3 way checkers, comments welcome.

[Yehuda Berlinger]

What are the two big problems with three way strategy games?

1. ganging up
2. when the first person gets out, he's bored until the next game

I solve both of these problems with 3-way checkers.

Board:

a triangular checkers board. X's are black triangles, .'s are white
triangles.

X
XXX
X...X
XXX.XXX
X...X...X
XXX.XXX.XXX
X...X...X...X
XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
X...X...X...X...X
XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
X...X...X...X...X...X
XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
X...X...X...X...X...X...X
XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
X...X...X...X...X...X...X...X
XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX

Pieces:

Each player gets six reversible player pieces, and two reversible ghost
pieces. They are placed on the board as follows:

B
B.B
BGBGB
X.X.X.X
X.X.X.X.X
W.X.X.X.X.R
WGW.X.X.X.RGR
W.WGW.X.X.RGR.R

Each of the three colors (in this example, Black, Red and White) places
its regular pieces on the six black squares in the first three black
rows on his corner, and its two ghost pieces on the second white row of
his corner.

Starting: Play three games, rotate who goes first each game.

Regular Movement:

Regular pieces move in either of the two diagonal directions away from
your corner, toward the far side of the board. Regular pieces cannot
move sideways. When a regular piece reaches the far side of the board,
flip it over and it becomes a king, and can travel in any of
(potentialy) six directions. Regular pieces always remain on the black
triangles.

Regular Capturing:

A regular piece must capture, if possible. Capturing is done as in
checkers. Bear in mind that each player can capture in two different
directions, except kings.

Ghost Movement:

Ghost pieces remain inactive until you have lost all but one of your
pieces. When you have only one regular piece on the board, one of your
ghosts (either one) becomes active. Flip it over. It can move only on
the white triangles. When you have no regular pieces, both ghosts may
move. Ghosts do not become kings. Ghost pieces may not occupy the same
triangle as other ghost pieces. A single move is a move of either a
regular piece or a ghost piece.

Ghost capture:

Ghost pieces may only capture enemy regular pieces. It does not have to
capture. When a ghost piece captures an enemy piece, that enemy piece
converts to your side. Replace it with a regular piece of the same type
as the one captured (pawn or king). A ghost piece captures an enemy
piece if: a) in the course of moving a ghost piece from one white
triangle to another one, it crosses a black triangle containing an enemy
piece, b) an enemy piece crosses an active ghost piece (by moving, but
not by jumping), c) an enemy piece is in a corner position, and a ghost
piece moves into the adjacent white triangle.

Winning:

The player with the only remaining regular piece(s) wins the game
immediately. Variant: the player must have the only remaining
regualar pieces at the start of his turn.

--
Copyright, 2001
Yehuda Berlinger

[RG9437]

There's an interesting version of 3-way checkers posted at
www.zillions-of-games.com by the name of Faustus.