Bucky
From Carls wiki
"I don't understand this game... I just made it." — Carl
Bucky is a chess variant invented in 2004, with the aim of being playable with ordinary chess equipment.
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Sourceforge project
Image:Buckylogo.png The implementation of the first Bucky-playing game resides on sourceforge.net. There is a Bucky/Java page where the Java implementation of Bucky is discussed.
Pieces
Jedi: Moves one square forward, forward-right or forward-left. Captures in the same directions, but does not move to the captured square. Can move two squares when standing on the second rank (but only move, no capturing), and is then susceptible to en passant. A jedi that reaches the opposite rank of the board is promoted to either a wagon, a shaman, a chameleon or a madam.
Wagon: Moves like a chess queen, but must move as far as it can in the given direction, until it runs into a piece or the edge of the board. When capturing, it stops at the square next to the captured piece. A capture without moving is allowed, but a move without moving is not.
Shaman: Moves like a chess king, but hypnotizes every opponent piece diagonally in line of sight. A hypnotized piece may not move or capture until the shaman moves out of sight. One single shaman cannot capture pieces, but two shamans can by hypnotizing the same piece. (Thus, on rare occations, two hypnotizing pieces may capture two opponent pieces in one move, and several hypnotizing pieces may capture several pieces in one move because of cascading.) Pieces may not move into double hypnosis. Shamans are as susceptible to hypnosis as any other piece.
Chameleon: Can move and capture like any piece it is currently standing next to. Can move two ranks forward if standing next to a jedi located on rank two, and is susceptible to en passant. Can copy promotion ability by using a (friendly or enemy) jedi to move to the last rank, and then promotes to (a friendly) jedi, wagon, shaman or madam. Becomes hypnotizing if standing next to a shaman. Can steal the exchange between the friendly or enemy madam and dude, and can even make this exchange with another neighbouring chameleon on the other end. Becomes hypnotized if standing next to a hypnotized piece. Can take a (direct) hypnotizer if it is standing next to a madam. Does not inherit the dudeness of the dude, and thus cannot be bucked.
Dude: Moves like a chess king. This piece has a special property called dudeness which means that the it can be bucked if in the capturing range of an unhypnotized opponent jedi, wagon, chameleon or madam, or if hypnotized by one piece with another threatening to hypnotize in the next move. If in buck, the player must either move, capture, hypnotize or block so that he is not in buck in the next move (like in chess). Moves that put (or leave) the player's dude in a bucked state are not allowed. If unable to move out of buck, the player loses. If a player is unbucked and unable to move at all, the game is tied.
Madam: Moves and captures like a chess queen, but can also exchange positions with the dude once in a game, if unhypnotized. In fact, the dude can also initiate this exchange if unhypnotized. Under hypnosis, the madam can capture the piece which hypnotizes her, but may otherwise make no move or capture.
There's also a separate page explaining this from the perspective of roles. The concept of roles is an abstraction, distinct from the pieces themselves.
Board
(The pieces are the same as in chess, and have the same original configuration.)
Notation
There's a separate article about notation.
In short, the notation is this: use a dash for ordinary (rolling) moves (a1-c3), x for captures (a1xc3), and y for smashing (a1yc3). When promoting, write a = followed by the name of the piece promoted to (h7-h8=M), and write within parentheses when pieces disappear because of double hypnosis (c3-d4(xc5)). Finally, write + and ++ for buck and buck mate, respectively. The special cases are teleport (written like a rolling move), and en passant (written like a smash). The specifics are to be found in the article.
World Championship
(Main article World Championships in Bucky)
As of 2006, Bucky is still a young game, and much remains to be explored as regards how best to play it. Nonetheless, the fight for posession of the onerous title World Champion is already sharp as a dagger...
Bucky games played on this site
FAQ
On this page a few frequently asked questions regarding the game and the rules of the game are collected.
