Apocalypse (chess variant) Apocalypse (chess variant) Apocalypse is a chess variant invented by C. S. Elliott in 1976. The players each start with two "horsemen" and five "footmen" on a 5×5 board. The two sides make their moves simultaneously. The game was featured in Issue 53 of "Games & Puzzles" magazine. The starting setup is as shown. Horsemen and footmen move and capture the same as knights and pawns in chess, except footmen do not have a double-step option on their first move. For each turn, each player secretly writes down his move, then the players simultaneously declare them. The following rules apply:
Four-player chess can be checkmated, the game is a draw. Singles is substantially harder than team play. In this method, each player can attack any of the other three players and vice versa. Once a player is checkmated, the checkmated player can either remove their pieces from the board, or the player that checkmated can use the remaining pieces during that player's turn. Play continues until only one player remains. Four-player chess Four-player chess (also known as Four-handed, Four-man, or Four-way chess) is a family of chess variants typically played with four people. A special board made of standard 8×8 squares with