Flare Sci-Fi Forums: 4D Chess?

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Posted by Gloom (Member # 1052) on :

2D chess was designed to teach strategy. As combat became 3D in space, the game was adapted. Now that time travel is a commonly used plot device, don't you think they should have 4D chess? Where you move your pieces back and forwards through "time"? [Big Grin]

Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

That sounds very cool! I'd like to have heard a mention on the Relativity to a game of 4d chess! [Smile]

Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :

Incidentally, Diane Duane describes 4D chess in her books. The pieces don't move backwards in time, but they do move forward - you can "phase out" a piece in a move, scheduling it to "phase in" again at a given turn. Thus, you can do some "time on target" bombarding, so that at some later stage of the game, you actually perform several moves per turn: moving a piece, AND phasing in a number of other pieces. There must be some limitations to that, but they aren't enumerated in the books. Nor is it known what happens when a piece tries to phase in atop another piece, of same or opposing color.

Our Trek heroes (notably, McCoy!) do this with 3D chess and time. But it should be doable with 2D chess and time, creating a fancy form of "3D chess" for us to enjoy.

Timo Saloniemi

Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :

Sounds like the sort of game Douglas Adams would have invented.

"Bishop to Knight 6 - Yesterday afternoon: Check (tomorrow teatime)"

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

quote:
Nor is it known what happens when a piece tries to phase in atop another piece, of same or opposing color.

Yes, it is. In one book (I forget which), McCoy defeats Spock, playing, as Spock puts it, "Kamikaze Chess, Doctor?" The pieces simply annihilate each other with a small burst on energy. Later, they re-wire the game console to blow up invading Romulans.

Posted by Ultra Magnus (Member # 239) on :

I am trying to make a joke here, but really, it's funny if left alone.

Or: "And then Macauley Culkin leaves out tribbles so that Romulans Jo P'sy and D'nl St'rn are foiled in their takeover plot."

Or something.

Star Trek books are quite possibly the only things worth reading in this day and age.

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

Ah. Thank you for reminding me.

The book was "My Enemy, My Ally."

Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :

Hmmm.
Chess with telefragging.

Fascinating.

Posted by Cartmaniac (Member # 256) on :

"Black Rook tried to invade White King's personal space"

Oh man. The strategies!

[ June 30, 2003, 04:09 PM: Message edited by: Cartmaniac ]

Posted by darkwing_duck1 (Member # 790) on :

Never mind, someone already beat me to it... [Big Grin]