Solitaire Games
Introduction
This article will explore three somewhat similar games: Maze and Diplomatic Mission, both designed by Jim Deacove, and Safe Passage, designed by myself. All three can be played either cooperatively by two players, or solo, with a single player alternating sides. All three are rather Chess-like abstract games in which the object is to have a few pieces exchange positions across the board. The path is restricted in some way, making the movement of the target pieces a challenge.
In Maze, the restriction is mostly due to the sheer number of pieces crowding the board. There are also certain squares on the board that further restrict movement.
The board in Diplomatic Mission is also crowded, but less so. However, the movement of the pieces is restricted by the fact that certain pieces of one colour cannot be adjacent to pieces of the other colour.
Both games have the interesting property that players can move pieces of either colour, but only on their side of the board, or in the case of Diplomatic Mission, also in a neutral central territory. This further restricts options for movement.
The third game, Safe Passage, is played with a Chess set. The restriction in movement comes from the fact that no non-Pawn piece may ever be placed en prise, that is, in a position where it could be captured on the next turn.
As a solo player who loves abstract games, I am always looking for solo abstracts. They are not easy to find. There are of course many puzzles of various sorts, but these games below, because of the random position of the pieces at the beginning, have a lot of replayability and feel more like actual games.
Maze and Diplomatic Mission are available here from Family Pastimes Cooperative Games. Safe Passage is playable with any standard Western Chess set.
This article will explore three somewhat similar games: Maze and Diplomatic Mission, both designed by Jim Deacove, and Safe Passage, designed by myself. All three can be played either cooperatively by two players, or solo, with a single player alternating sides. All three are rather Chess-like abstract games in which the object is to have a few pieces exchange positions across the board. The path is restricted in some way, making the movement of the target pieces a challenge.
In Maze, the restriction is mostly due to the sheer number of pieces crowding the board. There are also certain squares on the board that further restrict movement.
The board in Diplomatic Mission is also crowded, but less so. However, the movement of the pieces is restricted by the fact that certain pieces of one colour cannot be adjacent to pieces of the other colour.
Both games have the interesting property that players can move pieces of either colour, but only on their side of the board, or in the case of Diplomatic Mission, also in a neutral central territory. This further restricts options for movement.
The third game, Safe Passage, is played with a Chess set. The restriction in movement comes from the fact that no non-Pawn piece may ever be placed en prise, that is, in a position where it could be captured on the next turn.
As a solo player who loves abstract games, I am always looking for solo abstracts. They are not easy to find. There are of course many puzzles of various sorts, but these games below, because of the random position of the pieces at the beginning, have a lot of replayability and feel more like actual games.
Maze and Diplomatic Mission are available here from Family Pastimes Cooperative Games. Safe Passage is playable with any standard Western Chess set.
Maze
Maze was developed in 1982 by Jim Deacove. Family Pastimes Cooperative Games, the brainchild of Jim Deacove, is dedicated to board games that are played cooperatively rather than competitively. Their early games looked like they were made in someone’s garage, and the game boxes looked like the kind of mailing box you would buy at an office-supply store. Later they became more polished, but Maze is a charming example of the rustic look. The pieces look like sections of dowels and rectangular sticks, and the various types are distinguished by different kinds of cuts made into their top surfaces. Like chess pieces, the different pieces move in different ways.
The box includes a pad of paper to record games, and a sample game to study. Jim Deacove writes in the rules that if people send in their games with an analysis of the moves, he might publish a booklet of sample games, but to my knowledge that never happened.
Rules
The board is a checkered oblong, as shown in the diagram below. The squares marked with red dots on the board represent “desert” spaces. The red line divides the board into two halves.
Maze was developed in 1982 by Jim Deacove. Family Pastimes Cooperative Games, the brainchild of Jim Deacove, is dedicated to board games that are played cooperatively rather than competitively. Their early games looked like they were made in someone’s garage, and the game boxes looked like the kind of mailing box you would buy at an office-supply store. Later they became more polished, but Maze is a charming example of the rustic look. The pieces look like sections of dowels and rectangular sticks, and the various types are distinguished by different kinds of cuts made into their top surfaces. Like chess pieces, the different pieces move in different ways.
The box includes a pad of paper to record games, and a sample game to study. Jim Deacove writes in the rules that if people send in their games with an analysis of the moves, he might publish a booklet of sample games, but to my knowledge that never happened.
