Martian Chess is one of many games that you can play using an Icehouse stash or two or four. In fact, it is the game that I have used the most to entice people into the wonderful world of Icehouse. Although it uses a chess board and it is an abstract strategy game, it is in fact a remarkably un-chesslike game. Indeed, Martian Chess is a game that is unlike any other abstract strategy game I have played.

Martian Chess is played with Icehouse pieces which are the creation of Andrew Looney. In case you have never seen them, they are stackable, stashable pyramids that come in a variety of colors. They have a retro, space age look and they are some of the handiest game tools I have found. They don’t quite have the flexibility of a deck of cards or a set of dice but you can use them in a multitude of different games.

Martian Chess is played on a chess board. Personally, I normally play it on the chessboard bandanna that Looney Labs sells in order to make it a complete Looney Labs experience. If you have only two players, you are only going to be using half of the board. If you have four players, then you will use the whole board. If you want to play with three or five players, you won’t be able to use a regular chess board. However, you can find links at Wunderland for boards that will accommodate that many and Looney Labs has discussed producing such boards.

Each player will start out with nine pieces: three Pawns, three Drones and three Queens. Icehouse pieces come in three sizes and, as you might imagine, each kind of piece is a different size.

Pawns are the smallest size of pyramid. They can only move one space diagonally and that is also their capturing move. They are also worth one point when captured. Icehouse pieces are also marked with pip marks and Pawns are helpfully marked with only one pip.

Drones are the next size up. Drones can move up to two spaces in a straight line but they cannot move diagonally. That is also how they capture. Drones are worth two points if captured.

Queens are the largest size. And, unlike pawns, Queens move exactly as the Earth chess counterparts. They can move an unlimited number of squares in any direction, including diagonal, and they capture in the same way. Queens are worth three points if they are captured.

Each player has their own four by four section of the board, regardless of how many people are playing, which is why you use only half the board for two players. Each player sets of their pieces in a three by three formation at the far corner of their section, with the Pawns in front and the Queens in the back.

Like many abstract strategy games, on their turn, players move one of their pieces. Players are not allowed to pass. In that respect, Martian Chess is exactly like Earth chess. In fact, that rule is so obvious I am half-tempted not to even mention it but I figure it still should be covered.

The key idea in Martian Chess is that players do not have their own pieces. Instead, players control specific areas of the board and if a piece on the area, they control that piece. You start out with nine pieces but the number of pieces under your control will wax and wane during the course of the game.

Now, if you move a piece into another player’s area, to capture one of their pieces, your control of that piece continues until the end of your move. That means that any of pieces that you capture do go into your score pile.

Since you’re not allowed to capture your own pieces, that means that every time you capture a piece, you are giving another player control over the piece that you used to make the capture.

In the two player game, there is also a rule of no rejections. You cannot simply reverse a move that the other player has just made.

Like Earth chess, there is such a beast as field promotion in Martian Chess. However, it works considerably different. If you have no Drones on your area, you can move a Pawn on top of another Pawn. Relax, Icehouse pieces are designed to stack. Those pieces are now treated as one Drone. Likewise, if you have no Queen, you can move a Pawn onto a Drone to form a Queen.

The game ends when one person’s area has no more pieces left in it. This means, among other things, that that player must choose to end the game, since there is no way for a player to empty out another player’s area. Capturing their pieces simply gives them a piece in turn.

After the game has ended, players count up the number of points in the pieces that they’ve captured. Whoever has the most points will be the winner.

Martian Chess is a surprisingly deep game, particularly because it plays with our normal perception of how a game is played. You do not have any pieces that you can call your own. The color of the pieces is unimportant because a piece may change hands several times during the course of the game. You have to rewire your brain in order to play Martian Chess.

The end conditions and the winning conditions are also very different. An empty board may be a move that a player makes in order to win, not because they are losing. An outsider may look at the board and assume that the player with fewer pieces is losing when they are the one who is control of the game. I have to wonder what Sun Tzu would think of this game of shifting ground.

A four player game can seem very chaotic, with control of the pieces changing hands constantly. However, there are no random factors in the game. In the end, Martian Chess is as luck-free as Go or Earth chess. The only luck in the game is the luck that you make yourself.

One of the few weaknesses of the game is that it is possible for players to try to create a stalemate, particularly in a two-player game, by no allowing any player’s area to empty. The no rejection rule, though, helps lessen this problem.

If your only exposure to Looney Labs has been through Fluxx, you are doing yourself a disservice by not exploring the world of Icehouse. It is a world full of analytical, calculating games and Martian Chess is one of the best. It is a game that will change the way you look at abstract strategy games, chess boards and pyramids.