stationary, being 4 squares on a side. Four boards, each 2 squares on
a side, can be moved, as will be explained later. First we will study the
three 4x4 boards. Leaving out the other 4, the 3 primary boards look like
this from the side:
|--|--|--|--| <--- black defense board
|--|--|--|--| <--- neutral board
|--|--|--|--| <--- white defense board
The uppermost board is Black's defense board. The lowest is White's defense
board. The middle board is the neutral board. Each board overlaps another
at two rows. For purposes of constructing this set-up, the boards are 6
inches apart.
Each of the 4x4 primary boards also has four pins on the top, and four on the bottom. These 'pins' are really posts at the four corners of the boards whose purpose it is to hold up the other 4 boards. Viewed from above or below, the 4 pins on either the top or bottom of a board are located at the asterisks in the following diagram:
*___________* | | | | | |__|__|__|__| | | | | | |__|__|__|__| | | | | | |__|__|__|__| | | | | | *__|__|__|__*The pins should be just less than 3 inches in length, by a factor equal to half the thickness of a board. Viewed from one side, the pines are located on the boards as shown here:
* *
|--|--|--|--| <--- black defense board
* *
* *
|--|--|--|--| <--- neutral board
* *
* *
|--|--|--|--| <--- white defense board
* *
Thus, including both sides, there are 24 pins in all. As stated earlier,
the purpose of these pins (posts) is to provide places for the 2x2 boards
to reside. With a top-side pin, the board would rest on top of it, and with
a bottom pin, the board would hang from it.
The four 2x2 boards are called Attack Boards. At the start of the game, the attack boards start on the top-side, outer pins of the defense boards. The attack boards rest/hang on/from the pins at their middle. From the side, the attack boards would start the game as in the following diagram. Note that in a side view you can only see two of the four attack boards:
|--|--| <-- black attack board
* *
|--|--|--|--| <--- black defense board
* *
* *
|--|--|--|--| <--- neutral board
* *
|--|--| <-- white attack board
* *
|--|--|--|--| <--- white defense board
* *
From a top view, Black's attack boards would appear as follows:
_________
|b |w | <--- attack board
|___|___|____________
|w |*b*|w |b |w |
|___|___|___|___|___|
|w |b |w |b |
|___|___|___|___| <--- black defense board
|b |w |b |w |
____|___|___|___|___|
|b |*w*|b |w |b |
|___|___|___|___|___|
|w |b |
|___|___| <--- attack board
In this diagram, the asterisks signify the squares on the attack boards
which overlap the squares on the defense board. The b's and w's signify
black and white squares. Notice how the blacks and whites line up from one
board to the next. This principle exists throughout all the boards, as
illustrated here:
|-w|-b| <-- black attack board
* *
|-b|-w|-b|-w| <--- black defense board
* *
* *
|-b|-w|-b|-w| <--- neutral board
* *
|-w|-b| <-- white attack board
* *
|-b|-w|-b|-w| <--- white defense board
* *
Before explaining the details of attack-board movement, first the game set-up
will be explained. It should be noted that in all there are 64 squares,
just as many as with conventional chess. However, the pieces do not start
the game out in the same places as with the standard chess game. Figure
1 displays how the pieces are set up in the game. Those pieces of White's that
are hidden in that view are simply mirror images of Black's. Note that just
like with normal chess each queen starts the game out on its native color. The
squares with asterisks are black. For clarification, it should be made clear
that the king and queen's pawns are located directly over their respective
knights (designated with an 'N').
As with conventional chess, squares are referred to relative to the moving player's viewpoint. With regards to the three primary 4x4 boards, there are four rows; The King's Knight row, King's Bishop row, Queen's Knight row, and Queen's Bishop row. The squares these pieces start in are referred to as column 1. A player's own defense board would have columns 1-4, the neutral board 5-8, and the opponent's defense board would be numbered 9-12. The attack board squares, on the other hand, are ALWAYS referred to by the owning player's perspective. Thus, even if White were to move a piece onto Black's Queen Attack Board, capturing the queen for example, the white player would announce their move as being 'to Black Queen 1'. Note that for each attack board, there are only two columns.
In case all this is too much to digest, as surely it might be, here is a diagram illustrating the nomenclature from black's perspective:
_________
|KR1|KR2|
|___|___| <--- Black King's Attack Board
|K1 |K2 |\
|___|___| \
\ ___\_____________
\ |KN1|KN2|KN3|KN4|
\|___|___|___|___|
|KB1|KB2|KB3|KB4|
|___|___|___|___| <--- Black Defense Board
|QB1|QB2|QB3|QB4|
|___|___|___|___|
/|QN1|QN2|QN3|QN4|
/ |___|___|___|___|
_____/___ /
|Q1 |Q2 | /
|___|___|/ <--- Black Queen's Attack Board
|QR1|QR2|
|___|___|
Note that while all these square names are valid during the black move,
some of them change during white's move. All of the squares on black's
defense board would be numbered 12 to 9 from left to right in the diagram,
as that is what they are from white's perspective. However, again, the
attack board squares are ALWAYS referred to by color and owning player's
designation. Thus, Black Queen 1 will ALWAYS be Black Queen 1, regardless
of whose turn it is.