Chess Plus
Four Player Chess
I believe this edition is made in Canada. The instructions are bilingual English and French and mine was shipped from Canada. The same eBay seller, realitytvjunkies, continues to sell them so they're either the makers of the game or have a direct wholesale source. There is no copyright or manufacture date on the box or instructions. The pieces are fairly standard Staunton design in red, blue, black and green. Being slightly color blind, I tend to confuse darker shaded green and blue pieces unless the lighting is very bright. I haven't actually played this four-player version yet but it looks like the game could get very interesting.
The board is 16 x 16, which I like because it leaves more room for movements and unique attacks. The unfolded cardboard playing surface is well made and about 22.5 inches square. It quarter-folds to a very managable size of 11.25 inches and the box easily holds the board, instructions and chessmen. There are diagonal borders of white between the color-coded territories. The instructions don't mention this. According to the enclosed rule sheet, the only difference is Pawn movement. A Pawn's first move can be 1, 2 or 3 spaces forward and each successive move can be one or two spaces forward. I think that's a good idea because the spacious board would take a long time to cross one file at a time. Pawn captures aren't mentioned either so I assume that pawns still capture by moving one space diagonally.
Above is a picture used by the seller of this chess set; it is accurate and my set is identical so any pictures I take wouldn't really be much better. I can't offer very good pictures of the pieces because I've left them in their sealed plastic bags. There isn't much to say about them. They're a good size for the board, though not weighted.
Without a test-play, I'd give this set 9 out of 10. The only improvement needed is to the instructions so we know what the white squares mean.
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