Chess
Shatranj
The mediaeval Persian and Arab game: no long-range queen or bishop, no castling, and three separate ways to win.
What is different here
This is the game the Arabic manuals of the ninth and tenth centuries describe, and the direct ancestor of modern chess. The rook and the knight are the same. Everything else is weaker and slower.
The counsellor beside the king moves one square diagonally. The elephant leaps exactly two squares diagonally and can only ever reach eight squares. Pawns take one step at a time and promote only to a counsellor.
You win by checkmate, by stalemating your opponent, or by capturing everything they have except the king. Stalemate is a win here, not a draw.
- The shah moves like a modern king, but there is no castling.
- The ferz moves one square diagonally; the alfil leaps exactly two squares diagonally, over anything in between.
- The baidaq steps one square forward, captures diagonally, has no double step and no capture in passing, and promotes only to a ferz.
- Stalemating your opponent is a win for you, not a draw.
- Stripping the enemy king bare wins, unless they can strip yours on the very next move, which draws.