Promote Chess960 to the main collection.

Mark Cloak and Dagger as broken.
Add design journal.

README.md

@@ -16,18 +16,24 @@ introduction to the classic game. Players of different chess abilities that
 might find a game of regular chess frustrating may enjoy exploring these games
 together.
 
-* [Zombie Chess] is a game where you bury each piece you capture under one of
-    your pieces. If you move off a buried piece, it comes back from the dead as
-    a zombie. (2 players, chess set, coins, pencils, and paper)
-* [Masquerade Chess] is a combination of chess and deduction games like
-    Mastermind. Pieces move regularly, except when they capture. Start the
-    game by choosing which capture moves each of your opponent's pieces will
-    use, then try to deduce how each of your pieces can capture. (2 players,
-    chess set, pencils, and paper)
+* [Zombie Chess][zombie-chess] is a game where you bury each piece you
+    capture under one of your pieces. If you move off a buried piece, it
+    comes back from the dead as a zombie. (2 players, chess set, coins,
+    pencils, and paper)
+* [Masquerade Chess][masquerade-chess] is a combination of chess and
+    deduction games like Mastermind. Pieces move regularly, except when
+    they capture. Start the game by choosing which capture moves each of
+    your opponent's pieces will use, then try to deduce how each of your
+    pieces can capture. (2 players, chess set, pencils, and paper)
+* [Chess960][chess960] is a game designed by Bobby Fischer to mix up
+    the game opening by randomly choosing your starting position. (2
+    players, chess set, and deck of cards)
+
+[zombie-chess]: https://donkirkby.github.io/chess-kit/rules.html#zombie-chess
+[masquerade-chess]: https://donkirkby.github.io/chess-kit/rules.html#masquerade-chess
+[chess960]: https://donkirkby.github.io/chess-kit/rules.html#chess960
 
 If you're brave, you can read about [experiments] in progress.
 
 
-[Zombie Chess]: https://donkirkby.github.io/chess-kit/rules.html#zombie-chess
-[Masquerade Chess]: https://donkirkby.github.io/chess-kit/rules.html#masquerade-chess
 [experiments]: https://donkirkby.github.io/chess-kit/new_rules.html

docs/index.md

@@ -19,17 +19,25 @@ introduction to the classic game. Players of different chess abilities that
 might find a game of regular chess frustrating may enjoy exploring these games
 together.
 
-* [Zombie Chess] is a game where you bury each piece you capture under one of
-    your pieces. If you move off a buried piece, it comes back from the dead as
-    a zombie. (2 players, chess set, coins, pencils, and paper)
-* [Masquerade Chess] is a combination of chess and deduction games like
-    Mastermind. Pieces move regularly, except when they capture. Start the
-    game by choosing which capture moves each of your opponent's pieces will
-    use, then try to deduce how each of your pieces can capture. (2 players,
-    chess set, pencils, and paper)
+* [Zombie Chess][zombie-chess] is a game where you bury each piece you
+    capture under one of your pieces. If you move off a buried piece, it
+    comes back from the dead as a zombie. (2 players, chess set, coins,
+    pencils, and paper)
+* [Masquerade Chess][masquerade-chess] is a combination of chess and
+    deduction games like Mastermind. Pieces move regularly, except when
+    they capture. Start the game by choosing which capture moves each of
+    your opponent's pieces will use, then try to deduce how each of your
+    pieces can capture. (2 players, chess set, pencils, and paper)
+* [Chess960][chess960] is a game designed by Bobby Fischer to mix up
+    the game opening by randomly choosing your starting position. (2
+    players, chess set, and deck of cards)
 
-If you're brave, you can read about [experiments] in progress.
+[zombie-chess]: rules.md#zombie-chess
+[masquerade-chess]: rules.md#masquerade-chess
+[chess960]: rules.md#chess960
 
-[Zombie Chess]: rules.md#zombie-chess
-[Masquerade Chess]: rules.md#masquerade-chess
+If you're interested, you can read my [design journal]. If you're brave, you can
+read about [experiments] in progress.
+
+[design journal]: journal/
 [experiments]: new_rules.md

