An idea I have is making another chess variant involving letter of alphabet, like this one, using two sets of Scrabble tiles (one per player). So, that tell you how many of each is available, and eventually you may place all of them, but not all at once; promotion is only to pieces not yet placed. You could use the numbers on the tiles for cost or something like that, and you could use the blank tiles as neutral pieces or just omit them completely, and allow face-down pieces to be used as pieces not yet moved and opponent cannot recognize them yet! If you are using the two Scrabble sets you can have the board 15x30.
An idea I have is making another chess variant involving letter of alphabet, like this one, using two sets of Scrabble tiles (one per player). So, that tell you how many of each is available, and eventually you may place all of them, but not all at once; promotion is only to pieces not yet placed. You could use the numbers on the tiles for cost or something like that, and you could use the blank tiles as neutral pieces or just omit them completely, and allow face-down pieces to be used as pieces not yet moved and opponent cannot recognize them yet! If you are using the two Scrabble sets you can have the board 15x30.