Ultima

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Board

Pieces

A King can move to any adjacent square, but never to a square where it can be captured. The King can capture an enemy piece on the square its moving to, just as in regular chess. There is no castling.

The object of the game is to capture the enemy King.


The Coordinator can slide any number of squares in any direction. When it finishes a move, it captures any enemy piece on an intersection of the orthogonal lines that pass through the Coordinator and through the friendly King. Imagine the rectangle formed on the chess board by the Coordinator and the King of the same side; the captured pieces are on the rectangle's other two corners. Note that the capture only occurs when the Coordinator moves, not when the King moves. When the Coordinator moves to the same rank or file as the King, nothing is captured.

The Chameleon can slide any number of squares in any direction. It captures using the capture method of the piece it is capturing! For example, it can capture an enemy Withdrawer by moving directly away from it and then end its move beside an enemy Pawn, which it captures by interception. Note that when capturing a Pawn, the Chameleon must be moving orthogonally, because Pawns can't move diagonally. Similarly, it can only capture the enemy King when adjacent and then making a single step. When a Chameleon is next to an enemy Immobilizer, the Chameleon immobilizes it, though it can't immobilize any other pieces. A Chameleon can't capture an enemy Chameleon.

The Immobilizer can slide any number of squares in any direction. It doesn't capture, but rather immobilizes any enemy pieces that are adjacent to it. These pieces can't move as long as the Immobilizer is there. An Immobilizer doesn't affect pieces that are simply moving past it, though if the piece ends its movement beside an Immobilizer it will immediately be frozen. Enemy adjacent Immobilizers will immobilize each other until one of them is captured.

An Immobilized piece (except a King) has the option of committing suicide, capturing itself as a move. This is occasionally useful to clear the way for an attack on the Immobilizer. To make this move, simply click on an Immobilized piece.


The Withdrawer can slide any number of squares in any direction. If the Withdrawer begins adjacent to an enemy piece and then moves in a straight line directly away from it, the enemy piece is captured.

The Long-Leaper can slide any number of squares in any direction. If it runs into an enemy piece, the Long-Leaper captures by leaping over the enemy piece to the vacant square directly behind. If the square behind it is occupied then the piece may not be jumped. After jumping the Long-Leaper may continue to slide in the same direction and may in fact jump over subsequent enemy pieces it encounters.

The Pawn moves any number of squares horizontally or vertically. If the Pawn moves orthogonally next to an enemy piece and there is another friendly piece of any type directly beyond that, the enemy piece is squeezed between the two pieces and captured. The Pawn may capture several pieces like this on a single move. Ultima Pawns are very much like the pieces in Tafl.

Description

Ultima is a complex game, more complex than Chess. While the movement is fairly uniform, each type of piece captures differently. Having many capturing forms is the main element that sets Ultima apart from other games and was the reason for the game's creation.

The object of the game is to capture the opponent's King. Right-click on a piece to read about how it moves.

History

Ultima was invented by Robert Abbott and first appeared, without a name, in the December 1962 issue of 'Recreational Mathematics Magazine' (forerunner of the 'Journal of Recreational Mathematics'). The game was later published, as Ultima, in 'Abbott's New Card Games.' Abbott revised the rules for the paperback edition of the book, adding a rule limiting movement depending on what rank a piece begins on, but that rule was not widely accepted, and this implementation uses Abbott's original rules.

Strategy

Try to avoid getting your King immobilized as this is a very dangerous situation. To avoid captures by an enemy Coordinator, be watchful of all your pieces that are on the same rank or file as the enemy King.

More information on Ultima can be found at http://www.chessvariants.com/other.dir/ultima.html.