Laser-cutting Rythmomachy Board

[jrising]

This wedding is going to be the culmination of a dream I have had for almost 2 decades: Finally, I will have a professional-grade set for playing Rythmomachy, the Philosopher's Game!

I have been having so much fun laser-cutting for the wedding, and putting together activities like a massively distributed crossword puzzle. Last week's inspiration was to laser cut a board and pieces for Rythmomachy, and I want to share them with all of you.

What is Rythmomachy, you ask? I call it "Chess on steroids", and one medieval scholar said,

Pythagoras did first invent,
this play as it is thought:
And thereby after studies great,
his recreation sought.


Here I just want to share my design for a board and pieces. You too can have this for your very own:


It took about 1 hour on the Berkeley laser cutter I was using. The design is in two files:

Download the board	Download the pieces

I thought to put etchings on the board to tell you how to set it up, since this has always been one of the greatest barriers to starting a new game.

Also note that every piece has a version colored dark and light. These need to be glued back-to-back. Each piece starts out as one color, according to the etchings on the board. If it is captured, it's flipped over and becomes the other player's piece.

I put some foot pads on the back and set it up to be flipped closed:


Enjoy!

Comments

[jducoeur]

Sweet! I like my set a lot, but yours is the first I can recall that is arguably nicer than it...

[jrising]

Thanks! I don't remember what your board is like, but I'm certain you put more care into it than I did mine-- I'm still just enamored with what I can do with the laser cutting technology.

And you're absolutely welcome to link this into Period Games. I first thought to link to your site in my post to explain the game, but now that Rythmomachy is mainstream enough that it has a wikipedia page, that seemed better than asking people to scroll on yours.

[jducoeur]

I don't remember what your board is like

Mine is painted rather than cut, and hinged in the middle to make transport easier. (ETA: On reread, I realize that yours is also probably hinged.) In general, though, it's obviously similar -- the only significant difference is that I have the Kings broken down into their component pieces, so that you can play the variations that let you capture the Kings piecemeal.

And you're absolutely welcome to link this into Period Games.

Cool -- thanks...

that seemed better than asking people to scroll on yours.

Fair, but note that I actually mean the new site, specifically the Rhythmomachy page there...

[jrising]

Nice! I didn't know about the new page.

[jducoeur]

Yeah, it was basically the second "real" public Space built in Querki. (The first being my Poker Encyclopedia.)

It's really nice having this all be in a cloud-based database instead of a static website: I'm keeping it far more up to date than I ever managed with the old page. One of the many examples that make me so passionate about Querki...

[jducoeur]

Oh, and while I think of it: is it okay if I link to this entry from the Period Games Homepage?