Heighliner Chess

Heighliner Chess is a chess variant based on Frank Herbert's Dune with a two-sided folding board.  Fold space to outplay your enemies.

This is a multiplayer virtual tabletop to play the variant.  The software does not enforce any of the rules of chess, it just automates all the folding stuff.  You can play this with a friend over the network on PC or phone, or pass-the-device-around multiplayer (anyone can move any piece on the board).

CONTROLS

Drag & Drop to move pieces.

Drag from the corners of the board to start folding.  When you've selected the area you want to fold in green, click or tap the green selection, then the arrow that appears, to fold do a fold.

HEIGHLINER CHESS VARIANT

Heighliner Chess is played on a double-sided 8x8 board. The blue side is Space and the orange side is Dune.  The board may be folded inward from the corners, and pieces can move between Space and Dune this way.

ON YOUR TURN: You must move a piece.  Folding the board is optional.  If your King is in check, you may not fold the board.

After at least two folds have occured, the board will unfold back to its default 8x8 layout after a player moves a piece on the Space board.

BETRAYAL If your fold results in a situation on the Space board where there are no movement options for the other player, a non-pawn piece of your choice betrays you and your opponent may move it on their turn.  Betraying pieces do not respect the rules of Check.  

WORMSIGN Either player may move the Worm on their turn in lieu of moving a standard piece by placing one of its brown segments adjacent to the green (last moved) one.  All visible worm segments must remain adjacent to each other.  The Worm does not respect the rules of Check and is not visible from Space.  Pieces touching Worm segments are captured.  Worm segments are uncapturable, and block movement.  Isolated Worm segments may not be moved until they become adjacent to the main body again.  

MESSIAH The first player to have their King and 3 other pieces occupying the four center squares of Dune wins the game outright.

RULES CHANGES

Pawns may move and capture both ways, but cannot promote.  No En Passant.

PHYSICAL HEIGHLINER CHESS

If you're looking for a physical version of this game to play with friends IRL, check this out.

Heighliner Chess

SETUP

Heighliner Chess is played on a double-sided 8x8 board. The two boards should be distinguished from each other by color, with the grey side being Space and the brown side being Arrakis.

1. Print out the two boards on one sheet of paper, opposite sides.
2. Cut the paper so that there is no white space outside the board. Write the standard pieces, using their abbreviations, in pencil on the Space board.
3. Take turns writing 6 “O’s” on the Arrakis board, placing them so that each O is orthogonally adjacent to another O. These represent the Worm.

PLAY

⭐ Both players start with 4 Spice tokens.

⭐ On your turn: You may discard a Spice token to fold the board along any of its lines. You may fold any number of times during your turn. At least one piece from each side must be visible after folding. You may also move a piece by erasing it from its current board space and writing it on its destination space.

⭐ If your King is in check, you may not fold the board.

⭐ Only spaces/pieces that are visible are legal for movement/ capture.

⭐ After each round (white move, black response), the board unfolds back to its normal position (64 spaces visible).

⭐ Flipping the board is a free action.

ARRAKIS & SPICE

The player with more pieces on Arrakis gains [1] Spice token at the beginning of their turn.

The player with fewer pieces on Arrakis may move the Worm on their turn in lieu of moving a standard piece by erasing an O from one of its ends and placing it orthogonally adjacent to its other end. They may move the Worm a number of times equal to the [total number of discarded Spice tokens] each turn. If you would place an O on a space occupied by a standard piece, erase it. The Worm does not respect the rules of check. Spaces containing the Worm cannot be moved to, and Worm segments may not be captured.

RULES CHANGES

Pawns may move and capture both ways, but cannot promote.

No En Passant.

This site will facilitate printing the board.  Print the grey board on one side of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, then flip the paper in your printer and print the orange board on the reverse side.

THOUGHTS

I consider the digital version to be the "definitive" version.  In this version, you can only fold the board inward.  The physical version is a lot more unhinged and fast-paced, because it allows for a greater variety of folds.

This is a pretty hasty release and I might clean it up later.  But probably not because nobody gives a fuck about chess variants.