Aeroplane Chess

Yesterday was the first time I played aeroplane chess in more than three years. My friends and I were so "into it" that we decided to continue playing this board game today. Playing aeroplane chess always gives me a nostalgic feeling. The older I get, the stronger the feeling. Anyway, I decided to blog about it since I am currently enjoying it.

Compared to other massively multiplayer role-playing board games (MMRPBG [do not confuse with MMORPG]), the funnest thing about aeroplane chess is that you can "kick" fellow players. This happens when you land on the spot of your opponent and send his plane back to the hangar.

In case you are completely out of the gaming circle, I shall use my my years of experience playing this 1%-skill, 99%-luck game to list several types of aeroplane chess players to give you a better understanding of it.

The Patient Guy

I am uncertain about how the games works in other countries but for the Singapore version, you can only move a piece out of the hangar if you roll 1 or 6. Unfortunately, there will always be one player who keeps rolling 2, 3, 4 or 5 for a long time before he finally gets to make his first grand move.

The Kicker

His objective is not to fly all his pieces to the central base ASAP. Instead, he prefers to stick close to his opponents and "kick" them whenever an opportunity comes by. Having this type of players would definitely increase the entertainment value of the game.

The Stacker

Loves to stack his pieces for the sake of convenience. However, his stacked pieces usually gets kicked by the Kicker or another player who just happened to land there.

The Camper

Players of this type will not move their pieces out immediately after getting them out of the hangar. They prefer to wait for an opponent's piece to pass by theirs before launching a chase.

The Jet

As the name suggests, this type of players move their pieces at a much faster rate than others. They always happen to land on a spot which is the same colour as their piece and are entitled to "hop" four spots to the next one of the same colour.

The Victim

Every game will definitely have one of them. The other three players will gang up against him because of his dominance n the game or he just happened to have lots of bad luck on that day as he keeps getting "kicked" innocently.

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Although my win rate in aeroplane chess is less than 50%, I don't think that it is because of mediocre skills (heck, this game doesn't require skills!) but the fact that I am a Camper type of player. Most of the time when somebody passes by me and I give chase, I always end up being the loser of the chase.

The rules of aeroplane chess can also be tweaked to add more fun, laughter and difficulty. For example, every hangar would consist of the four different colours at the start of the game to make different pieces closer to one another. Or, players may opt to move in the reverse direction after completing one round (this is obviously for the kicker who places greater emphasis on kicking than winning the game).

If possible, do find the time to play a couple of customized aeroplane chess games with your family, colleagues or buddies. Use your creativity to make the game as fun as possible. Not only do you get to showcase your inventiveness, you would also get bond with others over laughs and "kicks"