Ready for an even bigger challenge? Or maybe you just want to prove who’s really the best at Hydra. Leave the chess pieces and board behind – all you need is the card deck. Zen Hydra is simultaneously the simplest, and the most difficult, to play…
Zen Hydra is more difficult because it tests not only your chess skills, and how well you deal with surprises, but it stretches your memory too. Without being able to see your opponent’s reserve pool (or your own!) you will have to remember which pieces have already been killed if you hope to predict which piece will appear next.
SPACING
After shuffling your decks, each player flips his top five cards face-up and places them on the floor or table in a line in front of him from left to right. Remaining cards are kept stacked, face-down in view of both players.
The two lines of cards need to be (approximately) the proper distance from each other for play to be seamless. This distance is easily set if each player moves his end card and stacks it on top of his opposite end card:
The empty space between the two stacked cards needs to be slightly larger than the size of a card. If it’s not, move one player’s line until the distance between the two stacked cards is just wider than one card. When the two lines of cards have been properly distanced, move the stacked cards back to their original places at the end of each line. You now have a “board” to play on.
START
Starting rules (concerning kings and queens being in check, and Hydra castling) are the same as in standard Hydra.
As play begins, it will become easy to “see” the 5×5 board. Whenever a card is moved off a back row, the appropriate player must flip his top face-down card and place it face-up in the open spot. To attack, just place the attacking card on top of the defeated card, moving the stack as one from then on, rather than removing cards from the game. If this becomes difficult (too many stacked cards) remove the lower cards and place them face-down out of the way, in full view of both players.
Magnus Force be with you 🙂
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HYDRA Future