Penultima is a

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

inductive logic Inductive reasoning is a method of reasoning in which a general principle is derived from a body of observations. It consists of making broad generalizations based on specific observations. Inductive reasoning is distinct from ''deductive'' rea ...

, played on a

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

board. It was invented by Michael Greene and Adam Chalcraft in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

in 1994. The game is derived from the

chess variant A chess variant is a game related to, derived from, or inspired by chess. Such variants can differ from chess in many different ways. "International" or "Western" chess itself is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be co ...

Ultima (otherwise known as ''Baroque chess''), and played with a standard chess board and pieces, each piece having different movement and capture rules from standard chess. In a manner similar to the game Mao, which was a popular game in Cambridge at that time, the rules for each piece vary from game to game, and are initially kept secret from the players. Penultima is similar in style to

Eleusis Elefsina ( el, Ελευσίνα ''Elefsina''), or Eleusis (; Ancient Greek: ''Eleusis'') is a suburban city and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in the West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is situated about northwest ...

, Zendo and Mao. The name of the game is a

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

on "penultimate", and "Ultima", the name of a different chess variant with all pieces replaced by fairy pieces with their own mechanics.

Rules

Several ''Spectators'' create secret rules which govern how the pieces move and two ''Players'' attempt to discover these rules. The game is traditionally played with chess pieces but may be played with any sufficiently distinct components, such as coins or

Icehouse pieces Icehouse pieces, or Icehouse Pyramids, Treehouse pieces, Treehouse Pyramids and officially Looney Pyramids, are nestable and stackable pyramid-shaped gaming pieces and a game system. The game system was invented by Andrew Looney and John Cooper i ...

. Before the game starts, the ''Spectators'' decide between themselves which pieces they will write rules for. The secret rule for a piece may for example control the way that piece moves, captures, or is captured, and may cause it to affect other pieces on the board. A piece may be given an ''invoke'' command which causes it to affect other pieces on the board without moving. When the secret rule for a piece is written, the ''Spectator'' also gives it a new name for the duration of the game. These names, and the existence of any invoke commands, are announced to the players at the start of the game. During the game the spectators may privately discuss how their rules interact. On their turn, a ''Player'' attempts to move or invoke one of their pieces, and the ''Spectator'' for that piece declares whether the action is legal or illegal. If it is legal, the movement or invocation is done, then that ''Player's'' turn ends and play passes to the other ''Player''. If it is illegal, the piece is returned to its position at the start of the turn. In the original game, play then passes to the other ''Player''; in other variants the original ''Player'' continues making attempts until he succeeds in making a legal move or invoke. If the player is in "check", they can repeatedly attempt moves until able to get out of check. As in standard

, the winning player is the one who forces his or her opponent's king (or equivalent piece) into

checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

. At the end of the game, the ''Spectators'' reveal their rules.

References

External links

“Penultima”
by Michael Fryers, from ''

Variant Chess David Brine Pritchard (19 October 1919 – 12 December 2005)''David Pritchard.'' The Times (London). Features; p. 66. 17 January 2006. was a British chess player, chess writer and indoor games consultant. He gained pre-eminence as an indoor game ...

'', Volume 3, Issue 28, Summer 1998, pages 164–165 {{Chess variants Chess variants 1994 in chess Board games introduced in 1994 Games with concealed rules

Rules

See also

References

External links