Timecube Chess

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Chess, it's supposed to be this big-deal strategy game in the Western world. So people think the future will have more complicated chess, going from a flat board to 3-D boards.

They're pikers. 4-D chess is the way to go: chess with time-travel, and mutable history. As the wise man said: "Prove you self not educated stupid by having six causally linked games of chess going simultaneously on 4Corner Board"

Rules[edit | edit source]

File:Timecube chess.pdf

Questions[edit | edit source]

P = Past; R = pResent; F = Future Rr = P-to-R resolution; Fr = R-to-F resolution (propagation of changes, annihilation, etc) Trade = a sequence of two moves. Notation: T## Useful Unicode: ♔ ♚ ♕ ♛ ♖ ♜ ♗ ♝ ♘ ♞ ♙ ♟

You get One Turn per Present Board. Once you play each turn on each Present board, that's 4 turns, ending the Round. At the end of a Round, you resolve the Past with the Present, and then carry on those changes to resolve the Present with the Future. This happens only once a Round, at the end of each Round. Now, change the Past, you change the present, which changes the future. You change the Future, it does nothing else to the other boards but is necessary to get your Future King out of check or something, or to put Their Future King into check or checkmate. You can Skip your Turn to make a change in the Past or the Future. The resolution takes effect at the end of the Round.

Just to clarify this point, that is EACH PLAYER plays their turn on each board?

So assuming first(white), then WP1 has W and B both make a move; then play shifts to BP1 where B, then W, makes a move? (Assuming a fairly "normal" round).

Also, in the case of moves in P or F, if after white's play on BP1 white decides to move on P, is black also bound by rule to similarly effect a change on the past state? (I'd argue against this as it makes for a more interesting game.) Never mind; I read back over and see that change propagation was covered. I'll leave the below here because I bothered to type it and maybe it'll be useful to someone else (house-rules, tweaks, ideas, etc)

how are changes from past to present and present to future propagated? Is it immediate? Is there a delay? Is it instantaneous or timed. Example: T01 WR1- ♙E4 ♟F5 T02 BR1- ♟E4 ♙C5 T03 P- ♙D3 ♞C6

P♙D3 could:

  • Immediately propagate to the present
  • Propagate only after ♞C6 (one trade)
  • Propagate at the end of the round (I believe you may have mentioned something of this sort?)
  • Propagate after the subsequent trade (canonically, BR2)

Additionally, I'd like the exact nature of the propagation clarified further. A propagation from the past might be:

  • Only to the present (thus updating the state of the present without yet affecting the past)
  • Present AND Future
  • Present then future with delay (one move, trade, round, etc.)

With promotion; is the change in rank likewise propagated forward exactly? Or could P♙G8♖ result in Rr♙G8♗? If not, do paradox rules account for white having three rooks?

I had not considered that, but will say YES. Promotions in the Past will result in the unit now existing in the new location as it's new rank. Promotion in the Present (possibly via one in the Past) will be less likely to occur due to non-consensual resolution of the same piece in each of the four Presents.


How are changes propagated to the past?

They aren't. Changes only propagate Past -> pResent -> Future

In the event there's a perfect tie in the consensus of a piece's position, I assume the F position carries greater weight (thus altering R and P indirectly)? Can this cause annihilation in P such that it propagates forward and destroys the piece in F as well?

The F(Future) position is the WEAKEST in the game. Consider each piece has a level of Temporal Force. A piece with a TP of 4 has all four boards supporting its existence in the future, because it is in the same spot on all four Present boards, while a piece that has does not have any consensus not only does not move, but also has a TP of 1, making it possible for almost any directly moved unit in the future to capture it.

Is history resolution recursive or singly iterative in nature? That is, would the above situation be instantaneous or have a round of windfall to allow history to "correct" the situation?

You mentioned a paradox state, which would effectively freeze 2 future pieces together until (presumably) the present was 'fixed' to resolve the paradox. What if such a situation occurs involving the king, would that be... temporal check?

I would say No, as this prevent a paradox frozen Future King from being subject to Checks and Checkmate in the Future.

So if in the first round everyone moves their pawns around on the present boards, does the resolution become moving them all back so they resemble the past?

Nope. The past is one point in time, the future is another point in time, and the present is in between. The Past only effects the Present when and only after you directly manipulate it. Think of it like two armies coming to battle. The Past is the two formations coming at each other, while the present is four different possible ways the battle could go, and the Future is some point in the Future in which the four possible realities resolve themselves. Moving pieces in the past is as though you are altering your pre-battle formation, so as to exploit your future knowledge of the enemy's movements in the Present.
If that is the case, wouldn't it make sense for a ripple effect from the past placing a piece on an enemy piece to cause that enemy piece to be captured? Essentially, the present piece would have moved onto that square on its previous move rather than where it was before the ripple effect, retroactively capturing the piece as it does so. Or that's what my understanding of it is telling me anyway.
Pieces captured in the past are lost in the future RAW, if you want them to be captured in the present as well you can make that your house rule, it’s not like any of this is in the least bit official but that would make moving in the past almost always the best move and you’re back to regular pleb chess aren’t we.


Can you checkmate your opponent in the future by using a piece (likely a rook or queen) and its own time duplicate created by the ripple effect of the previous round?

See Also[edit | edit source]

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