Best Fairy Pieces
Iolanthe, composed by W.S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan, premiered in 1882 as a significant operetta within the Savoy tradition. It’s notable for being the first theatre production to utilize full electric lighting onstage, revolutionizing theatrical presentation at the time. The work employs sat...
"Tam Lin" is a traditional Scottish Border ballad cataloged as Child Ballad 39. The narrative centers on a mortal man captured by the Queen of Fairies and his rescue by a woman named Janet at Carterhaugh. According to the legend, Janet must hold onto Tam Lin as he transforms into various animals on...
The purple-crowned fairy is a small hummingbird species found in tropical regions of Mexico and northern Peru. It’s distinguished by the iridescent violet plumage on the male's head—a rare trait among hummingbirds. This bird is of interest to ornithologists studying neotropical hummingbird diversity...
Ultima is an abstract strategy game invented by Robert Abbott and first published in 1962. Played on an 8 by 8 board, it retains a chess-like objective centered on the opposing king but replaces conventional captures with several distinct mechanisms, including custodial capture, withdrawal, coordina...
Gliński's Hexagonal Chess is a chess variant invented by Polish journalist Władysław Gliński and first publicly presented around 1949. It is played on a large hexagonal board of 91 hex cells using three colors, with each player commanding an enlarged set of pieces including an extra bishop. The geom...
The black-eared fairy (Heliothryx margarita) is a hummingbird species endemic to the Amazon rainforest of South America. It’s notable for possessing distinctive dark markings around its ears, a feature that distinguishes it from other hummingbirds. Primarily found in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela,...
Pelham Puppets' Fairy Godmother is a wooden string-controlled marionette representing the magical helper from the Cinderella story. It was produced in England as part of the company's range of characters drawn from traditional fairy tales and children's entertainment. The figure was made for puppet...
"Chess with Different Armies" is an asymmetrical chess variant invented by the chess theorist Ralph Betza. In this game, players do not use the standard chess pieces; instead, they select from various themed armies, each composed of unique pieces with entirely different movement capabilities. For ex...
Abby Cadabby is a Muppet puppet character introduced on the educational television program "Sesame Street" in 2006. Designed as a three-year-old fairy-in-training, she is distinguished by her pink attire, butterfly wings, and a magic wand that frequently malfunctions, producing unintended results. T...
Baroque Chess, also known as Ultima, is an abstract strategy board game invented by Robert Abbott in 1962 and played on a standard 8×8 chessboard. Unlike orthodox chess, all pieces capture through special methods rather than by displacement: the Pincer traps enemy pieces between itself and an ally,...
Alice Chess is a chess variant invented by V. R. Parton in 1953 and named after Lewis Carroll's *Through the Looking-Glass*. The game is played using two separate chessboards, designated Board A and Board B. A piece completes its standard move on one board, but upon finishing, it is immediately tran...
Shako is a chess variant invented by Jean-Louis Cazaux in 1990, played on a 10×10 board with an expanded set of pieces. In addition to standard chess pieces, each player commands cannons inspired by Xiangqi that move like rooks but capture by jumping over an intervening piece, and elephants drawn fr...
Fabulous FIDEs is a custom chess army created by Ralph Betza, acting as a slightly modified version of the standard pieces to compete fairly against his other uniquely themed fantasy armies.
Pocket Knight Chess is a chess variant in which each player begins with an additional knight held in reserve outside the board. Instead of making an ordinary move, a player may place this pocket knight on an eligible empty square, after which it behaves like a normal knight. The reserve piece introd...
Dragonchess is a three-dimensional fantasy chess variant created by Gary Gygax, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, and published in 1985. The game is played on three vertically stacked 12x8 boards that represent the sky, the earth, and the underworld. It features an expanded roster of unique piec...
Nutty Knights is a custom chess army designed by Ralph Betza, heavily featuring unusual leaping pieces and asymmetric movement rules that directly challenge conventional board geometry.
Colorbound Clobberers is a custom chess army created by Ralph Betza, featuring pieces restricted to moving on only one color of square, which fundamentally alters traditional piece mobility.
Extinction chess is a chess variant associated with chess writer R. Wayne Schmittberger. Instead of winning by checkmate, a player wins by capturing every remaining opposing piece of any one type, such as all pawns, rooks, bishops, knights, or queens. The king is not necessarily treated as uniquely...
M&S Chicken Breast Pieces are pre-cut, boneless chicken breasts, approximately 250g in weight, offering a convenient and versatile option for quick meals and recipes.
Remarkable Rookies is a custom chess army designed by Ralph Betza, notable for replacing traditional pieces with powerful rooks and specialized leapers to create unique, aggressive dynamics.
Chancellor Chess is a chess variant introduced by Ben Foster in 1887. It is played on a 9×9 board with an additional file and rank, and each side is given a Chancellor piece that combines the movement capabilities of a rook and a knight. The variant belongs to a family of late-19th-century expanded...
A fairy chess condition named after the German city of Andernach, where any piece that makes a capture immediately changes color and joins the opposing army.
A theoretical chess variant played on an unbounded infinite board, notable for its mathematical complexity including positions with transfinite game-theoretic values.
Hostage Chess is a variant invented by John Leslie in 1997 where captured pieces are held hostage and must be ransomed by returning an opponent's captured piece before re-entering play.
Ultima, also known as Baroque Chess, is a 1962 variant invented by Robert Abbott where pieces all move like queens but capture enemy pieces using completely different, unique mechanics.
Created by R. Wayne Schmittberger in 1987, Wildebeest Chess is played on an 11x10 board and features exotic pieces like the camel and the king-catching wildebeest.
Knightmate is a variant where the standard king moves like a knight, and the standard knight moves like a king, requiring players to checkmate the royal knight to win.
Modern Shatranj is a contemporary revival of ancient Persian chess, retaining historical weak pawns and the slow counselor piece while updating certain rules for modern play.
A chess variant where a capturing piece temporarily acquires the movement type of the captured piece, adding combinatorial tactical options to every exchange.