Rules
The board is a checkered oblong, as shown in the diagram below. The squares marked with red dots on the board represent “desert” spaces. The red line divides the board into two halves.
Here are the pieces. There are two of each, in a light-coloured set and a dark-coloured set.
The two light Mates are placed in the pair of squares at one end of the board (the Home squares). Randomly place the rest of the light pieces in the 16 squares in front of them. Do the same for the dark pieces. The two sides will very probably not have the same arrangement. If you turn the pieces upside down, they all look the same, so you could do that and scramble them before placing them, to get them really randomized. Here is a sample setup:
The two players are working cooperatively, but they take turns. On your turn, you can move pieces of either colour, but they must begin their move on your half of the board. You cannot move pieces that are in the opposing territory. It is not spelled out in the rules, but for this to work, you would have to be able to move a piece onto the other side of the board, but it must start on your own side.
You may want to have a token you can slide to the other player to keep track of whose turn it is. This is especially helpful if you are playing solo, playing both sides. The two sides must alternate; if one side cannot move, the game is lost.
The goal is to get the light Mates into the Home Squares of the dark Mates, and the dark Mates into the Home Squares of the light Mates. No piece ever captures any other piece; no piece is ever removed from the board.
Some of the pieces will start on the desert squares, marked with a dot. Those pieces can move away from their starting squares. But once a piece has moved, if it lands in a desert square, it dies. It is turned sideways and cannot move for the rest of the game.
You may want to have a token you can slide to the other player to keep track of whose turn it is. This is especially helpful if you are playing solo, playing both sides. The two sides must alternate; if one side cannot move, the game is lost.
The goal is to get the light Mates into the Home Squares of the dark Mates, and the dark Mates into the Home Squares of the light Mates. No piece ever captures any other piece; no piece is ever removed from the board.
Some of the pieces will start on the desert squares, marked with a dot. Those pieces can move away from their starting squares. But once a piece has moved, if it lands in a desert square, it dies. It is turned sideways and cannot move for the rest of the game.
Each colour has two of each type of piece, and here is how they move:
Mate: Moves any number of spaces diagonally, like a Chess Bishop. Once it reaches the opposite Home Square it may not move again. (Other pieces may move in and out of the Home squares.)
Shadow: Moves to any space adjacent (orthogonally or diagonally) to a Mate of its own colour.
Lightning: Moves one space diagonally.
Rabbit: Jumps over another piece of either colour. It moves orthogonally or diagonally, but cannot move without jumping another piece.
Tree: Moves to any unoccupied space on its side of the board. Once it moves, it is planted and never moves again. Turn it sideways to show it has been planted.
Stone: Moves one space forward or back and then one space left or right. The move is effectively one space diagonally, like the Lightning, except that both spaces must be unoccupied.
Time Pawns: Move orthogonally forward or sideways, never diagonally or backward. They are limited in the distance they travel. Pawn 1 only moves one square; Pawn 2 moves exactly two squares; Pawn 3 moves exactly three squares.
Comments
I find this really challenging. Between the crowded field and the “dead” pieces that cannot move, things can get blocked pretty quickly.
Jim Deacove suggests an easier game for children and beginners, where you only place 10 pieces of each colour in the two rows in front of the Home Squares, and set the rest aside. I find this more enjoyable, but a better player will probably find that variant too easy.
This game feels like a real classic, and deserves to be better known.
Mate: Moves any number of spaces diagonally, like a Chess Bishop. Once it reaches the opposite Home Square it may not move again. (Other pieces may move in and out of the Home squares.)
Shadow: Moves to any space adjacent (orthogonally or diagonally) to a Mate of its own colour.
Lightning: Moves one space diagonally.
Rabbit: Jumps over another piece of either colour. It moves orthogonally or diagonally, but cannot move without jumping another piece.
Tree: Moves to any unoccupied space on its side of the board. Once it moves, it is planted and never moves again. Turn it sideways to show it has been planted.
Stone: Moves one space forward or back and then one space left or right. The move is effectively one space diagonally, like the Lightning, except that both spaces must be unoccupied.
Time Pawns: Move orthogonally forward or sideways, never diagonally or backward. They are limited in the distance they travel. Pawn 1 only moves one square; Pawn 2 moves exactly two squares; Pawn 3 moves exactly three squares.
Comments
I find this really challenging. Between the crowded field and the “dead” pieces that cannot move, things can get blocked pretty quickly.
