Courier

Courier Chess was played in central Europe for six hundred years, until the late nineteenth century. What was it like? Was it fun or boring? How was it different from modern chess and how did it play compared to modern chess? These questions are the primary reasons I wanted a set. But I didn't want to spend a lot of money finding out, and I prefer playing on real boards, not on a computer, across the table from a real live human being. Then the Game Crafter made these wonderful quad-fold boards available, making them the ideal choice for my board. The token chip pieces, while not tactile like real chess pieces, are at least cheap and won't take up much space on your game shelf.

Having made the effort to make the set for myself, I'm now making it available to any who love to geek out on boardgames.

Also included: some extra pieces so you can try out other chess variants and even make up your own rules. The board has eight ranks and twelve files, and there are thirty-one pieces of each color (not all of which are needed for Courier Chess).

I've made the rules document I wrote a free download for anybody who's curious about the game. It includes rules for Courier-Spiel and Reformed Courier-Spiel, two later variants that are more like modern chess. The document also has links to the source material I used, all available online.

It ain't about the money, it's about the fun!

Also check out Home page of The Chess Variant Pages [www.chessvariants.org], one of my favorite websites to visit.