How to play Laser Chess

Learn the rules to the board game Laser Chess quickly and concisely - This video has no distractions, just the rules.

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RULES:

The object of the game is to be the first player to hit your opponent’s king with the laser. Layout the board between the two players with the notched corner spot located in the bottom right of each player. The types of pieces are as follows: Laser, Deflector, Defender, Switch, and King.

Each player pick a color and arranges their pieces on the board as indicated by the setups found on page 10 of the rule book seen here. Beginners should begin with the ACE configuration then advance to Curiosity, grail, mercury, and Sophie. Once you’ve mastered the game you can invent your own starting positions.

The blue-white player goes first, then turns alternate. On you turn you must perform one of 3 actions.

Action 1. You must move 1 of your pieces 1 space in any direction, including diagonally. The destination space may not be occupied, unless the piece being moved is the switch. The switch is allowed to switch positions with a defender or deflector piece of either color that is adjacent to it. A switch may not switch places with the king, laser, or another switch. When a piece moves, or is switched, all pieces moved retain their original orientation and may not be rotated. The board has red and white helix symbols along the edges, no player may move a piece onto a space that has their opponent’s helix color.

Action 2. Instead of moving you may rotate 1 piece 90 degrees in either direction.

Action 3. You may rotate the laser to point in its alternative direction. The laser may only point up a column or across a row.

Once you move or rotate then you must fire the laser by pressing the button on its top. Whatever piece lights up, if any, by the laser hitting its non-mirrored side, that piece, regardless of who controls it, is removed from the board and may not be used for the remainder of the game. The defender will not light up when hit from the shield side which can be used to block a laser. The switch has mirrors on both sides and can never light up and therefore is never removed from the board. The deflector has a mirror on one side and can only be lit up from the non-mirrored sides. And the laser can never be removed from the game.

The laser is only fired once per turn. You may not test fire the laser mid-turn while deciding a move. Once a piece is moved, the move cannot be taken back and the laser must be fired.

When either laser beam lands on a king token, that king is removed and the game is over. The player with the remaining king wins. If you are in a situation where the same pieces of the same colors occupy the same spaces in the same orientations 3 times in the same game, then the player making the next move may declare a stalemate if they want. If they do, then the game ends in a draw.