Colour Chess + Lure currently on Kickstarter is new twist on a very familiar game. Designed by Tom Norfolk of Dog Eared Games who is the man behind the fun little card game Stak Bots (a fan favourite of my 8 year old twins). The box includes everything needed to play chess, Colour Chess, and Lure. The board is modular and is built by the players before the game begins which presents variability and a little gamesmanship in itself. The colourful squares and simple design are easy to read and not so different as to make a classic unrecognizable.
Set Up
You snap together the frame of the board and then organize the colour squares into an 8×8 grid. You don’t have to and in fact shouldn’t try to replicate the pattern of a standard chess board. Once the board is complete place the chess pieces in their standard configuration.
Game Play
Colour Chess pieces move in the same manner as classic Chess, but final location of the piexes is controlled by the colour selected by the player. The first player selects a colour and then moves a piece in a legal chess move ending the movement on the selected colour, if a player cannot legally move to that colour they cannot choose it. The next player moves a piece to that colour (if they cannot they pass their first movement) and then selects their own colour and makes a move. Another change to the regular rules of chess is that a king must be captured not just put into check mate.
The other game included is Lure. Lure is played using the same board components but different pieces.
- The swords – these are your offensive pieces, they take other pieces
- The Shields – They protect other pieces when they are adjacent to them. An adjacent piece cannot be taken
- The King – If a king is taken you lose, if you move him to your opponents back row you win.
The goal of lure is to score 4 or more points, capture the other king, or to get your king to the back row.
Pieces move by declaring a colour and moving as many of your pieces as you can onto adjacent tiles of the colour or diagonally to a tile of that colour. If you place a shield next to a piece (other than the king) either diagonally or orthogonally that piece is safe and cannot be taken. Each piece you take is worth one point and each piece you get to your opponents back row is worth a point.
Components and Art
Colour Chess + Lure as indicated by the name is a very colourful game. It is a simple and elegant design that isn’t as hard on the eyes as one would imagine a rainbow coloured chess board could be. I found it to be quite vibrant sitting out on the table. I used a Print and play version so I cannot speak to the quality of the final components.
Final Thoughts
I found colour chess to be a neat twist on a classic and it certainly added some interesting mechanics that made game play fresh and new. I preferred (as did my kids) Lure which I found to be a fast paced and exciting tactical abstract game. I think this game would be wonderful in the classroom and could really get some kids to give chess a chance. I recommend checking out the kickstarter and hitting the back button if you like chess or if you want to try some a new abstract game.
To Die For Games 