Jim Deacove suggests an easier game for children and beginners, where you only place 10 pieces of each colour in the two rows in front of the Home Squares, and set the rest aside. I find this more enjoyable, but a better player will probably find that variant too easy.
This game feels like a real classic, and deserves to be better known.
[The official rules for Maze, as given here, lead to a very challenging game. A key factor that can snarl up the movement of pieces in Maze is that Lightning, Rabbit, Stone, and Time Pawn 2 are all restricted to one colour square, and can only reach half the squares of the board. An imbalance at the start, with too many of these pieces on the same colour, will undoubtedly result in a game that is impossible to solve. I recommend distributing these equally to dark squares and light squares in a semi-random setup. Thus, take one piece each of the Lightning, Rabbit, Stone, and Time Pawn 2. Take four more pieces randomly chosen from among the remaining Shadows, Trees, Time Pawn 1's, and Time Pawn 3's. Distribute these eight pieces randomly on the white squares, and then distribute the remaining eight pieces randomly on the dark squares. Use the same setup procedure for both light and dark pieces. This process ought to give a more balanced game, which will be much easier to solve. It is no different to making sure the Bishops of each side in Chess960 are on opposite colours. The image at the start of the Maze section shows a setup made according to this system, which is winnable.
There is much to discover in Maze. In the opening you try to extract the Mates from their initial positions one or two spaces, and then place the Shadows behind them to open up space ahead. Try to free up a few squares one side of the board, away from the main thoroughfare, to bury Trees and open up more space. Note that the Lightning and Stone cannot cross the desert spaces without dying; note also that the same may be true of the Time Pawn 2 and Rabbit, depending on their initial placement. Pieces that cannot cross the desert need special care, as their options are more limited. ~ Ed.]
There is much to discover in Maze. In the opening you try to extract the Mates from their initial positions one or two spaces, and then place the Shadows behind them to open up space ahead. Try to free up a few squares one side of the board, away from the main thoroughfare, to bury Trees and open up more space. Note that the Lightning and Stone cannot cross the desert spaces without dying; note also that the same may be true of the Time Pawn 2 and Rabbit, depending on their initial placement. Pieces that cannot cross the desert need special care, as their options are more limited. ~ Ed.]
Diplomatic Mission
Diplomatic Mission was developed by Jim Deacove in 2002, some time after Maze. In some ways this game is similar to Maze, but it has some added complexities. It seems to have been more similar to Maze in the 2002 edition of the rules, but it was updated for the 2007 edition, which I have. On the website and on the box is a photo of the game which shows cards with diagrams of how the pieces move. They seem very similar to the moves of the Maze pieces. However, the rules I received have cards with very different moves.
I was curious whether the other complexities were part of the 2002 edition, or whether they also were changed. I wrote to Jim Deacove, and he was very cordial, but said he could not find the original rules and did not remember what they were. So this description will reflect the 2007 edition. However, Jim did help to clarify the rules of the 2007 edition.
The diagrams of board and pieces will be stylized for this description. The original board and pieces are very colourful, with images of animals for the pieces.
Rules
The board is an 8x8 checkered board with two “castle” squares at each end. The board is divided into three regions: the white army territory, the black army territory, and the middle two ranks that form the neutral territory. It is very attractive; the squares look like pieces of a map. The pieces are nice solid wooden disks that come with stickers of animal heads that look almost photographic. There are 18 white pieces and 18 black pieces. Each side has two of each kind of piece. The set is stunningly beautiful, and looks more polished and sophisticated than the rustic components of Maze, including the box.
Diplomatic Mission was developed by Jim Deacove in 2002, some time after Maze. In some ways this game is similar to Maze, but it has some added complexities. It seems to have been more similar to Maze in the 2002 edition of the rules, but it was updated for the 2007 edition, which I have. On the website and on the box is a photo of the game which shows cards with diagrams of how the pieces move. They seem very similar to the moves of the Maze pieces. However, the rules I received have cards with very different moves.
I was curious whether the other complexities were part of the 2002 edition, or whether they also were changed. I wrote to Jim Deacove, and he was very cordial, but said he could not find the original rules and did not remember what they were. So this description will reflect the 2007 edition. However, Jim did help to clarify the rules of the 2007 edition.
The diagrams of board and pieces will be stylized for this description. The original board and pieces are very colourful, with images of animals for the pieces.