docs/journal/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+---
+title: Journal
+subtitle: How we got here
+hero_image: ../images/index_hero.jpg
+---
+## 2007 - Minor Confusion
+Originally, I played Robert Abbott's Confusion several times with Kerry
+Handscomb, where you don't know which of your pieces can make which moves. We
+loved the idea of having to deduce your own pieces' moves, but we were
+frustrated that a lot of the game came down to luck: who happened to find their
+most powerful pieces first.
+
+We designed a version with fewer pieces that had more balanced power, and called
+it Minor Confusion. We even discussed the idea with Robert Abbott himself, and
+got his permission to include it in a book project that was never completed.
+Minor Confusion was OK, but a bit dry. We eventually moved on to playing other
+games.
+
+### Nov 2022 - Masquerade Chess
+15 years after Minor Confusion, I had the idea to give pieces different moves
+when capturing. Standard chess pieces would move normally, except when they
+capture, and you have to deduce their capture moves. You have to engage with
+your opponent to learn anything, and that spreads the deduction over a longer
+game.
+
+### May 2023 - Zombie Chess
+After several successful playtests, I started thinking about whether I could
+make a version of Masquerade Chess to sell. It seemed silly to try and sell the
+chess set, so I thought about making the accessories to add to a standard chess
+set: a dry-erase screen to secretly record which pieces have which capture
+moves.
+
+It seemed like it would be easier to sell, if you could play more than one game
+with it, so I tried to think of other chess variants with hidden information
+that could use a dry-erase screen. I had the idea to secretly bury the captured
+pieces on the board, and Zombie Chess was born.
+
+### Jun 2023 - Chess Kit
+After two successful ideas, I decided to turn them into another book project,
+similar to [Donimoes], my collection of new domino games and puzzles. I came up
+with eight ideas over a couple of weeks.
+
+[Donimoes]: https://donkirkby.github.io/donimoes/
+
+### Oct 2023 - Cooperative Chess
+I had a successful playtest of Crowded House, and wrote up its rules, along with
+Chess960. I spent the most time, though, testing Cooperative Chess as a
+solitaire.
+
+I also converted the scripts for publishing the Donimoes rules as PDF and
+website to this project.

docs/new_rules.md

@@ -12,13 +12,13 @@ know what you think.
 * [Cloak and Dagger Chess][cloak-and-dagger-chess] is a game where you
     disguise your chess pieces as checkers, then try to identify your
     opponent's pieces. (2 players, chess set, checkers set, pen, and tape)
-* [Chess960][chess960] is a game designed by Bobby Fischer to mix up
-    the game opening by randomly choosing your starting position. (2
-    players, chess set, and deck of cards)
 
 [crowded-house]: #crowded-house
 [cloak-and-dagger-chess]: #cloak-and-dagger-chess
-[chess960]: #chess960
+
+# New Games
+These games are in early development or playtesting. The rules might get more
+filled out or change based on feedback from players.
 
 ## Crowded House
 Two teams of two play, with each player moving the pieces of their colour
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@ a team runs out of time, they can add 2 minutes for each coin in their pile and
 put their pile back in the centre. Once a team pays a coin, they can discuss as
 much as they want until they make a move.
 
+# Broken Games
+These ideas seemed promising, but didn't work at the table. Maybe I'll come back
+to them, if I get inspired. Masquerade Chess seemed broken for 15 years, before
+I had the idea to hide only the capture moves.
+
 ## Cloak and Dagger Chess
 Pawns are played as usual, but all other pieces are replaced by numbered
 checkers. Players have to deduce which of their opponent's pieces are which, and
@@ -115,69 +120,12 @@ chess. All spaces between their start position and their end position must be
 empty, except for the king and the castling rook. All spaces between the king's
 start and end positions must not be under attack, if the king is uncloaked.
 
-## Chess960
-This is probably the least silly game in the collection; people organize
-Chess960 tournaments! It's still a bit silly, because it takes away the standard
-"opening book". One of the challenges to learning chess is that strong players
-have spent a lot of time studying standard openings. That can also make the
-early game feel like you're following a script. Randomizing the starting
-position should make the standard openings much less important and make the play
-feel more creative.
-
-### Starting Position
-The idea of randomizing the starting position has been around since the 1790s,
-but Bobby Fischer added some restrictions in the 1990s to avoid positions that
-strongly advantage one player:
-
-* Pawns start in their regular position.
-* The two bishops must be on different colours.
-* The king must be between the two rooks.
-* As in the standard starting position, black's pieces are a mirror reflection
-  of white's.
-
-With those restrictions, there are 960 possible starting positions. You can
-generate a random number and look up the position in a table, or use a website
-like [mark-weeks.com][weeks] to generate a position. You can also generate a
-random starting position with a standard deck of playing cards. Create three
-piles of cards with the following ranks, ignoring suit:
-
-* A, 3, 5, 7
-* 2, 4, 6, 8
-* 8, 8, 10, 10, 10, Q
-
-Shuffle each of the piles separately, then turn over one card from each of the
-first two piles. Using the ace through 8 to represent the squares a1 through h1,
-place the two white bishops on the squares that match the two cards. Confirm
-that they are on opposite-coloured squares. Now turn over one card at a time
-from the last pile, and use the identified white pieces to fill in the empty
-squares from left to right. Place a knight for an 8, a queen for a queen, and a
-rook or king for a 10. Place a rook for the first and third 10, and a king for
-the middle 10. Finally, place the pawns in their regular positions and place the
-black pieces to mirror the white pieces.
-
-As an example, imagine you turned over an ace and a 6 from the first two piles,
-then 8, 10, Q, 10, 8, 10 from the third pile. The starting position would look
-like this:
-
-![Diagram](images/new_rules/diagram4.png)
-
-### Castling
-The other change that Bobby Fischer made was to the castling rules. As usual,
-the king may castle with the rook to his right or his left. However, the two
-pieces' end positions after castling are the same as for standard chess. So to
-castle with the h-side rook, white's king would end on g1 and the rook on f1, no
-matter where they started. As in regular chess, there are several restrictions
-before you can castle:
-
-* The king and the rook must not have moved.
-* The king's starting square, ending square, and all the squares he moves
-  through must not be under attack.
-* All the squares the two pieces move through must be empty, except for the two
-  pieces themselves.
-
-The rest of the standard chess rules apply unchanged.
-
-[weeks]: https://www.mark-weeks.com/cfaa/chess960/c960strt.htm
+### Design Problems
+Because you don't know how your opponent's pieces capture, you never know if
+you're safe. You're not even safe from the pawns, because your opponent can
+sometimes make two pawn moves.
+
+Maybe it's too similar to Masquerade Chess to begin with.
 
