Sunday, March 28, 2010
Chess for the Insane
What got me started this week on my whole Victorian board game kick -- or, I should say, my latest one -- was a passing mention in this ad of Hexagonia, put out by Jaques & Son of London:
(Jaques is still very much around, by the way.)
Hexagonia was, apparently, the first commercially manufactured hexagonal chess game. (At left is a modern hex set from chessvariants.com.)
And, of course, if you really want all-out polygonic war, there's always... three-player chess.
(Jaques is still very much around, by the way.)
Hexagonia was, apparently, the first commercially manufactured hexagonal chess game. (At left is a modern hex set from chessvariants.com.) I haven't been able to find a picture of one of these Hexagonia sets yet, but there's an intriguing description of the game from Routledge's Every Boy's Annual for 1866:
And, of course, if you really want all-out polygonic war, there's always... three-player chess.
