Campaign : Rules

Campaign (or "Buck 20") is a simplified form of chess played with US coins on a smaller board, with fewer pieces.

Setup:

5x7 grid of 1" squares
$1.20 in commonly carried coins:

2 Candidates (quarters - kings)
4 Guards (dimes - bishops)
4 Handlers (nickels - rooks)
10 Interns (pennies - pawns)

Pieces are arranged on opposite short sides, heads or tails face-up respectively.

Candidates occupy the center square of the first row with their guards directly adjacent and their handlers in the corners. Interns fill the second row, leaving three empty rows of neutral squares between each side.

Game play:

Players choose heads or tails and flip a coin. Winner of the toss determines who moves first.

Players take turns moving one piece at a time. Captured pieces are removed from the board and should always be used first in promotions, though it may be necessary to add net new coins into play.

Movement:

Unlike the knights in chess, there are no jumping pieces in Campaign. Also, there are no kings or queens. Instead each player has one Candidate. Like the king, the Candidate may move and capture in any direction (diagonally or orthogonally), one square at a time.

Interns can only move forward, one square at a time. They capture pieces ahead diagonally to either side, though not directly in front, much like pawns. However, unlike traditional chess they cannot go two squares forward on their initial move. Also, there is no 'en passant' move as is sometimes used.

Interns reaching the far side of the board may be promoted into either handlers or guards, even (and especially) if doing so means having more than two of either piece in play. Interns cannot be promoted into a second Candidate however. Candidates themselves may be promoted by stacking a second quarter on top. This then allows them to move any number of spaces in any direction as queens do.

Guards move and capture along any number of spaces diagonally, like a bishop.

Handlers move and capture along any number of spaces orthogonally (forward, backward, left or right), like a rook.

Winning:

Players win when the opposing candidate is faced with capture and has no available legal move to flee or block the threatening piece. This is called a Fact Check.

There are no stalemates (draws) in Campaign. If only the two candidates remain in play or it becomes obvious neither player will be able to win, a coin must be flipped to determine who wins. This is called a Run-Off.

Variants:

Playing for Keeps - The winner of each game pockets the loser's pieces.

Spin Doctoring (castling) - A special combo move allowed only if your candidate and handler haven't moved yet and the space between them is empty. The candidate takes the corner position while the handler comes inward to the guard's empty starting square. Unlike castling in chess, players may do so even (and especially) if their candidate is threatened or must move through a threatened square. This move should be explicitly declared though, being the only time a candidate is allowed to move 2 squares.