Jetan
Encyclopedia
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
-based strategy game with unclear rules. It was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
as a game played on Barsoom
Barsoom
Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote close to 100 action adventure stories in various genres in the first half of the 20th century, and is now best known as the creator of the character Tarzan...
, his fictional version of Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
. The game was introduced in The Chessmen of Mars
The Chessmen of Mars
The Chessmen of Mars is an Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the fifth of his famous Barsoom series. Burroughs began writing it in January, 1921, and the finished story was first published in Argosy All-Story Weekly as a six-part serial in the issues for February 18 and 25 and March 4,...
, the fifth book in the Barsoom series. Its rules are described in chapter 2 and in an appendix of the book.
The board and the pieces
Jetan is played on a black and orange checkerboard of 10 rows by 10 columns, with orange pieces on the "north" side and black pieces on the "south."Each player has the following playing pieces: one Chief, one Princess, two Fliers; two Dwars (Captains); two Padwars (Lieutenants); two Warriors; two Thoats (Mounted Warriors); and eight Panthans (Mercenaries). The Chief, Princess, Fliers, Dwars, Padwars and Warriors are positioned along the row closest to the player, with the Princess at left center, the Chief at right center, and the Fliers, Dwars, Padwars and Warriors arranged to flank each, with the Fliers innermost and the Warriors outermost. The Thoats and Panthans are positioned along the next row out from the player, with the Thoats flanking the Panthans. The complete arrangement of each side follows:
-
- {|class="wikitable"
| T || p || p || p || p || p || p || p || p || T
|-
| W || P || D || F || P || C || F || D || P || W
|}
Movement
Panthans are limited to one step per move. Other pieces take two or three. They may change their direction of movement at each step in the course of a move, so long as this is in a direction permitted for that piece. Each must take the full number of steps specified for it. No piece can cross the same square of the board twice during the course of a move. The Princess, Fliers, and Thoats may jump over a piece that is in their path.A capture is made when a piece lands on a square occupied by an opposing piece with its final step or jump; the Princess may not make such a move.
The pieces move as follows:
- The Chief takes three steps in any direction.
- This is equivalent to three moves of a chess king, except that it cannot double back and may only capture at the third step.
- The Princess takes three steps in any direction; it may jump over other pieces but cannot capture.
- It may make one "escape" per game, jumping to any unoccupied space on the board.
- The Flier takes three steps diagonally; it may jump over other pieces.
- Per Burroughs, in an older version of Jetan these pieces were called Odwars.
- The Dwar takes three steps orthogonally.
- The Padwar takes two steps diagonally in any direction, or combination.
- The Warrior takes two steps in any direction or diagonally.
- The Thoat take two steps, of which one is orthogonal and the other diagonal; it may jump over intervening pieces.
- The Panthan takes one step in any direction but backwards.
Ending the game
In Burroughs' description, Jetan is won when either a Chief captures the opposing Chief, or when any piece captures the opposing Princess. The game is drawn if each player is reduced to three or fewer pieces of equal value and it is not won within the next ten moves, or if a Chief is taken by any piece other than a Chief.These rules result in too many draws for the tastes of most players, so a number of variants have been proposed to address this issue, the simplest being that the capture of a Chief by a piece other than a Chief merely retires the Chief, without drawing or ending the game.
Jetan in Burroughs' novels
According to The Chessmen of MarsThe Chessmen of Mars
The Chessmen of Mars is an Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the fifth of his famous Barsoom series. Burroughs began writing it in January, 1921, and the finished story was first published in Argosy All-Story Weekly as a six-part serial in the issues for February 18 and 25 and March 4,...
, Jetan was said to represent an ancient war between the Yellow and Black races of Barsoom
Barsoom
Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote close to 100 action adventure stories in various genres in the first half of the 20th century, and is now best known as the creator of the character Tarzan...
. This explains why the orange pieces begin on the "north" side and black pieces on the "south", because Barsoom's Yellow and Black races inhabit its north and south polar regions, respectively.
The second half of The Chessmen of Mars takes place in the city of Manator, where the most popular civil event involves human beings fighting to the death in a life-sized Jetan game viewed by hundreds of spectators. The "board" is large enough that some of the pieces are mounted on thoats and yet still fit in a single "square". However, this life-and-death version departs from the rules of Jetan in one very significant way: When one piece lands on a square occupied by another, the first does not automatically replace the second. Rather, the two pieces fight to the death, and the winner of the swordfight wins the square. The lone exception involves the Princess: if one side's piece lands on a square occupied by the other side's Princess, no battle occurs, and the first side wins the game.
Similar games in other fiction
Burroughs' Jetan inspired authors of later planetary romancePlanetary romance
Planetary romance is a type of science fiction or science fantasy story in which the bulk of the action consists of adventures on one or more exotic alien planets, characterized by distinctive physical and cultural backgrounds...
s to invent similar extraterrestrial versions of chess fought with human beings. Instances of such homage include:
- Lin CarterLin CarterLinwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida...
's Darza, from Renegade of CallistoRenegade of CallistoRenegade of Callisto is a science fiction novel written by Lin Carter, the eighth and last in his Callisto series. It was first published in paperback by Dell Books in August 1978, and reprinted once, in November of the same year. A tribute to Edgar Rice Burroughs's The Chessmen of Mars, the book...
, eighth volume in his Callisto seriesCallisto seriesThe Callisto series is a sequence of eight science fiction novels by Lin Carter, of the sword and planet subgenre, first published by Dell Books from 1972-1978... - Kenneth BulmerKenneth BulmerHenry Kenneth Bulmer was a British author, primarily of science fiction.-Life:Born in London, he married Pamela Buckmaster on 7 March 1953. They had one son and two daughters, and were divorced in 1981...
's Jikaida, from A Life for Kregen, 19th volume in his Dray Prescot seriesDray Prescot seriesThe Dray Prescot series is a sequence of fifty-three science fiction novels and a number of associated short stories of the subgenre generally classified as sword and planet, written by Kenneth Bulmer under the pseudonym of Alan Burt Akers.... - John NormanJohn NormanJohn Frederick Lange, Jr. , better known under his pen name John Norman, is a professor of philosophy and an author. He is best known for his Gor novel series.-Biography:...
's Kaissa, mentioned many times in his GorGorGor , the Counter-Earth, is the alternate-world setting for a series of 30 novels by John Norman that combine philosophy, erotica and science fiction...
series, although never fully described - S. M. StirlingS. M. StirlingStephen Michael Stirling is a French-born Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author. Stirling is probably best known for his Draka series of alternate history novels and the more recent time travel/alternate history Nantucket series and Emberverse series.-Personal:Stirling was born on...
's Atanj, from In the Courts of the Crimson KingsIn the Courts of the Crimson KingsIn the Courts of the Crimson Kings is a 2008 alternate history, science fiction novel by American writer S. M. Stirling.-Plot introduction:...
, his own Burroughs-influenced novel of an alternate Mars, also not fully described
J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...
's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the first novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling and featuring Harry Potter, a young wizard...
provides a rare instance of its use in fantasy, in a scene in which her three protagonists Harry, Hermione, and Ron must play as pieces in a life-like game of Wizard's Chess.
External links
- Jean-Louis Cazaux's Jetan page, with the rule variations noted above.