I was thinking, how would one go about inventing another game like Chess.

I mean another game like chess. Not a board game per se for board games mean stuff like monopoly and stuff which is essentially for kids.

However I mean a board game like chess. How would one try and go about trying to find another game like chess from scratch.

I would doubt if it's possible. I'm sure many great minds have tried. If you think about it chess is an amazing feat of imagination. I would like to know if there was a simpler version / derivative before the game today.?

checkers

As I understamd chess existed in more primitive versions in the past esp. Shatranj where the rules and if I am not mistaken even some of the pieces were different.

Also the true beauty of chess is how balanced it is. For instance both sides have chances and with perfect play its a draw. The inherent beauty of this balance is just jaw dropping.

Just picture the first computer being taught to play chess and with minutes announcing mate in 10. In such a complicated game, for the inventors who were very primitive and could not possibly have known more than a miniscule portion of the various possibilities and variations on the board, to have invented such a well balanced game is a stunning feat.

Check out the chess variants https://www.chess.com/forum/category/chess960-chess-variants

I am not talking about a new variation of chess. All variations of chess are still chess at their core. The pieces are the same, the rules are more or less the same, just tweaked a little. I want to invent another game entirely. With new pieces that would need new strategies.

Also I don't want them to be like checkers or Go, where the pieces have no individuality and each piece is the same as every piece.

Also I am not talking about reinventing chess, a new game entirely, played on a board with pieces like chess where pieces are not all the same like Checkers and yet it would be a whole new game.

that's why I love the game of chess ...no game in earth can be compared to chess ...chess is simply sweet

that's why I love the game of chess ...no game in earth can be compared to chess ...chess is simply sweet

Chess began as a wargame which gradually became more formalized over the years, so that the queen no longer moves rapidly because it represents a boat carrying troops on a river, but is just an abstract piece designed that way.  So since new wargames are always being designed today as board games, this process should be considered a process like inventing new chess-like games, though still largely unformalized.  If any of these survive for a long time, they will probably become more formalized, just as chess did, and instead of divisions and corps with differing offensive and defensive capacities moving over hexagons on a real terrain map, they will evolve into abstract pieces with varying powers moving over squares, circles, and hexagons on a neutral background.

Inventing a new game is easy. The hard part is advertising!

The essential feature of chess and its variants is the goal of checkmate. Change the goal to something else, use pieces that move differently from the standard pieces, and change the shape of the board, and the result will be "like chess but not chess". None of this is hard, but the chances are that whatever you come up with has been done before. And even if you invent something good and original, getting people interested enough to play it is a whole different story.

OP, do you mean something like Arimaa? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arimaa?wprov=sfla1

Personally speaking, I haven't made a board game but my younger cousin and I have made our variation/version of chess at home. It's safe to say that making your variation/version of chess is much easier than it is to make a new board game like chess. Nevertheless, I too am interested in making a new board game like chess. Things I would consider for making a board game that's like chess are the following:

1. Board Size: How many squares for the whole board
2. Setup:
   1. What type of pieces?
   2. How pieces can move?
3. Game Over:
   1. How to win? / What is considered a loss?
   2. What is considered a draw?
4. Possible Version Control if the gameplay is unbalanced.

Other things that are optional to consider are:

1. Timing Control / Options
2. Notation of Movements
   

I also just realised I'm two years late to answer this question.

If you invent something similar to chess, then chess will be more popular, this usually works like that. You need a whole new genuine idea.