Ouk-Khmer (also known as Cambodian Chess) is a chess variant which D. B. Pritchard claimed was played in Cambodia although its actual origins appear t...
Ouk-Khmer (also known as Cambodian Chess) is a chess variant which D. B. Pritchard claimed was played in Cambodia although its actual origins appear to be unknown. Pritchard gives the source as P. A. Hill. It combines elements of makruk and xiangqi. Similar to xiangqi, it is played on the intersections of an 8×8 monotone board (instead of 8×9). Contrary to Pritchard's claim, the actual variety of chess played in Cambodia today, known as "Ok" or "Ouk Chatrang", is nearly identical to makruk. The authenticity of the game described by Pritchard remains doubtful.
Pritchard (The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, 1994) described this game as "an old variant displaying elements of Burmese Chess, Chaturanga and Makruk". However, the rules provided appear to be a hybrid of Makruk and Xiangqi. For example, play on the intersections and the movement of the fish (pawn) follow Xiangqi rules. The advanced placement of the full line of pawns resembles the initial setup of makruk. The naming of the "boat" also follows makruk. John Gollon, the author of "Chess Variations: Ancient, Regional, and Modern", received a description of a chess game in 1969 from a U.S. serviceman who claimed to have obtained the details from a Cambodian born guerrilla officer he was questioning. The serviceman expressed concern that he may have been mistaken about some of the details and Gollon stated that he was never able to confirm the details with an official Cambodian source. He admitted in his letter: “The correspondent later expressed some concern that he may have been mistaken in some details.”
In 2007, the English chess specialist John Beasley published a revised edition of late D.B.Pritchard's book (The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants), in which more details from Gollon's letter were given (such as the local names of the chessmen, not included in the 1st edition) and where Beasley expressed his strong doubt about the authenticity of this kind of chess.
In reaction to this publication, Beasley was sent information that a set of this chess had made an apparition in an exhibition in Tokyo in 2002 as well as in several Japanese books that preceded or followed, written by Umebayashi Isao and Okano Shin. They could have rediscovered these rules by translating a book bought in Cambodia, where the Elephant could not capture sideways. The names they gave for the chessmen were somewhat different from Gollon (Kwon, Neamahn, Kwo, Seh, Tuuk, Trey as for the table). Umebayashi and Okano designated that game as "shattrong". A photo of a complete set was available showing the 18 pieces on a board with marked diagonals. Beasley published a corrective note in the British specialized magazine Variant Chess (Issue 55, September 2007 and issue 64, August 2010 ) to acknowledge this second “evidence”. He acknowledged that the game is apparently absent "from the streets of Phnom Penh in 2003" and stated that Peter suggested "that this may have been a minor consequence of the mass killings of the Pol Pot era.".
The situation has been cleared out in 2012 with the help of a Japanese chess researcher, Yasuji Shimuzu who got in touch with Umebayashi Isao. First, it has been now understood that Umebayashi and Okano's books were simply presenting a reconstruction of the “Cambodian” chess which they had discovered in Pritchard's first edition. As Pritchard didn't name the chessmen in his first edition, the Japanese authors extrapolated the names with the help of a dictionary. No Cambodian books had been consulted and even found. The difference in Elephant's move was simply a misreading. Finally, looking for an illustration, they just set up a set of makruk with additional Fishes and Officials over a facsimile Burmese board that they had and fitted well the size of his chessmen.
John Beasley published a corrective note on his website http://www.jsbeasley.co.uk/. His conclusion is that the game described to P. A. Hill in 1969 appeared once more to reduce to a single informant whose statements were at variance with all other known testimony. Moreover, John Beasley has found and proven that the game is flawed if played seriously.
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PÜNCT
PÜNCT is a two-player strategy board game. It is the sixth (and final) release in the GIPF project of six abstract strategy games, although it is cons...
PÜNCT is a two-player strategy board game. It is the sixth (and final) release in the GIPF project of six abstract strategy games, although it is considered the fifth game in the project. It was released in 2005. PÜNCT won the Games Magazine Best Abstract Strategy game for 2007.
The PÜNCT board game is one of six games a part of the GIPF project. This project was created by Kris Burm and is a series of six abstract games. PÜNCT is the 5th game of the project and the board of this game is shaped like a hexagon. This game was released in 2005.[citation needed]
PÜNCT is a two-player connection game. The objective is to connect two sides of a hexagonal board, using pieces which cover three hexes each. The pieces can be placed, moved, rotated, and stacked in various ways, restricted by the geometry of the board, the shape of the pieces, and gravity. Players can bring new pieces to the board or can attempt to connect the pieces already in play. The objective of the game is to mislead the opponent.
When the players take their first turn, they are not able to use the central hexagon. The PÜNCT piece is used as a point of reference throughout the game, but the PÜNCT piece can't be moved when the player is making a move. Minor dots can land on the other player's piece, but the PÜNCT piece may not. In order to make a move, three dots must be in perfect alignment. The pieces that are on top of all of the other pieces have the most power in this game. The dots on the ends of the pieces must be at the same level horizontally to play this game correctly. In order to make a bridge in this game, you must perform a jump move on a piece already on the board. The positions of the dots at the end don't have to be aligned with the middle or stable horizontally. When determining the winner, a player can lift one piece at a time to determine if a connection was made. To connect opposite sides in this game, players can move pieces on top of other pieces or they can stack pieces to block the opponent's connection, ergo, making a connection for themselves. The actual PÜNCT piece, which is a rounded piece that has one point, cannot be used to make a connection or form a “chain” but rather used as a point of reference.
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