Battle Chess

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Anyone have this oldie out there? I've got it for Mac in both the colour and black and white versions (actually have a few of the black and white ones, I bought two copies so I could network two old computers for some one-on-one action).

For those who have never heard of it: it plays like regular chess except your pieces are people and when one takes another they fight.

If anyone has this and wants to play via modem sometime let me know...I know the option is really never used anymore with broadband but if you've got some old computer sitting around it's still a good way to relax and stimulate the mind at the same time.

Wow. That brings me back. My dad used to take me to a chess club to play chess. I would practice at home with Battle Chess.
Thanks for bringing those memories back.

I must've been 6 when I first played that. Takes me back. ***Nostalgia***

I used to play Battle Chess on a Macintosh SE, which still runs (having outlived a couple of newer computers), but we no longer have, since we gave it to someone else.

It was a neat game-- did anyone else have fun setting up all of the possible captures so that they could see all of the animations (particularly a king being checkmated by moving a pawn)?

Ah, another Mac SE owner!! ! I have one sitting in my closet, also functional.

Yes, I used to do the same thing. My favorite was when the pawn took the king...it's something that rarely happens in a real game.

I won't spoil the animation for you if you don't remember it...but I can guarantee you that you will laugh. Dust off that Mac SE and play a round or two of it...I think I may do just that pretty soon, actually.

BTW: If you have the Mac CD-ROM version, you get the black and white version on the disc for free with the colour one. The manual says it's for a black and white Mac or a PowerBook, but it also works fine on some of the colour systems (just without colour).

More memories are coming back about the game...

I liked how the knights just shoved the other pieces out of their way (they weren't on horseback, so they didn't jump; they just pushed everyone aside!)

The bishops would usually chant incoherently, and get a hand or a lightning bolt from a cloud to squash their opponent.

My favorite pieces were the rooks-- castles that turned into rock monsters and stomped slowly around the board and either squashed or ate their foes.

While most of the battles were merely violent in a cartoonish way, a couple of them included blood (even though it was black, not red, on my computer screen). I think it was usually the pawns who were the victims of these attacks, by knights and queens-- I remember because the first time it happened, my Mom said "Ewwwwww!" and after that I would usually switch the board to normal view before making those captures.

Thanks for reminding me about this game, CaptainMac-- if I still had my Mac SE, I'd play a game of this right now!

Edit: (By the way, I do remember what the animation for pawn takes king was-- it was the funniest one!)

Yeah, the queen causes the pawn to bleed considerably. I think the most gruesome, though, is when the knight takes the bishop and cuts his head off.

I actually did the local network option on this game...I got two copies of it (the floppy version) and connected two old Mac Classics. Someone can sit at one and one can sit at the other and they can play against each other. I have two copies of the CD, too, plus one more floppy copy. (If I see this game anywhere I always buy it, I have a number of old Macs).