Rules
The board is an 8x8 checkered board with two “castle” squares at each end. The board is divided into three regions: the white army territory, the black army territory, and the middle two ranks that form the neutral territory. It is very attractive; the squares look like pieces of a map. The pieces are nice solid wooden disks that come with stickers of animal heads that look almost photographic. There are 18 white pieces and 18 black pieces. Each side has two of each kind of piece. The set is stunningly beautiful, and looks more polished and sophisticated than the rustic components of Maze, including the box.
Here are the stylized pieces, which I have made to match as closely as possible the Maze pieces, some of which are shared by Diplomatic Mission.
The two Diplomats on each side are placed in the two castles. The two Scouts must be in the corner spaces. The other pieces are placed randomly in the two rows in front of the castles (you could turn them face down and scramble them, and then place them and then turn them face up.) The Scout on the left side only works with the Diplomat on the left side, and the Scout on the right side only works with the Diplomat on the right side, and you are supposed to mark one set so you can tell the difference. At first glance, it may seem unnecessary to do this, particularly as the set comes unmarked in this way. However, according to the designer, if you do not match a Scout to a Diplomat, one Scout becomes irrelevant, and each Diplomat having a personal Scout adds some complexity.
As mentioned above, we had to ask Jim for clarification on several points. For example, he confirmed that the word “adjacent" means adjacent orthogonally, not diagonally.
The two players are working cooperatively, but they take turns. On your turn, you can move pieces of either colour, but they must begin either in your territory or the neutral territory. You cannot move pieces that are in the opposing territory. It is not clear in the rules whether you can move a piece into the opposing territory. Based on the game’s similarity to Maze, I would guess that you can, as long as it begins in your territory or in the neutral territory.
On your turn, you must make exactly three moves, and one of them must always be to move a Scout. The Scout move can be either the first, second, or third move. There are three tokens used to keep track of this, with the red token representing the Scout move, and the two yellow tokens representing the other moves. When you make a move, slide the token over to the other player. The tokens look like toy plastic thimbles. I usually replace them with glass stones in keeping with the beauty of the other components. As in Maze, no piece is removed from the board. It is possible, however, for pieces to be killed, which will be explained below.
The goal is to get the white Diplomats into the castles in the black territory, and the black Diplomats into the castles in the white territory, without any casualties (or in an easier variant, with no more than three casualties).
Any time a Scout, Bodyguard, or Military piece is adjacent to a piece of the other colour, the other piece is killed and the mission fails. (In the easier variant, there can be three casualties total before the mission fails.) If two “killer” pieces of opposite colours are next to each other, the one that moved to the adjacent square is the one that kills the other piece. In the easier variant, the casualty is turned face down and does not move for the rest of the game.
Sometimes some of the pieces will be stacked on top of each other. Jim clarified the rules about stacking. There is no limit to how many pieces can be stacked. New pieces added to a stack must be placed on the very top or bottom, not the middle of a stack. However, only the top piece of a stack can move. This is the case also for the Politicians (see below) that are stacked underneath pieces—only the top piece can move. If there is a casualty, the top piece is turned face down, counting as one casualty, but the entire stack is stuck there for the rest of the game.
Each colour has two pieces of each type, and this is how they move:
Scout (Fox): Moves any number of spaces, orthogonally or diagonally, like a Chess Queen.
Military (Hawks): Moves like a Chess Queen, but with limited distance they travel. Military 1 only moves one square; Military 2 moves exactly 2 squares; Military 3 moves exactly 3 squares.
Diplomat (Wolf): Moves to any space adjacent to its own Scout.
The other pieces do not really move by themselves. They can be placed on top of other pieces of their own colour, or under other pieces of their own colour, depending on the type of piece. Pieces can flit from the top of one stack to another. Pieces do not have to be adjacent to one another to stack one on top of the other, and a piece can move to any piece it can stack with, wherever on the board.
Bodyguard (Gorilla): Stacks on top of Diplomats and Politicians of its own colour.
Peacemaker (Dove): Stacks on the top of Scouts, Bodyguards, and Military of its own colour (the killer pieces).
Journalist (Rabbit): Stacks on top of any piece of its own colour.
Politician (Lizard): Stacks under any piece of its own colour.
Variants
Comments
Diplomatic Mission feels very byzantine to me for an abstract game, but that may just be because the three-moves-per-turn and the stacking mechanism feel so unfamiliar.
