"Sure," says Royal. She gets up and fetches a chess set.
The pieces of this one are a dark red wood on one side and a pale brown-beige wood on the other, and the case unfolds into a chessboard in the same theme. She sets up the pieces as though to start a game. Rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook, then a row of pawns, then the same thing on the opposite side.
"Each side gets to move one piece one valid move per turn, then it's the other side's turn. Pawns can move a single step ahead, or two steps if it's that pawn's first move of the game," she explains, demonstrating these capacities on the board. "They capture other pieces with a single diagonal step, like this," and she has one side's advance pawn capture the other's.
"Rooks can move in orthogonal straight lines, any number of steps." She demonstrates the motion of a rook. "Bishops do diagonal straight lines, any number of steps." A bishop sneaks out of its enclosure and darts across the board. "Knights jump, like this." The knight hops around the board. "Always in the same pattern, a combination of two orthogonal steps along one axis and one orthogonal step along the other. Then the queen can move any number of steps in any straight line." She demonstrates the movement of the queen.
"And the king can move a single step at a time in any direction. Except for the pawn, all other pieces capture the same way they move. The objective of the game is to capture the other side's king, but by convention the game is declared over as soon as it's observably impossible for the losing side's king to escape capture, or if the board gets into a state where neither side can effectively win. The actual king-capturing move is never carried out."
no subject
The pieces of this one are a dark red wood on one side and a pale brown-beige wood on the other, and the case unfolds into a chessboard in the same theme. She sets up the pieces as though to start a game. Rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook, then a row of pawns, then the same thing on the opposite side.
"Each side gets to move one piece one valid move per turn, then it's the other side's turn. Pawns can move a single step ahead, or two steps if it's that pawn's first move of the game," she explains, demonstrating these capacities on the board. "They capture other pieces with a single diagonal step, like this," and she has one side's advance pawn capture the other's.
"Rooks can move in orthogonal straight lines, any number of steps." She demonstrates the motion of a rook. "Bishops do diagonal straight lines, any number of steps." A bishop sneaks out of its enclosure and darts across the board. "Knights jump, like this." The knight hops around the board. "Always in the same pattern, a combination of two orthogonal steps along one axis and one orthogonal step along the other. Then the queen can move any number of steps in any straight line." She demonstrates the movement of the queen.
"And the king can move a single step at a time in any direction. Except for the pawn, all other pieces capture the same way they move. The objective of the game is to capture the other side's king, but by convention the game is declared over as soon as it's observably impossible for the losing side's king to escape capture, or if the board gets into a state where neither side can effectively win. The actual king-capturing move is never carried out."