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The Best of Select: Games Special 5
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xiangqi
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chichess.txt
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1993-12-22
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9KB
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173 lines
ABOUT THE CONTENTS OF CCHESS.ZIP
BY ROLEIGH MARTIN
CIS 71510,1042
5511 Malibu Drive
Edina MN 55436
12-23-93
I am the packager of this ZIP file, CCHESS.ZIP, and am
also known on the thousands of Fidonet BBSs that carry
SDN files as the editor of ShareDebate International
(more about that in the separate file, ABOUT_SI.TXT).
I put this package together to introduce others to the
incredible fun of Chinese Chess which is my favorite
game. My wife of 17 years is Chinese and I spend about
a month a year in Hong Kong where I picked up the game.
There are two public domain/freeware versions of
Chinese Chess included in this file, CCHESS and XQ.
CCHESS works fine for PC's and the HP 100 (a palmtop MS
DOS MCGA computer) but if you can spend $35 (not to me
but to the author of the game), the Xian for DOS game
is far superior. XQ works fine on a color PC (as does
CCHESS) but XQ doesn't look good at all on the HP100 --
no matter what screen shading/inversions I did.
This ZIP file can introduce you to the game but if you
begin to like it, I super recommend you getting Xian
for DOS for your HP100 and it works great on your
desktop too (it detects MCGA, CGA, EGA, VGA and acts
accordingly). If you like Windows-games, there is a
Xian for MS Windows too. Xian for DOS costs $39 and is
available from Leong Jacobs Inc. (see next paragraph
for address -- no phone orders.) Xian for Windows can
be ordered by phone and it is $39.95 from Mr. Sega at
Tsoft, #9 Brittany Ln., Odessa TX 79761, ph: 915-366-
2168. I think Tsoft accepts credit card orders -- but
they do not sell Xian for DOS. The same programmer did
both programs but exclusively assigned selling rights
of his window's based program to Tsoft.
The two BMP files are captured screen images of the
game pieces from Xian for MS Windows, software (not the
game pieces which are in the public domain) copyrighted
by Leong Jacobs Inc., 2729 Lury Lane Annapolis, MD
21401. Use the free MS Windows program, Paint Brush
(see the Accessories window for the icon) to open these
BMP files.
There are two text files explaining the rules of
Chinese Chess found on Compuserve, one of which
accompanies the XQ and another one which is a stand-
alone text file by Kevin Wang [73047,1651] originally
named XIANQI.TXT (from the CHESSFORUM on Compuserve),
but I renamed it CCHESS.RUL in this ZIP file. The XQ
files (XQ.RUL documentation and XQ.EXE freeware game)
is by Peter Donnelly. You can use these two ".RUL"
files to learn the rules of Chinese Chess. There are
two ".SRC" files for additional resources on Chinese
Chess and its nearly identical game, Korean Chess (same
board/pieces -- different rules).
This file documents the actual Chinese pieces, as they
really look in person -- see the file WXIAN_T.BMP ("_T"
for traditional), along with the way these pieces look
in the Americanized version of Xian for Windows by
Leong Jacobs Inc. (see the file WXIAN_A.BMP -- "_A" for
Americanized).
Chinese Chess is said in Chinese (using English
spelling) as Xiangqi, pronounced Shiang-Chi with a
longer name emphasizing the word "Chinese" with the
pronunciation Chunguo Shiang-Chi.
I'll detail the names of the pieces below in both
Mandarin (official Chinese of Red China and Taiwan) and
Cantonese (as in Hong Kong). The Cantonese is from a
Hong Kong book, "Let's Play Chinese Chess" by B.
Constantino, pub. by Book Marketing Ltd., HK, 1988.
The Pinyin is how you would write Mandarin in English.
The Cantonese is shown in the typical English spelling
of the Cantonese word. The English name is from the
convention adopted by the International Chinese Chess
Association as documented in Sloan's Chinese Chess for
Beginners book. (See CHICHESS.SRC for ordering
information.) Note: the translation of the word
"Xiang" is Elephant -- hence the showing of a elephant
for the bishop piece.
Also, on real Chinese Chess boards, the colors are red
and black -- not red and blue (as in the BMP file).
COORDINATES COLOR ENGLISH PINYIN CANTONESE
A0,I0,A9,I9 both Rook Ju Kui
B0,H0,B9,H9 both Knight Ma Ma
C0,G0 Red Bishop Xiang Sheung
C9,G9 Blue Bishop Xiang Cheung
D0,F0,D9,F9 both Guard Shi See
E0 Red King Jiang Sui
E9 Blue King Shuai Cheung
B2,H2,B7,H7 both Cannon Pao Pow
A3,C3,E3,G3,I3 Red Pawn Zu Ping
A6,C6,E6,G6,I6 Blue Pawn Bing Tsut
The only files needed on the HP 100, from this ZIP
file, are the files: CCBLUE.DTA, CCHAR.MAP, CCHGC.CHN,
CCIBM.CHN, CCRED.DTA, CCHESS.EXE. In the "More
Applications" program, add a new record with these
settings -- we'll assume you install these files in
C:\GAMES (a new directory you can make by typing
MD \GAMES):
Name: Chinese Chess
Path: c:\games\cchess.exe|128
Comments: 128kb ram needed
Icon: C:>_
On your PC, you can run both the game, CCHESS or the
game XQ. Just unzip all these files in one directory,
such as \CCHESS, by typing:
MD \CCHESS
CD \CCHESS
PKUNZIP CCHESS
A free to copy shareware file-reader is included,
called SEE.EXE. To read any of the files, type SEE,
highlight a file and press ENTER. A freeware print
program is included, called PR.EXE, which is documented
in PR.TXT. (The author of SEE.EXE requires that AMAZE.
TXT is included, which it is, when one includes SEE.EXE
in someone else's freeware/shareware.)
If you install the Xian for DOS software on your HP 100
(the $39 commercial software that is really super), in
the "More Applications" program, add a new record with
these settings -- we'll assume you install these files
in C:\GAMES (a new directory you can make by typing
MD \GAMES):
Name: Xian Chess
Path: c:\games\xian.exe|212
Comments: 212kb ram needed
Icon: C:>_
Wrapping up, there is a animated version of Chinese
Chess, called Battle Chess II by Interplay that is on
sale on many clearance racks for as low as $10
(originally about $50). It is great but slow and I
find it fun for amusement only -- for frequent play, I
prefer the Xian programs (both the DOS or Windows
version). It is also a memory hog and can't run under
Windows and can't run on any palmtop. It also requires
answering a stupid question from the manual every time
you run the game but NEVERLOCK (the shareware version)
does strip that nuisance out of the code.
In ending, I received a post card (my name must have
gotten on a mailing list after ordering the Xian
software) about the only periodical published in
English in America on Chinese Chess, called XiangQi
Review, which is a 20 page issue, published 6 times a
year for only $10 US and Canada. Write Dave Woo,
Chinese Chess Institute, PO Box 5305, Hercules, CA
94547-5305. I recently subscribed but haven't gotten
my first issue yet -- the postcard implied they'd wait
until my check cleared ("...for fast processing, please
remit by money order..."). I expect to get it soon
though.
[END OF FILE]