Makruk

遊戲介紹

Makruk in 3D: hand-turned bone and ebony pieces, a carved horse for the Ma, twelve animal opponents on a ladder, four computer levels, endgame puzzles, the counting rules and a 13-lesson tutorial.

Makruk (หมากรุก), Thai chess, is a cousin of chess with its own character: the Met steps only one square on the diagonal, the Khon moves like a silver general, the Bia (small coin pawns) are turned over to become Bia-ngai when they reach the sixth rank, and when the pawns are gone a counting rule limits how long the stronger side has to find checkmate.

Play it at a low table in a teahouse sala: woven rattan, teak posts, paper lanterns and orchids. The pieces are hand-turned in bone and ebony (or teak, lacquer, celadon and more), with a carved horse head for the Ma and a cowrie-coin Bia that really turns over when it promotes. Tap 'Learn names' to see the Thai names above every piece.

Climb the Ladder through twelve animal opponents, from Chai the Elephant Calf to Ajarn Khwai, the old buffalo teacher. Each has a name, a personality and a style, and each win earns stars and unlocks new piece sets, boards and animals. Four computer levels (Rookie, Regular, Expert, Master) see exactly what you see. Quick games offer a clock, take-backs and hints that explain the move.

Learn from scratch with thirteen interactive lessons: every piece, promotion, check and checkmate, stalemate, and both counting rules (the board's honour and the piece's honour), then a coached first game. Test yourself with machine-composed endgame puzzles that a solver has proved have exactly one winning first move (they are not classical named problems). A game review marks every move.

The whole board fits on screen at once, on a phone held upright or a seatback screen; orbit, pan and zoom whenever you like. Thirteen languages including Thai, controller and keyboard support, and it all runs offline in one file.

玩法

1. Checkmate the enemy Khun (king): attack it so that it cannot escape, be covered or be avenged by a capture. There is no castling and no en passant.
2. An 8 by 8 board with no colours. White's back rank is Rua, Ma, Khon, Khun, Met, Khon, Ma, Rua; Black's is turned half a circle (the Khun on e8, the Met on d8). Eight Bia stand on each side's third rank. White moves first.
3. The Khun steps one square any way and may not step into check or next to the other Khun. The Met steps one square diagonally only.
4. The Khon steps one square diagonally, or one square straight ahead. The Ma jumps like a knight. The Rua slides along ranks and files.
5. A Bia steps one square ahead and captures one square diagonally ahead; it never moves two. When it reaches its sixth rank it is turned over and becomes a Bia-ngai, which moves like a Met.
6. A player in check must answer it. A player with no legal move and not in check is stalemated, and the game is a draw. A bare Khun against a bare Khun is a draw at once.

操作