 [![cc-logo]][cc-by-sa]
 

docs/rules.md

@@ -30,9 +30,13 @@ together.
     they capture. Start the game by choosing which capture moves each of
     your opponent's pieces will use, then try to deduce how each of your
     pieces can capture. (2 players, chess set, pencils, and paper)
+* [Chess960][chess960] is a game designed by Bobby Fischer to mix up
+    the game opening by randomly choosing your starting position. (2
+    players, chess set, and deck of cards)
 
 [zombie-chess]: #zombie-chess
 [masquerade-chess]: #masquerade-chess
+[chess960]: #chess960
 
 ## Zombie Chess
 Just because you've captured a piece doesn't mean you can stop worrying about
@@ -193,11 +197,85 @@ themselves. Move fast and break things!
 ### History
 This game was inspired by Robert Abbott's Confusion, which Kerry Handscomb and
 I originally adapted as Minor Confusion by creating a more balanced set of moves
-and playing with a chess set. That was playable, but uninspiring, so I abandoned
+and playing with a chess set. That was playable but uninspiring, so I abandoned
 it for 15 years. Masquerade Chess returns to the standard Chess moves, and
 players only learn about their pieces during capture, which slows the pace of
 the game.
 
+## Chess960
+This is probably the least silly game in the collection; people organize
+Chess960 tournaments! It's still a bit silly, because it takes away the standard
+"opening book". One of the challenges to learning chess is that strong players
+have spent a lot of time studying standard openings. That can also make the
+early game feel like you're following a script. Randomizing the starting
+position should make the standard openings much less important and make the play
+feel more creative.
+
+### Starting Position
+The idea of randomizing the starting position has been around since the 1790s,
+but Bobby Fischer added some restrictions in the 1990s to avoid positions that
+strongly advantage one player:
+
+* Pawns start in their regular position.
+* The two bishops must be on different colours.
+* The king must be between the two rooks.
+* As in the standard starting position, black's pieces are a mirror reflection
+  of white's.
+
+With those restrictions, there are 960 possible starting positions. You can
+generate a random number and look up the position in a table, or use a website
+like [mark-weeks.com][weeks] to generate a position. You can also generate a
+random starting position with a standard deck of playing cards. Create three
+piles of cards with the following ranks, ignoring suit:
+
+* A, 3, 5, 7
+* 2, 4, 6, 8
+* 8, 8, 10, 10, 10, Q
+
+Shuffle each of the piles separately, then turn over one card from each of the
+first two piles. Using the ace through 8 to represent the squares a1 through h1,
+place the two white bishops on the squares that match the two cards. Confirm
+that they are on opposite-coloured squares. Now turn over one card at a time
+from the last pile, and use the identified white pieces to fill in the empty
+squares from left to right. Place a knight for an 8, a queen for a queen, and a
+rook or king for a 10. Place a rook for the first and third 10, and a king for
+the middle 10. Finally, place the pawns in their regular positions and place the
+black pieces to mirror the white pieces.
+
+As an example, imagine you turned over an ace and a 6 from the first two piles,
+then 8, 10, Q, 10, 8, 10 from the third pile. The starting position would look
+like this:
+
+![Diagram](images/rules/diagram6.png)
+
+### Castling
+The other change that Bobby Fischer made was to the castling rules. As usual,
+the king may castle with the rook to his right or his left. However, the two
+pieces' end positions after castling are the same as for standard chess. So to
+castle with the h-side rook, white's king would end on g1 and the rook on f1, no
+matter where they started. As in regular chess, there are several restrictions
+before you can castle:
+
+* The king and the rook must not have moved.
+* The king's starting square, ending square, and all the squares he moves
+  through must not be under attack.
+* All the squares the two pieces move through must be empty, except for the two
+  pieces themselves.
+
+The rest of the standard chess rules apply unchanged.
+
+[weeks]: https://www.mark-weeks.com/cfaa/chess960/c960strt.htm
+
+### Contributing
+Know some other silly chess variants? Ideas to share? Get in touch at
+[https://donkirkby.github.io/chess-kit][github].
+
+Masquerade Chess and Zombie Chess are original games designed by
+[Don Kirkby][don].
+
+[github]: https://donkirkby.github.io/chess-kit
+[don]: https://donkirkby.github.io/
+
 [![cc-logo]][cc-by-sa]
 
 [cc-logo]: images/cc-by-sa.png