Martian Chess is a 2-4 player game that uses Icehouse pieces, requiring one stash per player, and a chessboard. It was one of the games included in Icehouse: The Martian Chess Set and Pyramid Arcade.
Much like its namesake, Martian Chess is a game of capturing pieces. Like Chess, Martian Chess is turn based, and played on a chessboard. In both games, players move and capture individual pieces, and each type of piece has distinct moving rules.
However, Martian Chess differs from Chess in critical ways:
- Piece ownership is determined not by color but by location.
- Instead of capturing a specific piece, winning is determined by points, making it possible to force the end of the game and still win with no pieces left in that player's control.
- Lastly, Martian Chess easily supports 4 players as well as two, and can also be played with 3, 5 or 6 players if you use geomorphic chessboard sections; see this photo for an example.