Ururam Tururam
Poland
Krakow
Unspecified
Experimenting Warlock
Caffa et bucella per attractionem corporum venit ad stomachum meum.
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It can be easily seen that Arimaa is a chess-like game. It is played on a 8*8 square board. Each player has 16 pieces: two unique ones, three pairs and one set of 8. And Arimaa is a complete information, zero-luck, zero-sum, two-player game – just like Chess.
But if you take a look you see that there are more differences than similarities between these two games.
The first difference is the setup. In Chess it’s fixed, in Arimaa setting up the pieces within two first rows of the board is the first “move” of each player. Any combination is legal. Some of the setups are more effective than the others but in fact each game may start from a different position. This makes Arimaa much less a memorization game when compared to Chess (as you can’t play Chess above a certain level without memorizing a number of openings).
In Chess (and for example in Hive too) the victory condition is pinned to one piece – the King. In Arimaa the victory conditions are spread among pieces. In order to win the player should do any of the following:
 Advance one of their 8 Rabbits to the farthest line of the board.
Capture all eight opponent’s rabbits.
Immobilize (“stalemate”) the opponent making them have no legal move.
Another difference is the piece strength. In Chess it’s situational. A pawn can capture a queen as well as a queen can capture a pawn. In Arimaa there is a defined hierarchy with an Elephant being the strongest and a Rabbit the weakest piece. Stronger pieces may bully weaker opponent’s pieces while being unaffected by them or by pieces of the same type.
As for capturing: It is also quite different from chess-like “stepping on” or checkers-like “hopping over”. A piece is captured only if it stands on one of the four “trap squares” with no friendly piece on any of the adjacent squares.
And – finally – the piece movement rules. Unlike in Chess, in Arimaa all pieces move according to the same rules: one step left, right, forward or backward (with the exception of Rabbits that can’t go back). During their turn a player may make one to four such steps assigned at will to up to 4 pieces.
Okay. So how does playing this game feel like? Arimaa is undoubtedly easier to learn than Chess. But once you get the rules you realize that you can keep learning the game all your life. It is the game that if you start to like it, you will want to play your tenth game, and the hundredth, and the thousandth. You will still have something to learn here even being a reigning world champion. Here comes another common point with Chess: Arimaa is not only a game, it’s a intellectual sport! At it should be treated as one.
If the world is kind enough to exist with mankind in 500 years, I’m sure that the human race will still play Arimaa. Its invention was a flash of genius. (“Genius = 10% inspiration + 90% perspiration.” – Einstein)
 When I want a brain-burner – I play Arimaa. Yet when I want to play a game without a necessity of making my mind work at its best – I get other games.
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Moshe Callen
Israel
Jerusalem
I like to exchange ideas but I have no interest in a pissing contest.
If you want me to review your game, just GM me and send me a copy. Abstracts, wargames and euros equally welcome. No party or dexterity games please.
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Agreed.
Apart from identical equipment and being perfect information abstracts, chess and Arimaa have in fact very little in common. Chess is a game about geometry and control, whereas Arimaa is a crossing game. Gameplay is fundamentally different.
Nice review.
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Russ Williams
Poland
Wrocław
Dolny Śląsk
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A nice comparison for people familiar with chess. The only thing I'd add is some idea of freezing and pushing and pulling enemy pieces, which is not really mentioned here at all (just the vague reference with "bullying"
 ).
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Brian M
United States
Grand Ledge
Michigan
Tasteless Brute
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Nice review! Arimaa is a game I wish had more opportunities to play.
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