Monkey Queen is a highly unusual Chess game designed by Mark Steere in January 2011 in the context of a Game Design contest. The unusual part is that the Monkey Queens, initially the only two pieces on the board, are each pregnant with 20 babyqueens, and give birth to a new one with each non-capturing move, effictively creating an army during the battle.

Rules

There are two players, Black and White, who take turns moving one of their pieces. White moves first. The 'pie rule' is used in Monkey Queen. Black has the option of claiming White's first move as his own, swapping colors. Queens and babies The diagram shows the board with the Queens in the initial position, each carrying 20 babies, a maximum of 18 of which can be 'born' during a game. Movement & capture Whenever a Queen makes a non-capturing move, it leaves a baby on the square of departure. When it makes a capture, it does not. A Queen that is down to 2 babies may not make a non-capturing move. Queens and babies basically move and capture the same: like the queen in Chess. However, when not capturing, a baby must move toward the opponent's Queen in the following sense: the straight line distance between the moving baby and the opponent's Queen must be shortened by the move. The applet will show which squares comply when a baby is selected.

The Queen should not move into check, and if in check should parry it on the next move or else be captured and lose. Initial moves - an example After these initial moves, with the swap after 1. G1-G2 declined ... G1-G2 F12- F4 G2-D5 F4-H6 D5-J5 3. ... ... the board looks as in the diagram. Note that the White Queen is down to 17 babies, and the black Queen to 18.

Object
To win a player must either:

1. Capture the opponent's Queen or ...
2. ... deprive his opponent of legal moves by leaving him with a Queen of height two, no babies, and nothing within line of sight for the Queen to kill.

Draws cannot occur in Monkey Queen.

Note: the weird object is due to the inventor's insistence that Monkey Queen qualified as a "stacking game", to meet the contest's requirements. In his view the Queen doesn't carry babies, but consists of them: it's a huge stack. The two remaining babies are necessary to keep the Queen from vanishing.

Monkey Queen is also implemented on the Axiom Game Engine and can be downloaded from our Axiom page.

External links

• Mark Steere's Site - Monkey Queen
• Monkey Queen @ iGGC (live play)

Monkey Queen © Mark Steere
Java applet © Ed van Zon