The Rules of Cypher Chess

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VII. Check, Mate, Flipping and other rules (cont.).

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g. Coup d'état: If a pawn lands on the last row of Field squares (row 1 or row 9), a coup d'état ensues: 

The pawn is removed from the board and the highest ranking piece (excluding the King and Spy) of the opposing color switches allegiance, effective immediately. For example, if white’s pawn lands on f9, in spite of what black pieces guard that square, and black’s highest ranking remaining piece is the Queen, she now switches her allegiance to white. Consider the follow-ing example: If coup d'état resulted in white having two Queens and a black pawn then crossed the Field, black could take either Queen as its own. 

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h. Prisoner Release: In lieu of

taking a turn, and while not in check, a player may reclaim a captur-

ed pawn and place it on any avai-lable Border square, as long as it does not place the opposing King in check.

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​i.A draw occurs by agreement 

and, as in standard chess, when three-fold repetition or stale-mate occurs. 

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i. Scoring: Achieving mate while not relying on collusion is the most challenging way to win the game.

For this reason, before commen-

cing play, players might assign

varying score values to the follow-ing: 

     1. draw (by agreement,

         stalemate, and the 4-check

         rule);

     2. flipping; 

     3. King capture via infiltration;

     4. mate through collusion;

     5. mate without collusion.

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Here are some suggested point values:

1--Draw: .5 to each player

2--Flipping (of any variety): 3     

  points to the winner

3--Infiltration/King capture: 3    

  points to the winner

4--Collusion contributes to Mate: 3    

  points to the winner

5--Mate via Border/Court Attacks: 4

  points to the winner

6--Resignation: 4 points to the

  winner.

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