I was not entirely sure what the rule about having to move the Scout each turn contributed to the game. Since the only way to move the Diplomat (in the 2007 rules) is to place it beside the Scout, of course you are going to want to move the Scout across the board at some point. According to the designer, "Having to use one of the three moves to play a Scout tightens the scope so the main thrust of the game, which is to get Scouts in place on the other side of the board, is still the uppermost strategy."
I experimented with the 2007 rules, leaving out the three-move per turn rule. It did not seem to make much difference in the gameplay. But I am not very skilled, so maybe there is an advantage to doing three moves at a time that I am missing. If you are playing cooperatively, it may allow you to do a combination with the stacking before the other player moves.
I am still trying to figure out how to use the stacking effectively. Some of it makes sense to me. Placing a non-killer piece on top of a killer piece temporarily neutralizes it, allowing pieces of the opposite colour to safely pass by. And stacking a Bodyguard, which is a killer piece, onto a Diplomat, which can have previously moved, allows it to move out of the way.
I haven't quite grokked this game yet. A lot of times I find myself staring at it wondering what to do. But I still get it out fairly often. I guess I like the challenge of trying to figure out how it works. My gut feeling is that Jim Deacove started with Maze, which is a pretty great game, and fiddled with it a little too much trying to give it a theme. I'm still in love with the way it looks.
The two players are working cooperatively, but they take turns. On your turn, you can move pieces of either colour, but they must begin either in your territory or the neutral territory. You cannot move pieces that are in the opposing territory. It is not clear in the rules whether you can move a piece into the opposing territory. Based on the game’s similarity to Maze, I would guess that you can, as long as it begins in your territory or in the neutral territory.
On your turn, you must make exactly three moves, and one of them must always be to move a Scout. The Scout move can be either the first, second, or third move. There are three tokens used to keep track of this, with the red token representing the Scout move, and the two yellow tokens representing the other moves. When you make a move, slide the token over to the other player. The tokens look like toy plastic thimbles. I usually replace them with glass stones in keeping with the beauty of the other components. As in Maze, no piece is removed from the board. It is possible, however, for pieces to be killed, which will be explained below.
The goal is to get the white Diplomats into the castles in the black territory, and the black Diplomats into the castles in the white territory, without any casualties (or in an easier variant, with no more than three casualties).
Any time a Scout, Bodyguard, or Military piece is adjacent to a piece of the other colour, the other piece is killed and the mission fails. (In the easier variant, there can be three casualties total before the mission fails.) If two “killer” pieces of opposite colours are next to each other, the one that moved to the adjacent square is the one that kills the other piece. In the easier variant, the casualty is turned face down and does not move for the rest of the game.
Sometimes some of the pieces will be stacked on top of each other. Jim clarified the rules about stacking. There is no limit to how many pieces can be stacked. New pieces added to a stack must be placed on the very top or bottom, not the middle of a stack. However, only the top piece of a stack can move. This is the case also for the Politicians (see below) that are stacked underneath pieces—only the top piece can move. If there is a casualty, the top piece is turned face down, counting as one casualty, but the entire stack is stuck there for the rest of the game.
Each colour has two pieces of each type, and this is how they move:
Scout (Fox): Moves any number of spaces, orthogonally or diagonally, like a Chess Queen.
Military (Hawks): Moves like a Chess Queen, but with limited distance they travel. Military 1 only moves one square; Military 2 moves exactly 2 squares; Military 3 moves exactly 3 squares.
Diplomat (Wolf): Moves to any space adjacent to its own Scout.
The other pieces do not really move by themselves. They can be placed on top of other pieces of their own colour, or under other pieces of their own colour, depending on the type of piece. Pieces can flit from the top of one stack to another. Pieces do not have to be adjacent to one another to stack one on top of the other, and a piece can move to any piece it can stack with, wherever on the board.
Bodyguard (Gorilla): Stacks on top of Diplomats and Politicians of its own colour.
Peacemaker (Dove): Stacks on the top of Scouts, Bodyguards, and Military of its own colour (the killer pieces).
Journalist (Rabbit): Stacks on top of any piece of its own colour.
Politician (Lizard): Stacks under any piece of its own colour.
Variants
- The first variant is the one where the players are allowed a total of three casualties, as described above. A casualty is turned upside down and does not move for the rest of the game.
