Resurrection Chess! A new variant of 4-player chess with dummy pieces and cards!

Resurrection Chess! A new variant of 4-player chess with dummy pieces and cards!

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I have designed a new game! I call it Resurrection Chess. It is a variant of the existing 4-player chess. There are dummy pieces in the middle of the board, and cards, which make the game a lot more fun and exciting.

Initial Placement of Pieces
The pieces are placed as shown on a 4-player chess board. There are "dummy" pieces placed in the middle as shown.

Objective
The objective of this game is to have your king as the last king standing for 2 rounds. If a lone king survives for two rounds then the player that has the king wins the game. If no player can keep a lone king alive for two rounds and all material on the board is eliminated (excluding the dummy pieces), then the result of the game is decided based on a points system. Points are awarded for the pieces a player has captured. A king is worth 25 points, a queen is 9, a bishop and rook are 5 each, a knight is 3, and pawns and dummy pieces are worth 1 point each.

Rules
Basic chess rules apply for the movement of pieces. Basic rules of 4-player chess also apply. The major difference is that there is no concept of "check" or "checkmate". A player can allow their king to be captured. A player can move their king into check. If a player's king is captured, the player still continues to play the game until the end of the game.

Like 4-player chess, players take turns in a clockwise or anti-clockwise fashion to move. A single "round" consists of all 4 players having made their move. At their turn, a player may choose to move a piece, play a card, or skip their turn. At the start of the game, cards are placed in a deck and no player has any cards. Cards are earned by capturing enemy or dummy pieces. Any time a player captures a piece, they can pull a card from the top of the deck. The cards in the deck and the player's cards are hidden from the view of other players. If a player skips their turn for two consecutive turns, then they earn a card at the second turn, however they cannot immediately play that card. In a similar way, if a player captures a piece and wins a card, then they cannot immediately play that card, unless the capture is part of a play that allows them to play another card. After a card has been played, it goes back into the bottom of the deck. Potentially, this means if the game lasts long enough, the same card may be acquired again by any player. A player can also discard 3 cards to gain a new card from the deck. The discarded cards go to the bottom of the deck.


When a pawn reaches the 8th rank from a player's perspective, it can be promoted to a queen or any other piece, however, because normal chess sets have only one additional queen, a simple rule is there may only be one additional queen for a player at any time, though this is flexible.

Cards

There are several types of cards in this game, and at the time of this writing the number or type of cards is not decided, since a wide variety of cards can be created. Here are some of them -

Resurrection - This is the main card in the game, and the card the game is named after. If a player whose king has been captured plays this card, then they can "resurrect" their king and place it anywhere on the board, following the Rules for Placing Pieces. There is only one Resurrection card in the game.

Ability Cards

Ability cards allow pieces to move like other pieces or do additional things. For example -

King is Knight - Play this card to move your king like a knight. Similar cards are King is Rook, King is Bishop, and King is Queen.
Rook is Bishop - Play this card to move your rook like a bishop. A similar card is Rook is Knight.
Knight is Bishop - Play this card to move your knight like a bishop. A similar card is Knight is Rook.
Bishop is Knight - Play this card to move your bishop like a knight. A similar card is Bishop is Rook.
Queen is Knight - Move a queen like a knight.

King Moves Twice - Play this card to move a king twice.
Pawn Moves Twice - Play this card allows you to move the same pawn twice.
Knight Moves Twice - Play this card to move the same knight twice.

Move Twice - Make two legal moves with any of your pieces.
Swap Pieces - Swap two of your own pieces.

Normally, a deck only has one ability card of each of the above types.

Cards that Impact an Opponent's Pieces or Turn

Move An Enemy Piece - Play this card to make a legal move with an enemy piece.
Freeze Turn - Play this card to freeze an opponent's turn.

Normally, a deck only has one card of each of the above types.

Theft Cards

Steal A Card - Steal a random card from another player.
Move and steal 1 card - Make a move and steal a card from another player.
Steal 2 cards - Steal a total of two cards from other players.

Normally, there are a reasonable number of theft cards in the game to prevent any player from hoarding too many cards.

Cards for Dummy Pieces

Move Dummy - Play this card to move a dummy piece. Dummy pawns always move from the perspective of the player. Dummy pawns cannot be promoted.
Place Dummy - If you have captured a dummy piece(s), play this card to place one dummy piece on the board. See Rules for Placing Pieces. If you have captured the dummy king and then play the Place Dummy card, it does not mean that dummy king is now yours. It does not work like the Dummy King is Mine card.
Combine Dummy (Dummy with Ability) - Combine a dummy piece with an Ability Card. For example, if you have the Knight is Rook ability card, you can combine this card with Combine Dummy to move a dummy knight like a rook.

There are several Move Dummy, Place Dummy, and Combine Dummy cards in the game.

Dummy King is Mine - At the start of the game, the dummy king is not on the board. However, if a player plays this card, then they can place the dummy king on the board (see Rules for Placing Pieces) and claim it as their own king. This is similar to the resurrection card, however, the main difference is that the dummy king still remains a dummy piece! So anyone with a Move Dummy or Combine Dummy card could move it! There is only one such card in the game.


Other Cards
Play Two More Cards - Play this card to play two additional cards. There is only one such card in the game.

Rules for Placing Pieces

These rules apply to the placement of dummy pieces using the Place Dummy card and to the placement of the king using the Resurrection card. A piece can be placed anywhere on the board except in an opponent's "territory". An opponent's territory is the first three ranks from their perspective.