Spielerei Magazine
Issue No. 42, January-March 1999
Helmut Wresnik
Germany

It can be of great advantage if one, like me this year, is not able to attend the Spiel in Essen from its beginning: once you get there, everyone you meet tells you about their personal favorites that you definitely have to check out. This year they were Keydom (which I had already gotten before the show, and I was glad I did because the 200 copies Richard Breese had brought along were already gone by Thursday night) and Bosworth, which was described to me as "Chess game with cards".

Well, I am not a very big fan of chess; probably because my abilities don't quite measure up to my desire to play the game well - and for that reason I am also rather wary about chess variants. However, since the booth of "Out of the Box", the game's publisher, was situated right next to the German Game Archive, where I just like in previous years had set up my camp, I went there right away. At first I was watching for a while and was surprised that I indeed did not see any chess pieces or a chessboard. Rather, there was a 4 x 4 field game board on which the cards were laid out, which - depending on the chess piece they displayed - moved and captured accordingly. Who would be surprised that up to four players can participate in this hustle and bustle.

Each player has on set of cards, which represent the 16 pieces that are needed for a game of chess. One picks out four pawns and sets them on one's baseline. Each player shuffles his remaining 12 cards and draws four of them for the hand; they represent the reserve. The player whose turn it is moves one of his cards according to the chess rules, captures the opponent card if possible and fills any gaps in the baseline with cards form his hand. The replenishing of the hand is the end of the turn.

As already mentioned, the pieces move like they would in chess. Only the pawns became a little more mobile because they cannot only move forward but also one field vertically or horizontally; as in the original, one can beat diagonally, here however, in all four possible directions. Is the king of one player captured, his figures (i.e. his cards) are removed and the king's murderer receives the other queen. This is by the way the only possibility to gain more pieces, since there is no pawn promotion when he reaches the opponent's baseline. That does not matter, though, since the pawn already gained a lot of power through the greater freedom of movement and the extended capture possibilities. As a countermove, the figures with the long moves - queen, rook, and bishop - got considerably weaker. For one, because the game board was reduced to a quarter of its size and they therefore cannot exhibit their long-distance effects, and also because they (especially because of the pawns' ability to capture in each diagonal direction) are very quickly to be without a secure space and get captured. Therefore a new valuation of the strengths and weaknesses of the figures takes place, and the traditional tactics and strategies of chess can hardly be applied to Bosworth.

It is almost regrettable that Bosworth has its roots in chess, since that might be a reason for many not to take a closer look at the game. However, the atmosphere, where a lot of hard thinking goes on that's so typical for chess hardly ever occurs, especially not when more than two players are participating - and it's exactly those games that are the most fun. A lot of brooding is not worth it because one never knows what cards the opponents will put down next. One thing is quite certain, though: The king will appear last. Therefore, one should also try to keep the spaces of one's own baseline occupied, because as long as the king is not in the game one cannot lose.

If Bosworth were to be improved, the design of the game materials could use a little work. First, there is the 4x4 field game board which is nevertheless not square (since the size of the spaces corresponds to the size of the cards which are rectangular and not squares). This often causes problems with threats across the diagonal which are easily overlooked. And while one is at it, it might be worthwhile considering whether it wouldn't be better to use a little bit thicker cardboard tiles instead of the playing cards, since they would be a lot easier to handle.

But even without these improvements Bosworth is a successful game, which as hinted at by the publishing company's name "Out of the Box" can be played without a lot of preparations, as long as one is familiar with the moves of chess pieces - and almost everybody is. And when you are getting a little bored with Bosworth go and visit "Out of the Box's" homepage (http://www.otb-games.com), where author Mark Osterhaus recently started to offer several variations.

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