- The second variant is called the “Citizens Variation.” In this variant, the Politicians, Peacemakers, and Journalists are turned face down and are called “Citizens." The Citizens can stack on top of any piece of their own colour. The Bodyguards can also stack on top of any pieces of their own colour. Reading between the lines in the rules, I get the feeling this may have been an intermediate design step between the 2002 rules and the 2007 rules.
Comments
Diplomatic Mission feels very byzantine to me for an abstract game, but that may just be because the three-moves-per-turn and the stacking mechanism feel so unfamiliar.
I was not entirely sure what the rule about having to move the Scout each turn contributed to the game. Since the only way to move the Diplomat (in the 2007 rules) is to place it beside the Scout, of course you are going to want to move the Scout across the board at some point. According to the designer, "Having to use one of the three moves to play a Scout tightens the scope so the main thrust of the game, which is to get Scouts in place on the other side of the board, is still the uppermost strategy."
I experimented with the 2007 rules, leaving out the three-move per turn rule. It did not seem to make much difference in the gameplay. But I am not very skilled, so maybe there is an advantage to doing three moves at a time that I am missing. If you are playing cooperatively, it may allow you to do a combination with the stacking before the other player moves.
I am still trying to figure out how to use the stacking effectively. Some of it makes sense to me. Placing a non-killer piece on top of a killer piece temporarily neutralizes it, allowing pieces of the opposite colour to safely pass by. And stacking a Bodyguard, which is a killer piece, onto a Diplomat, which can have previously moved, allows it to move out of the way.
I haven't quite grokked this game yet. A lot of times I find myself staring at it wondering what to do. But I still get it out fairly often. I guess I like the challenge of trying to figure out how it works. My gut feeling is that Jim Deacove started with Maze, which is a pretty great game, and fiddled with it a little too much trying to give it a theme. I'm still in love with the way it looks.
Safe Passage
Safe Passage is a game that I completed in 2019. This fairly recent game actually has a two-decade history dating back to 1998, and a not-very-good parent game with the awkward name of Chess Contradanse. (The game was named by Hans Bodlaender, the administrator of the Chess Variants website, to tie in with another game of mine called Queen’s Quadrille.)
My original inspiration was a puzzle from the video game The 7th Guest. My children described it to me as played on a four-by-something Chess board with four Bishops at each end. The goal was for the black Bishops and white Bishops to change places without ever being put en prise (that is, in a position where they could be captured). The turns did not have to alternate colours. I never did solve the puzzle, but I didn’t really work at it, since at the time my kids couldn’t remember how long the board was. I later found out it was 4x5.
The old Chess Contradanse game was played on a regular Chess board, with the white non-Pawn pieces being arranged at random on the first rank, and the black non-Pawn pieces being arranged at random on the eighth rank, making sure that the two Bishops on each side were on opposite-coloured squares. The Pawns were not used at all in this early version. Pieces in the first and eighth rank were immune from capture. The goal was to move all the white pieces to the eighth rank and the black pieces to the first rank, using normal Chess moves. Pieces in any rank except the first and eighth were not allowed to be put en prise.
It was a tedious and not-very-satisfying game. I could generally bring it to completion if I stuck it out long enough. But I wanted a better game.
In about 2008 I discovered the wonderful Chess Mazes books by Bruce Alberston, and that whetted my appetite to improve my game, but it took a long time to do so. The books present several puzzles, in which a board position is shown. There are several black pieces and one or possibly two or three white pieces. The black pieces never move. The solo player has to navigate the white piece (or pieces) so that it is never en prise, and get the black King in check. In some of the later puzzles, the player has to give checkmate.
It must have been about 2018 when I got my copy of Jim Deacove’s Maze game, and that gave me the clue I needed for my game. As he focused on getting the Mates to change sides, I would focus on getting the Kings to change sides. I would put the Pawns back in the game, crowding the board a bit more, as the pieces in Maze were crowded. With the Pawns there, I did not have to make an exception for the first and eighth ranks, since the Pawns could protect the other pieces. It was feeling more like a real Chess game. I decided to call the game Safe Passage, thinking about how the goal was to get the Kings safely across the board.
Rules
The set up for the basic game is exactly the same as the set up for standard Western Chess. To give it some variety and make it more than just a puzzle, you can randomize the placement of the non-Pawn pieces, the white pieces on the first rank and the black pieces on the eighth rank. Just be sure the two Bishops are on opposite-coloured squares (as in Chess960).
