Kung-fu chess
Encyclopedia
Kung-Fu Chess is a chess variant
without turns. It is a real-time strategy
game. Any player can move any of his pieces at any given moment. After a piece was moved it must "rest" a while before it is allowed to move again. If two pieces of opposite color (for example, the white queen and the black queen) try to capture each other exactly simultaneously, they will trade places. Hence reflexes and timing are key. Victory is achieved when the enemy king is captured. This game was created by Shizmoo Games.
Standard - The standard Kung-Fu Chess is one-on-one match, with average speed of the pieces' movements ("speed") and the time they are delayed until they can be moved again ("delay"). These two parameters are always set to 1.0 in an official standard match. Match is over when one of the players gets to capture his opponent's king.
Fast Four Way - Competes the Standard style for "the most popular Kung-Fu Chess game style", probably with success. Fast Four Way (a.k.a. "F4W", "FFW") is a match between four players on a four-way board similar to the Four-Handed chess
board, when the goal is again the eliminate your opponents' kings, as it goes by the principle of "last man standing".
The major difference in this game style in addition to being 4 players match, is that the speed of both pieces movement and delay is ten times quicker than the Standard game style (set to 0.1), and therefore F4W games are characterized with more action and speed rather than strategy in the Standard style.
Standard and Fast Four Way are the two only official styles that were available at Shizmoo for the nonsubscribers players (free users). By official, it means a player is being rated by playing this game style, and can have a different rank at Standard than at Fast Four Way.
Although the official game styles have their constant settings for Speed and Delay, these parameters can be changed in friendly matches. This option created another popular style entitled "Fast 2 Ways" - for players who loved the extreme speed of the F4W but did not want to play with 3 opponents. Nevertheless this game style had never become official, nor as popular as the Standard and the F4W were.
Crazyhouse - Crazyhouse is an official game style available only for subscribed players at Shizmoo. The principle is the same as the original chess variant
, captured pieces can be used in the board again by the player who captures them, but alongside the real-time feature of the Kung-Fu Chess of course. The speed is average, but a bit quicker than the Standard style, however the captured pieces move slower than the original pieces in the match.
Bughouse - A Crazyhouse for four players playing simultaneously, Bughouse
is the second subscribers-only game style, as there are two matches of one-on-one being played the same time, and each captured piece is moved to the hands of the teammate of the capturing player, in the neighbor board. It is a pairs match and the first player to eliminate his opponent's king wins for himself and his partner.
Subscribed members could build new game styles, set new rules and principles, and not only change the speed parameters of the official forms, and thus other chess vaiants were created in a Kung-Fu Chess style, but only these four official game style mentioned above were rated.
, the Internet Chess Club. Additionally, each rating range corresponds to a Kung-Fu belt color as follows:
Additional rankings such as black O and black X are awarded for 2200 rating and 2400 respectively.
Shizmoo gathered many Kung-Fu Chess fans from all over the world, and many talent players that mastered the new tactics and strategies of the unique game that did not exist in the original Chess game, and brought it to new levels of excitement.
As for now it seems that Shizmoo was shut down for good.
These sorrowful tidings caused many disappointed fascinated fans to look for clues about the fate of Shizmoo, and a few attempts to revive the community of the Kung-Fu Chess players and create a new home were made.
Chess variant
A chess variant is a game related to, derived from or inspired by chess. The difference from chess might include one or more of the following:...
without turns. It is a real-time strategy
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
game. Any player can move any of his pieces at any given moment. After a piece was moved it must "rest" a while before it is allowed to move again. If two pieces of opposite color (for example, the white queen and the black queen) try to capture each other exactly simultaneously, they will trade places. Hence reflexes and timing are key. Victory is achieved when the enemy king is captured. This game was created by Shizmoo Games.
