Quantum (board game)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Quantum | |
|---|---|
 The starting position of Quantum on an 8 by 8 board |
|
| Designer | Phillip Slater |
| Publisher | Lazy Days |
| Players | 2 |
| Setup time | under one minute |
| Playing time | 10–60 minutes |
| Random chance | None |
| Skills required | Strategic thought |
Quantum is an abstract strategy board game for two players, invented by Philip Slater and published by Lazy Days in 1975. It has similarities to chess and checkers.
[edit] Rules
The game as marketed was played on a special rectangular board and several variants of the rules were possible. The variant described here uses an 8 by 8 board.
Instead of taking enemy pieces as in chess, a player builds up vertically stacked pieces by moving onto enemy pieces.
There are three types of piece: squares move only along ranks and files (horizontals and verticals, a little like rooks in chess); circles move only diagonally (a little like bishops in chess); and queens (shown by the plus symbol) can move in all eight directions.
The distance that a piece may move is determined by the number of pieces in its stack. All pieces are initially single pieces, and may move only a single square. (In a rule variation, a single piece may also jump over a single piece of the same colour, thus travelling two squares.) Stacks that are 2, 3, 4, or 5 pieces high may move any distance up to 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively. The colour of a piece, and the type of move it may make, are determined by the colour and type of the top piece in the stack. Thus a queen remains a queen, whatever it jumps on. Stacks of pieces that are 6 high or more may not move.
It is not permitted to jump over any piece (except as described in the rule variation above) nor to land on a piece of one's own colour. A move may lead one piece to land on an enemy piece of the other colour; when this happens, a single piece is created, with the moving piece on top. It is not permitted to move onto stacks that are 6 high or more.
The aim of the game is to be the first player to have three stacks of height 6 or more.
