Rollerball is a chess variant invented by Jean-Louis Cazaux in 1998. The game was inspired by the 1975 science-fiction movie '' Rollerball'', specifically the futuristic and violent sport (similar to

Roller Derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played on an oval track by two teams of five skaters. It is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leaguesA Roller Derby league is synonymous with an individual club or team in other team sports, as ...

) portrayed in the film. The board comprises 7×7 squares with the central 3×3 section missing. Pieces generally move clockwise around the board. Each player starts with one

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

, one

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, two rooks, and two pawns. Both bishops are light-squared on the initial setup. Dark-squared bishops can only be obtained by pawn promotion.

Game rules

The initial setup is as shown.

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

moves first. Pieces move and capture the same as their

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

counterparts, except where explained differently below.

Objective

There are two ways to win in Rollerball: # Checkmating the enemy king. # Bringing one's own king to the starting square of the enemy king on the opposite side of the board (but only when having travelled to that side of the board in a clockwise direction). The same as in chess, stalemate and threefold repetition of position are draws.

Piece moves

In general, ''forward'' movement means clockwise direction around the board; ''backward'' movement means counterclockwise direction. The squares comprising the board's inner and outer perimeters are called ''rings''. The ring a rook or pawn currently stands on determines its

orthogonal In mathematics, orthogonality (mathematics), orthogonality is the generalization of the geometric notion of ''perpendicularity''. Although many authors use the two terms ''perpendicular'' and ''orthogonal'' interchangeably, the term ''perpendic ...

forward direction, and for a rook, its orthogonal backward direction. An orthogonal rook move in a direction immediately off its ring is called ''sideways'' movement. * The king moves the same as the king in

: one step in any direction. As in chess, a player may not place his king in check. There is no castling in Rollerball. * A rook moves any number of steps orthogonally in a straight line in a forward direction, or any number of steps orthogonally sideways. It can also move one step orthogonally backward on its ring. When moving along the outer ring, the rook may "rebound" off a corner square and continue its forward journey at 90 degrees. (Corner squares have 45 degree edges for rebounding.) Only one rebound is permitted for a given rook move. * The bishop moves any number of steps diagonally forward, or one step diagonally backward. The bishop may rebound off an outer or inner board edge and continue its forward diagonal journey at 90 degrees. Only one rebound is permitted for a given bishop move. * A pawn moves one step orthogonally forward on the ring on which it currently stands, or one step diagonally forward to either ring. A pawn does not move backward or sideways, and there is no initial two-step option. A pawn promotes to rook or bishop when reaching either of the two starting squares of the opponent's pawns.

References

Bibliography *

External links

*
Rollerball
by Jean-Louis Cazaux, '' The Chess Variant Pages'' {{Chess variants, state=collapsed Chess variants 1998 in chess Board games introduced in 1998