Safe Passage is a game that I completed in 2019. This fairly recent game actually has a two-decade history dating back to 1998, and a not-very-good parent game with the awkward name of Chess Contradanse. (The game was named by Hans Bodlaender, the administrator of the Chess Variants website, to tie in with another game of mine called Queen’s Quadrille.)
My original inspiration was a puzzle from the video game The 7th Guest. My children described it to me as played on a four-by-something Chess board with four Bishops at each end. The goal was for the black Bishops and white Bishops to change places without ever being put en prise (that is, in a position where they could be captured). The turns did not have to alternate colours. I never did solve the puzzle, but I didn’t really work at it, since at the time my kids couldn’t remember how long the board was. I later found out it was 4x5.
The old Chess Contradanse game was played on a regular Chess board, with the white non-Pawn pieces being arranged at random on the first rank, and the black non-Pawn pieces being arranged at random on the eighth rank, making sure that the two Bishops on each side were on opposite-coloured squares. The Pawns were not used at all in this early version. Pieces in the first and eighth rank were immune from capture. The goal was to move all the white pieces to the eighth rank and the black pieces to the first rank, using normal Chess moves. Pieces in any rank except the first and eighth were not allowed to be put en prise.
It was a tedious and not-very-satisfying game. I could generally bring it to completion if I stuck it out long enough. But I wanted a better game.
In about 2008 I discovered the wonderful Chess Mazes books by Bruce Alberston, and that whetted my appetite to improve my game, but it took a long time to do so. The books present several puzzles, in which a board position is shown. There are several black pieces and one or possibly two or three white pieces. The black pieces never move. The solo player has to navigate the white piece (or pieces) so that it is never en prise, and get the black King in check. In some of the later puzzles, the player has to give checkmate.
It must have been about 2018 when I got my copy of Jim Deacove’s Maze game, and that gave me the clue I needed for my game. As he focused on getting the Mates to change sides, I would focus on getting the Kings to change sides. I would put the Pawns back in the game, crowding the board a bit more, as the pieces in Maze were crowded. With the Pawns there, I did not have to make an exception for the first and eighth ranks, since the Pawns could protect the other pieces. It was feeling more like a real Chess game. I decided to call the game Safe Passage, thinking about how the goal was to get the Kings safely across the board.
Rules
The set up for the basic game is exactly the same as the set up for standard Western Chess. To give it some variety and make it more than just a puzzle, you can randomize the placement of the non-Pawn pieces, the white pieces on the first rank and the black pieces on the eighth rank. Just be sure the two Bishops are on opposite-coloured squares (as in Chess960).
The pieces and their movements are exactly the same as in standard Chess, with the exception that there is no en passant capture. There is also no promotion. Castling is still allowed.
Pawns may be put en prise, and may in fact be captured, though there is no obligation to do so. No other piece may be put en prise at any time. If at any time you notice that a non-Pawn piece is en prise, you have lost the game, unless you can immediately backtrack and undo the move that put it in danger.
The two colours alternate moves. If you are playing solo, you may want to use a token to keep track of which side is moving.
The goal is to safely bring the white King to the original position of the black King, and vice versa.
Pawns may be put en prise, and may in fact be captured, though there is no obligation to do so. No other piece may be put en prise at any time. If at any time you notice that a non-Pawn piece is en prise, you have lost the game, unless you can immediately backtrack and undo the move that put it in danger.
The two colours alternate moves. If you are playing solo, you may want to use a token to keep track of which side is moving.
The goal is to safely bring the white King to the original position of the black King, and vice versa.
[In the final position, depicted above, you will note that only one black Pawn has been captured. This is normal, as the Pawns act as barriers for the movement of the ranging pieces. Of course, no other piece except a Pawn can be captured, because no other piece can be put en prise. Note also the powerful pieces are bundled off to one side out of the way, which also is normal for Safe Passage. ~ Ed.]
Comments
I intended Safe Passage to be a solo game, but it could also be played cooperatively with two players.
The requirement that the two colours alternate moves sometimes leads to some meaningless jockeying on one side or the other. You may want to incorporate a house rule that occasionally allows you to skip a turn, if that turn is not doing anything useful. However, if you are the kind of competitive person who wants to solve a puzzle in as few moves as possible and tell people about your results, do not skip any turns. It is possible these extraneous moves only occur because I am not a very good player.