Awards
Kung-fu Chess was Game of the Year 2003 from Arcade Pod and Game of the Month February 2002 from Game Spot. It could be played online at Shizmoo.com, with up to 80 players online during busy hours.Game Styles
There are several game styles of Kung-Fu Chess, all based on the same principle of a real-time gameplay, i.e. both players playing simultaneously and can move several pieces in the same time.Standard - The standard Kung-Fu Chess is one-on-one match, with average speed of the pieces' movements ("speed") and the time they are delayed until they can be moved again ("delay"). These two parameters are always set to 1.0 in an official standard match. Match is over when one of the players gets to capture his opponent's king.
Fast Four Way - Competes the Standard style for "the most popular Kung-Fu Chess game style", probably with success. Fast Four Way (a.k.a. "F4W", "FFW") is a match between four players on a four-way board similar to the Four-Handed chess
Four-handed chess
Four-handed chess is a chess variant, which is typically played with four people. It is played on a special board, which is made of standard 8x8 board with an additional 3 rows of 8 cells extending from each side. Four sets of different colored pieces are needed to play this game...
board, when the goal is again the eliminate your opponents' kings, as it goes by the principle of "last man standing".
The major difference in this game style in addition to being 4 players match, is that the speed of both pieces movement and delay is ten times quicker than the Standard game style (set to 0.1), and therefore F4W games are characterized with more action and speed rather than strategy in the Standard style.
Standard and Fast Four Way are the two only official styles that were available at Shizmoo for the nonsubscribers players (free users). By official, it means a player is being rated by playing this game style, and can have a different rank at Standard than at Fast Four Way.
Although the official game styles have their constant settings for Speed and Delay, these parameters can be changed in friendly matches. This option created another popular style entitled "Fast 2 Ways" - for players who loved the extreme speed of the F4W but did not want to play with 3 opponents. Nevertheless this game style had never become official, nor as popular as the Standard and the F4W were.
Crazyhouse - Crazyhouse is an official game style available only for subscribed players at Shizmoo. The principle is the same as the original chess variant
Crazyhouse
Crazyhouse is a chess variant similar to bughouse chess, but with only two players. It effectively incorporates a rule in shogi , in which a player can introduce a captured piece back to the board as his own....
, captured pieces can be used in the board again by the player who captures them, but alongside the real-time feature of the Kung-Fu Chess of course. The speed is average, but a bit quicker than the Standard style, however the captured pieces move slower than the original pieces in the match.
Bughouse - A Crazyhouse for four players playing simultaneously, Bughouse
Bughouse chess
Bughouse chess is a popular chess variant played on two chessboards by four players in teams of two...
is the second subscribers-only game style, as there are two matches of one-on-one being played the same time, and each captured piece is moved to the hands of the teammate of the capturing player, in the neighbor board. It is a pairs match and the first player to eliminate his opponent's king wins for himself and his partner.
Subscribed members could build new game styles, set new rules and principles, and not only change the speed parameters of the official forms, and thus other chess vaiants were created in a Kung-Fu Chess style, but only these four official game style mentioned above were rated.
Rankings
Kung-Fu Chess assigns each player a numerical rating based on the player's win/loss record, using the same system as ICCInternet Chess Club
The Internet Chess Club is a commercial Internet chess server devoted to the play and discussion of chess and chess variants. ICC currently has over 30,000 subscribing members...
, the Internet Chess Club. Additionally, each rating range corresponds to a Kung-Fu belt color as follows:
- Green Belt: 20 games or fewer played
- Purple Belt: 800-999
- White Belt: 1000-1199
- Yellow Belt: 1200-1399
- Orange Belt: 1400-1599
- Red Belt: 1600-1799
- Brown Belt: 1800-1999
- Black Belt: 2000+
Additional rankings such as black O and black X are awarded for 2200 rating and 2400 respectively.
The Apparent End of Shizmoo
On December 16, 2008 the Shizmoo website was no longer accessible.Shizmoo gathered many Kung-Fu Chess fans from all over the world, and many talent players that mastered the new tactics and strategies of the unique game that did not exist in the original Chess game, and brought it to new levels of excitement.
As for now it seems that Shizmoo was shut down for good.
These sorrowful tidings caused many disappointed fascinated fans to look for clues about the fate of Shizmoo, and a few attempts to revive the community of the Kung-Fu Chess players and create a new home were made.