How to Play

Laser Chess is played on a 9 x 9 board. Players alternate turns moving pieces having two, one or no reflective surfaces. Pieces can either move one square forward, back, left, or right, or can stay in the same square and rotate by a quarter twist.

The Laser Cannon is the only piece that can fire a laser. The laser beam bounces from mirror to mirror, if the beam strikes a non-reflective surface on any piece, it is immediately removed from play. The ultimate goal is to zap your opponent's King, while shielding yours from harm!

Board Setup  A board with the pieces in their initial position. Your color is chosen randomly and is always on the bottom.

Player Turns

A turn consists of two moves. Each of the moves can be used to perform any one of these actions:

• Move a piece 1 square up/down/left/right (not diagonally!)
• Rotate a piece 90 degrees
• Fire the Laser Cannon

Moving a distance of one square takes one move; moving two squares takes two moves. Since you have only two moves per turn, the maximum distance a piece can be moved on one turn is two squares. Pieces can be moved forward, backward, left, or right, but not diagonally. However, you can effectively move a piece diagonally by using two moves--forward and right, for example.

You cannot move a piece onto a square occupied by another piece. The only exceptions are captures with Reflector Blocks and Kings, and moves of the Teleporter piece.

Clicking on any of your pieces with the mouse will cause the Move Selector to pop up. Click on the left, right, up or down arrows to move the piece in that direction. There is also a rotate left and rotate right curved arrow for rotating the piece a quarter twist. If you click on the Teleporter piece you will not have the rotate arrows available. If you click on your Laser Cannon piece you will have a special Fire button available. Remember: firing your Laser Cannon counts as one move!

Firing the Laser

When it's your turn, you can elect to fire your Laser Cannon. Firing your Laser Cannon takes only one move, but can be done only once per turn. Therefore, you may want to use your first move in a turn to aim the laser, rotate a reflecting piece to set up a reflected shot, or move another piece into position. Laser beams are absorbed if they hit the edge of the board.

You won't necessarily be firing the laser on every turn. Much of the strategy in Laser Chess involves moving and rotating your pieces to set up complex shots. It's important to realize that any laser hit on a piece's non-reflective or non-transparent surface will destroy that piece. You can destroy your own pieces just as easily as you can destroy your opponent's. You can even zap your own laser. For example if you fire directly into the 180-degree reflective surface of a Straight Reflector or Reflector Block piece, or if you fail to anticipate the effects of a beam splitter- so be careful!

Piece Movement

There are 8 basic types of pieces in Laser Chess, and each has unique capabilities. The good news is that every piece moves the same way. Unless they are teleported, a piece can only move one square at a time in any direction (assuming the piece is not blocked by another piece or the board edge).

Over time, you'll learn each piece's advantages and limitations and how they can work together. Obviously, the more you play Laser Chess, the more you'll understand the pieces in your arsenal, which in turn will make you a better player. So let's look at a full description of the pieces.

King  The King is the most important piece in Laser Chess. When the King is eliminated, the other player wins the game. Since it has no reflective surfaces, it can be destroyed by a laser from any angle. It can also be captured by an opposing piece. The King is not totally defenseless, however. It can capture any opposing piece by moving onto its square. But you can use it for a capture only once per turn.

Laser Cannon  The second most important piece is the laser. This piece is your primary offensive weapon; it's the only piece which can fire a laser shot. To take aim, you can rotate it in place at 90-degree angles. Like the King, the laser is completely vulnerable to enemy laser strikes, because it has no reflective surfaces. If you lose your laser, the game is not over, but only the most skillful (or incredibly lucky) player can overcome its loss.

Teleporter  The Teleporter is an interesting piece. It can't harm an opposing piece directly, but may very well do so indirectly. When the Teleporter is moved onto another piece (even your own), that piece disappears from its original position and reappears on the Teleporter pad (located at the center of the board). This can happen only once per turn. If the Teleporter pad is already occupied the piece on the pad will be destroyed. The Teleporter has no reflective surfaces and cannot be rotated. It is invulnerable to laser shots, however, because it's made of transparent material--a laser beam passes right through it.

Splitter  The Splitter is a tricky piece. When a laser beam strikes a splitter's vertex (the point opposite its base), the beam splits in two. The two new beams travel in opposite directions, perpendicular to the original beam's path. When a laser shot hits one of the beam splitter's reflective surfaces, it reflects off at a 90-degree angle without splitting. If the beam splitter's base it hit by a laser shot, it is destroyed. The Beam Splitter can be rotated. Remember: Vulnerable on back side, 90-degree bounce on two sides, beam split in two on pointed side.

Reflector Block  The Reflector Block pieces are fairly simple. However, they may impose some complex situations. A Block can capture any opposing piece by moving onto that piece's square (once per turn!), just like a King. But unlike a King, a Block has one reflective side and can be rotated as the situation demands. Therefore, blocks can be used offensively or defensively. A laser beam that hits the reflective surface of a Block is deflected 180 degrees--bouncing the beam back where it came from. Remember: Vulnerable on 3 sides, bounces straight back on the reflector side.

Diagnonal Reflector  A Diagonal Reflector can never be destroyed by a laser, because both of its sides are reflective. Diagonal Reflector pieces can be removed from the board only when captured by a Reflector Block or a King. When a laser beam strikes a Diagonal Reflector, the beam is deflected 90 degrees. Diagonal Reflectors can be flipped to their opposing diagonal, but cannot be rotated to face horizontally or vertically.

Straight Reflector  The horizontal reflectors and vertical reflectors (known collectively as Straight Reflectors) are also invulnerable to lasers due to their reflective surfaces. When a laser hits a straight reflector edgewise, the beam passes through it. Straight reflectors can be rotated to become either horizontal or vertical reflectors, but not Diagonal Reflectors. Remember: Cannot be hit, beam passes through it when aligned with it, bounces straight back when perpendicular.

Triangular Reflector  The triangular reflector deflect laser beams just as diagonal reflectors do, but they are vulnerable to hits on their two non-reflective sides. A triangular reflector can be rotated in 90-degree increments.

Winning

The game is over when either players King is captured by a piece or zapped by a laser beam. Remember: the King is completely vulnerable to enemy laser strikes, because it has no reflective surfaces. It is also vunerable to capture by any piece on the board, except the Teleporter piece. When your opponents King is captured or zapped you win the game!

If all pieces are captured or destroyed (except the Kings obviously) the game will be called a draw.