Vorchess is a chess variant played on a circular board with all pieces moving the same as traditional chess. The most outer ring is called the "Castle" which is a safe zone. In this Castle (safe zone) no piece can capture or be captured while located in this ring and the King cannot be put in check or checkmated. They must move their piece out of the castle and into the other 4 rings in order for their piece to be able to capture or be captured. They can however move within the castle wherever they like and move in and out of the castle as much as they want. The exception is the King. Once the King leaves the Castle he cannot be moved back into the Castle. The goal of Vorchess is to either checkmate the opponent OR to move their own King safely into the centre which is called the Vortex. However they cannot safely move their king into the Vortex if the opponent has at least one piece in the most inner ring (ring 5) or a knight in rings 4 or 5. The reason the game is called Vorchess is a play on words combining Vortex and Chess. The Vortex being the centre of the board. —description from the designer

We may earn a small commission when you buy through these links.