Leaperhouse

Leaperhouse

A 10x10 drop variant consisting of only Leapers, Shogi pawns, and Kings.

- There are no long-range pieces such as Rooks or Bishops.

Setup

Pieces

The Leapers are:  Knight,  Ox,  Camel,  Courtier, and  Ram.

- Leapers can pass pieces on the path as they move.

 Knight (N) : As soon as it moves 1 square orthogonally, it moves 1 square diagonally in that direction. (Betza: N)

 Ox (O) : Moves 2 squares away orthogonally or diagonally. Same as Alibaba. (Betza: AD)

 Camel (C) : As soon as it moves 2 square orthogonally, it moves 1 square diagonally in that direction. (Betza: C)

 Courtier (U) : As soon as it moves 1 square orthogonally, it moves 2 square diagonally in that direction. Same as Zebra. (Betza: Z)

 Ram (R) : Moves 3 squares away orthogonally or diagonally. (Betza: GH)

 Pawn (P) : Moves one sqaure orthogonally forward. Promotes to Guard. (Betza: fW)

Guard (G) : Moves one square orthogonally or diagonally. (Betza: FW)

 King (K) : Moves one sqaure orthogonally or diagonally. (Betza: K)

Rules

About King :

- The state in which your King is attacked by opponent's piece is called Check.

- A situation in which there is no way to block or avoid an opponent's check is called a Checkmate. The player who gives checkmate wins.

- At any time, the King cannot move to a square attacked by the opponent's piece.

About Basic Rules :

- The first player is called White, and the second player is called Black.

- White moves first and Black moves next. They move alternately until one player is defeated.

- Your piece cannot move to a square where a friendly piece exists. Conversely, if your piece moves to a square where an enemy piece exists, it captures the enemy piece and moves to that square.

- There is no passing a turn.

- There is no castling.

- There is no 50-move rule.

- Because it is different from Chess Pawns, there is no two square advance or en passant rule for Leaperhouse Pawns.

About Promotion :

- The 8th, 9th, and 10th ranks are called the Enemy camp.

- Any Pawn that reaches an enemy camp is promoted.

- Promotion is mandatory. Therefore, a pawn that can be promoted must be promoted.

- On a physical board, this is typically accomplished by flipping the pawn upside down, as in Shogi.

- A promoted piece maintains its promoted state until it is captured by an opponent. If a promoted piece is captured by an opponent, the piece returns to the state it was in before promotion.

About Drops :

- Any piece you capture is called a Handpiece (held "in hand" in Shogi terminology).

- Handpieces are placed on a Piece stand (the square plate on which you place the captured piece).

- On your turn, you may place a handpiece on any empty square instead of moving a piece on the board. (This is called Drop.)

- You can only drop one piece on a turn.

- If you drop a Pawn in the enemy camp, it is not automatically promoted. Pawns are always dropped in their pre-promotion state. A Pawn dropped in enemy camp can be promoted only when it is moved after being dropped.

- You can deliver a check or checkmate to your opponent by dropping a piece.

About Pawn Drop :

- Unlike in Shogi, you can deliver checkmate by dropping a Pawn.

- Two or more of your own unpromoted Pawns cannot be placed on the same file. It is called Prohibition of Two Pawns.

- Pawns cannot be dropped to the last (10th) rank.

 About Stalemate :

 - The player who can no longer move or drop pieces loses. (It is called Stalemate.)

About Campmate :

- The player whose King reaches last rank first wins. (It is called Campmate.)

- Obviously, when the King reaches the last rank, that square must not be attacked by an opponent's piece.

About Prohibition of Threefold Repetition :

- Neither White nor Black can repeat the same situation three times. Even if it is not repeated in succession, if the same situation is repeated twice in one game, no one can repeat the situation again. (However, as an exception, it is impossible for a player to cause an opponent to lose due to Prohibition of Threefold Repetition by repeatedly checking for the same situation.)

About Resignation :

- When you resign, you declare resignation by placing your King on your piece stand. You can resign only on your turn.

About Defeat :

Defeat is determined by the following cases.

- When checkmate is delivered to you

- When the opponent's King reaches the last rank (i.e. when campmate is delivered to you)

- When stalemate is delivered to you (i.e., when you cannot move or drop any pieces)

- When you declared resignation

- When you break one or more of all the rules above

- When you break the rules of the tournament (e.g. time forfeit)

Notes

About Leaperhouse Definition For Fairy Stockfish variants.ini :

# A 10x10 drop variant consisting of only Leapers, Shogi pawns, and Kings.
[leaperhouse]
variantTemplate = shogi
pieceToCharTable = PN...OU.CR.+Kpn...ou.cr.+k
maxFile = 10
maxRank = 10
pocketSize = 6
startFen = oncurkucno/10/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/10/ONCUKRUCNO[] w - - 0 1
pieceDrops = true
capturesToHand = true
shogiPawn = p
knight = n
customPiece1 = u:Z
customPiece2 = c:C
customPiece3 = r:GH
customPiece4 = o:AD
commoner = g
king = k
promotionRegionWhite = *8 *9 *10
promotionRegionBlack = *3 *2 *1
promotedPieceType = p:g
doubleStep = false
castling = false
perpetualCheckIllegal = true
dropNoDoubled = p
stalemateValue = loss
nMoveRule = 0
nFoldValue = loss
flagPiece = k
flagRegionWhite = *10
flagRegionBlack = *1
immobilityIllegal = true
mandatoryPiecePromotion = true

Last revised by Daphne Snowmoon.