When I first posted this on a forum at BoardGameGeek, someone reported that he had solved the basic game in 34 moves and wondered if a faster solution was possible. I was a little bemused. I did not intend this to be a puzzle you solved once and then were done with, though he apparently enjoyed the experience. He thought it would be fun to try to beat his previous time, and played several games to get it that low. If you enjoy “beat your own score” games, this might appeal to you.
For myself, even playing the basic game with the standard set up, I like to experiment with different openings and see how it unfolds. Maybe if I were a better Chess player that wouldn’t be as much fun, I do not know. But I hope that by incorporating the random set up positions, I have added enough variety to make it into a real game, and not just a puzzle to be solved once.
I intended Safe Passage to be a solo game, but it could also be played cooperatively with two players.
The requirement that the two colours alternate moves sometimes leads to some meaningless jockeying on one side or the other. You may want to incorporate a house rule that occasionally allows you to skip a turn, if that turn is not doing anything useful. However, if you are the kind of competitive person who wants to solve a puzzle in as few moves as possible and tell people about your results, do not skip any turns. It is possible these extraneous moves only occur because I am not a very good player.
When I first posted this on a forum at BoardGameGeek, someone reported that he had solved the basic game in 34 moves and wondered if a faster solution was possible. I was a little bemused. I did not intend this to be a puzzle you solved once and then were done with, though he apparently enjoyed the experience. He thought it would be fun to try to beat his previous time, and played several games to get it that low. If you enjoy “beat your own score” games, this might appeal to you.
For myself, even playing the basic game with the standard set up, I like to experiment with different openings and see how it unfolds. Maybe if I were a better Chess player that wouldn’t be as much fun, I do not know. But I hope that by incorporating the random set up positions, I have added enough variety to make it into a real game, and not just a puzzle to be solved once.
Conclusion
When I started a geeklist at BoardGameGeek to look for solo abstract strategy games, I started with these three, plus another game of mine (Temple Island Chess) that is not really a chess variant, though it is played with Chess pieces. Other people added games that involved tiling with polyominoes, or games reminiscent of Peg Solitaire. There are even a couple of open-information games with cards. But these three have, at least for me, that feeling you get when you are bending over a Chess board, thinking about how the different pieces move, and planning what to do next. ◾️
When I started a geeklist at BoardGameGeek to look for solo abstract strategy games, I started with these three, plus another game of mine (Temple Island Chess) that is not really a chess variant, though it is played with Chess pieces. Other people added games that involved tiling with polyominoes, or games reminiscent of Peg Solitaire. There are even a couple of open-information games with cards. But these three have, at least for me, that feeling you get when you are bending over a Chess board, thinking about how the different pieces move, and planning what to do next. ◾️
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Author of the article, Karen Deal Robinson, is a retired mathematics teacher who sometimes dabbles in amateur game design. Her games include Solitary Journey, Safe Passage, Temple Island Chess, Wizard's Tower (AG21), Solitaire Gin Rummy, and Queen's Quadrille. She has been interested in solo board gaming since about 1964, when nobody would play Candyland with her so she wandered down that magical path all alone. A few of her solo games, the last three listed above, were published in Games magazine in 1998.
Maze and Diplomatic Mission are both published by Family Pastimes Cooperative Games. Amazingly, Jim Deacove, the designer of the games, and his wife Ruth have been operating Family Pastimes since 1971, an incredible half a century. Their large collection of original games are all cooperative, or effectively solitaire games. Other games in the line, particularly Yin Yang and Warp 'n Woof, also look interesting, though I have yet to try them. Family Pastimes was far ahead of its time in the development of solo and cooperative games. Jim and Ruth are retiring at the end of 2021. I do not know whether any of their games will remain available thereafter or what will happen to their company and its stock. You should at least snap up a Maze set while you can, and take a good look at some of their other games! ~ Ed.
Maze and Diplomatic Mission are both published by Family Pastimes Cooperative Games. Amazingly, Jim Deacove, the designer of the games, and his wife Ruth have been operating Family Pastimes since 1971, an incredible half a century. Their large collection of original games are all cooperative, or effectively solitaire games. Other games in the line, particularly Yin Yang and Warp 'n Woof, also look interesting, though I have yet to try them. Family Pastimes was far ahead of its time in the development of solo and cooperative games. Jim and Ruth are retiring at the end of 2021. I do not know whether any of their games will remain available thereafter or what will happen to their company and its stock. You should at least snap up a Maze set while you can, and take a good look at some of their other games! ~ Ed.