Stupidhouse

Stupidhouse

Stupidhouse is a Double Bughouse variant described by John Beasley in the Autumn 1999 issue of Variant Chess, from a weekend in Geneva organised by Fabrice Liardet where eighteen players took part in several chess variants, including a Double Bughouse tournament.

Setup and Teams

Two standard 8×8 boards and four players in two teams. Unlike Bughouse, the players of a team have pieces of the same colour: both White players are partners, and both Black players are partners.

Play

The rules of Double Bughouse are followed, with one difference. When a player captures one of their opponent’s pieces, they give it to their partner, who must place it on their own board instead of making a normal move.

Because partners share a colour, the captured piece belongs to the partner’s opponent. Every capture you make forces your partner to put an enemy piece onto their board. A piece may not be placed where it would leave the placer’s own King in check, and a pawn may not be placed on the first or eighth rank.

Win Condition

Checkmate either opposing King. The first checkmate decides the match.

Comment

Beasley writes: “This is a really stupid game, and panic-stricken instructions to partners not to do so-and-so could be heard echoing round the room.”

Attribution

Rules from chessvariants.com/multiplayer.dir/stupidhouse.html (Hans Bodlaender, 1999), after John Beasley, Variant Chess, Autumn 1999.