Cursed chess for two players on one screen, you against the computer, or two computers to watch. Pieces sit on stacks of backgammon checkers, and every checker is one extra life.
RulebookPieces move as usual. Castling, en passant, promotion, check, checkmate, stalemate, the 50-move rule and threefold repetition all apply.
Each backgammon checker under a piece is one life. A piece with lives can't be captured. Attacking it removes one checker instead, and your piece stays where it was. That hit is a SHBANG!
Each side owns 15 checkers and keeps them all game. A checker knocked off a piece goes back to the hand of the piece's owner. On a later turn that player can spend their whole move stacking it under any of their pieces. There's no limit to how high a stack can go.
Once a piece has no checkers left, the next attack captures it like normal chess. Hitting a piece that has lives never gets you out of check.
The last of your pieces to get SHBANGed can't take new lives. It's marked with a red ✸. The lock stays on however many turns pass. It moves only when a different piece of yours gets SHBANGed.
Kings can carry lives too. A king with lives can stand in an attack and just loses a checker. It's only in check once its stack is empty. A king in check can't take a new life: you have to move, block or capture. Checkmate means a king with no lives, under attack, with no way out.
Pick an opponent. Each side has 15 checkers, one under every piece except the king. The current game is lost.
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