Monkey King Chess

Monkey King Chess by Peter Gelman is a chess variant with a main board representing Earth and two small boards representing clouds, 44 squares total. In it, the Monkey King fights the Goblin King in a theme with oriental influences.

The Earth board includes a river which influences play. Forces are asymmetrical, representing mythological forces including sea dragons, celestials and mountains.

The object of the game for the Monkey King player is to move his Pilgrim off the opposite side of the board; a winning move would be any Pilgrim move from row 8 off the board. The object of the game for the Goblin King player is to checkmate the Pilgrim. As with Sittuyin (Burmese Chess), a move that causes stalemate is illegal.

A piece requires the ability to fly to move to or from the Clouds. A few types of disk-faces have this ability. The ability to fly does not imply any additional movement ability or limitations. The fliers are: the six Monkey Kings, the two Goblin Generals, the two Lancers of each side, and the one Celestial of each side. Only a flier can fly to or from or across the Cloud squares. No piece may make a capture when they fly to or from a cloud. Furthermore, a disk may only fly to a cloud square from the magic river square associated with it. The disk may land on either of the two squares of that cloud, so long as that square is empty. No piece may make a capture when they fly to or from a cloud, including flight from one cloud to the other. A disk starting movement on a Cloud square must note the color of the square first; it may fly to any empty square on the Earth board of the same color, or the other Cloud’s square of the same color if it is empty.

Except for the disks that represent the Pilgrim and the Goblin King, all of the disks are two-sided, with a different chess piece showing on either side. If you start a turn with a disk standing on any magic river square, you may flip the disk and simultaneously move it according to that new game piece's abilities. To put it another way, a disk standing on a magic river square has the ability to move as the disk on either side of its two faces. A disk may not flip if it is not on magic river square.

The Goblin King player cannot flip a disk if the Goblin King disk is not on Earth board (thus before initial placement, or after its capture, means the Goblin King player cannot flip disks). The Monkey King player cannot flip disks unless he/she has initially placed the Pilgrim disk on the board.

The two sides' pieces start the game roughly, but not exactly symmetrical. For the most part, even when identical on the front side, Red and Blue disks flip for different transformations.

There are twelve types of disks in the game: Pawn, Sea Serpent, Monkey King, Knight, Lancers, Goblin General, Whirling Monkey Fists, Celestial (a different type on each side), Goblin King, and Buddhist Pilgrim.

The game starts with the boards empty. Starting with the Goblin King player, each player takes turn either introducing a disk on their half of the Earth board, or moving a disk they previously had placed. Players may not introduce disks in this manner on any Cloud square.

The disks have a front and a back. Players may only place disks with the front side showing. The back side of the disks cannot appear unless the piece stands on a magic river square and flips it.

All pieces that can capture move as they capture except the Sea Serpent. The Pilgrim and the Red Celestial cannot capture. Brave Whirling Monkey Fists is an off-board “counter”, not a normal type of chess piece. Its design intention is to help compensate for the helpless Pilgrim piece.

The classic tale "Journey to the West" inspired the theme and function of this chess variant. Chess game influences include Sittuyin, Moscow King Chess, Shogi, and standard Western chess.

—description from the designer