Hello everyone!
My name is Harris and I am a programmer/mathematician from New York City. I am currently doing research to synthesize all the online lists of draughts variants into one large database. So far I have found over forty national variants, but I am wondering if anyone knows of others not on my list?
The database:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vE0-Si8ac-pKtqZC4mcF1mc1CTjDMEOzsjCIhhyZGuU/edit?usp=sharing
Draughts Variants
LOTS of variants on a hexagonal grid not in your database. I'd suggest to take a look at Christian Freeling's website, Mindsports.
mindsports.nl/
Also a fair amount of variants on a square grid that you haven't covered, such as Bushka, Stapeldammen, Emergo, etc.
Here are some of the variants I'd include from the site =
- HexDame = Literal translation of International Draughts on a hexagonal grid
- Pommel = Hexagonal grid variant where you can also leap over a line of friendly pieces (of course without capturing), and an additional way to capture by leaping over a line of opposing pieces, stopping at the first vacant space behind the line.
- HarzDame = A square variant by Benedikt Rosenau in 2010. Both sides are set up so that they occupy opposing corners of the board, and the promotion region is really different.
- Emergo = An admittedly very divergent variant of draughts, if it even is. Players place pieces anywhere on the board, and captures are similar to in Bashni. There is no promotion, and pieces may move in any of the four diagonal directions, no flying.
Also, I do not think Alquerque (NOT Albuquerque, this is the correct name), Dameo, Bashni, Frysk!, or Croda are divergent at all. They may have unique mechanics, however those games are ultimately derived from existing variants (in Alquerque's case, it IS the game many, if not all Draughts variants are derived from).
> Frysk! is just Frisian with only one row of pieces (instead of 4 as in Frisian)
> Croda is just Turkish with the men being able to move diagonally forwards instead of to the sides. Also, there are 3 rows of 8 pieces.
> Dameo meanwhile is just Croda with a reduced amount of pieces and a mechanic known as "Linear Movement", where you can move an entire line of men forwards, instead of just one man. Kings now can also move diagonally.
> Bashni is just Russian with the exception of captured pieces being moved below the capturing piece instead of being removed from the game.