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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Mrs. Swift for letting me work on this occasionally.  Also thanks to Andy Pearson, who provided helpful ideas and feedback on the web site.  However, that was a long time ago, and he may no longer want to admit involvement.

What is the inspiration for the game?

The concept of hidden piece values is borrowed from Stratego (and from cards).  But the original inspiration for this game is the "battleroom" in the novel Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. 

Do the various pieces have names?

Before I added the mythical theme to the game, the pieces were identified using the main color of the piece followed by its value on that color:

Piece	Name
	Green 9
	Green 8
	Green 7
	Green 6
	Green 5

Now with the theme, the green pieces are:

Piece	Name
	Elf 9
	Elf 8
	Elf 7
	Elf 6
	Elf 5

The blue piece is the Spade .

Why are the piece designs so weird?

Although it takes a little getting used to, the design on the pieces is supposed to be "visually intuitive."  That is, the piece most powerful on green  has the most green on it.

Advice to the beginner: learn to recognize the Nines , the Eights , and the Spade .  That's only three symbols to worry about, but it covers nine key pieces.  The rest will follow.

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