How to play Laser Chess

Laser chess .

How to play .

The object of the game is to be the first player to hit your opponent's king with the laser layout , the board between the two players with the notched corner spot located in the bottom right of each player .

The types of pieces are as follows .

Laser deflector defender switch and king .

Each player picks a color and arranges their pieces on the board as indicated by the setups found on page 10 of the rulebook seen here , beginners should begin with the ace configuration , then advance to curiosity , Grail , Mercury and Sophie .

Once you've mastered the game , you can invent your own starting positions .

The blue white player goes first , then turns alternate on your turn .

You must perform one of three actions .

Option one , you must move one of your pieces one space in any direction including diagonally .

The destination space may not be occupied unless the piece being moved is the switch .

The switch is allowed to switch positions with a defender or deflector piece of either color that is adjacent to it .

A switch may not switch places with the king laser or another switch .

The laser may not be moved when a piece moves or is switched , all pieces moved retain their original orientation and may not be rotated .

The board has red and white Helix symbols along the edges .

No player may move a piece onto a space that has their opponents Helix color .

Option two .

Instead of moving , you may rotate one piece 90 degrees in either direction .

Option three , you may rotate the laser to point in its alternative direction .

The laser may only point up a column or across a row .

Once you move or rotate , then you must fire the laser by pressing the button on its top , whatever piece lights up .

If any by the laser hitting its non mirrored side , that piece , regardless of who controls it is removed from the board and may not be used for the remainder of the game .

The defender will not light up when hit from the shielded side , which can be used to block a laser .

The switch has mirrors on both sides and can never light up and therefore it will never be removed from the board .

The deflector has a mirror on one side and it can only be lit up from the non mirrored sides .

The laser can never be removed from the game .

The laser is only fired once per turn .

You may not test fire the laser mid turn while deciding a move .

Once a piece is moved , the move cannot be taken back and the laser must be fired when either laser beam lands on a king token that king is removed and the game is over .

The player with the remaining king wins .

If you are in a situation where the same pieces of the same colors occupied the same spaces in the same orientations three times in the same game , then the player making the next move may declare a stalemate if they want .

If they do , then the game ends in a draw .