ChessInc

This was a game/dynasty idea suggested by User:TheFamMan when they joined the game in July 2020. It was never played at BlogNomic.

Introduction

You find yourself in a large marble lobby.

• 

  Her Majesty's Royal Royal Stock Exchange

In the middle of the lobby are four chess boards (see link for game state), surrounded by velvet rope.

Beyond that, is the trading floor full of monks buying and selling. On the far wall is a ticker monitor, showing the prices of various Stock. You see the names some companies that you recognized. For example, IBM is valued at ¤100

There are twelve corporations, however, that you do not recognize. You also notice that these do not have a price listed. Here is what you see:

Corporation	Price Per Share	Number of Shares
CB1	?	5
CB2	?	10
CB3	?	10
CB4	?	10
RW	?	10
BW	?	10
Ag	?	20
Au	?	20
Cu	?	20
Fe	?	20
IV	?	75
BP	?	75

You make your way through the lobby and enter the "Meeting Hall for the Royal Council". The other Nomic players are already seated at their chairs. There is one throne-like chairs in the half circle of chairs that is still empty. You sit down.

• 

  Her Majesty's Royal Meeting Hall

The Emperess walks in to the and sits down, facing the panel. Her Majesty begins to speak. Here is what Her Highness says:

Our greatest state scientists have discovered four supernatural chess sets. They have the fantastic power of being able to produce gold out of thin air.

Here is a pamphlet with some additional info

The Empress then walked around the council table and handed out a pamphlet to each Councilmember. It says:

Pamphlet 1

Intro

Recently, the Department of Supernatural Scientific affairs discovered four supernatural chess boards (see link for game state) that have the fantastic power of being able to produce gold out of thin air.

These four boards and these 8 sides have each been registered as LLC’s. The Emperess has given ownership of all shares of these LLC's to the Council. The council also owns 1000 Gold Coins.

The Emperess has instructed the Council to privatize all the assets described above, by distributing the shares amongst the members of the council.

Some fascinating discoveries about the chess sets:

1. Each chess set has one standard game of chess to play. Once the game is over, the board and pieces will vanish into thin air.
2. Until both sides, and the board itself, is privately owned, the pieces cannot be moved. Just like the immovable sword in the stone.
3. The "black" pieces on CB1 move automatically (controlled by computer). In other words, Fe,Au,and BW are all controlled by automaton, though these corporations can still be owned.
4. No other sources of Gold Coins “out of thin air” exist in this universe besides this initial sum of 1000 Gold Coins and the payouts described in this pamphlet.

Identifiers of each side:

1. The first chess board (CB1) has rosewood (RW) and boxwood (BW) pieces.
2. The second (CB2) has silver (Ag) and gold (Au) pieces.
3. The third (CB3) has copper (Cu) and cast-iron (Fe) pieces.
4. The fourth (CB4) has ivory (IV) and black plastic (BP) pieces

We added one little rule to the chess game so that the computer is not able to always understand the best move. No chess engine in the world would be able to give advice if we self-enforced the following rule (i made up this variation a while ago, it works quite nicely) :

1. let m = turn number
2. If m < 25 and m % 4 is 1 and the previous turn did not entail a capture by you or by opponent:
3. then:
4. do not move the same piece as in your last ply, except if there is no other way to get out of check OR if it would capture an opponent piece.
5. else If m < 30 and If m % 4 is 2 and the previous two turns did not entail a capture by you or by opponent:
6. then:
7. do not move the same piece as in your last ply or the ply before that, except if there is no other way to get out of check OR if it would capture an opponent piece.
8. else:
9. All moves that would be legal in standard chess are legal.
10. Note that CB1 black pieces (AKA BW), which are controlled by computer, are not subject to these rules, and will thus definately checkmate you. However, owners of shares of RW will still get dividends if they capture more material than black, despite having lost.

Payout Structure

• Payout is per share
• Value of pieces : Standard set of chess piece relative values, which is (1,3,3,5,9)

Winning Side

1. The value of the pieces you captured
2. minus the value of the pieces the opponent side captured
3. plus ¤ 65 if you won by checkmate
4. plus ¤ 10 if you won by them resigning (if they resigned)

Multiply the number by 1.1

Stalemating Side

1. The value of the pieces you captured
2. minus (the value of the pieces the winning side captured * 0.9)
3. plus max(floor(the number of turns minus 45, 20), Zero)

Losing Side

1. The value of the pieces you captured
2. minus (the value of the pieces the winning side captured divided by two)
3. plus max(floor(the number of turns minus 45,30), Zero)
4. minus ¤ 40 if resigned

Chess Board Owner

1. The value of the pieces on winning side (king is worth 10)
2. plus the value of the pieces on losing side , excluding the king

Introduction (Continued)

Everyone was deeply studying this pamphlet, when all of a sudden they were jolted to attention by the shouting of the the eccentric old Emperess yelling “ON YOUR MARKS GET SET GO!” She then shot her firearm into the ceiling, as if an actual foot-race was beginning. A small chunk of marble then fell from the ceiling and hit her majesty on the crown.

Oh I almost forgot

Said the Emperess, going around handing each councilperson a pamphlet. We all looked at each other, like Is her majesty forgetting she already gave us each a copy? But it was a different pamphlet. It said:

Pamphlet 2: Corporate Law

Nomic within Blognomic

Each of these LLC’s are governed using a modified version of the the vanilla rules of Nomic, unless the council decides they don’t like the idea of nomic within a nomic. The modifications will be created by the empress in consultation with the council, if this be enacted. Otherwise, the council must decide on a way to govern these corporations.

Initial Set of rules (without the modifications) can be viewed here

Modified initial rules are as follows:

• 112.
• 113. 
• 201. Players shall alternate in a predefined order, taking one whole turn apiece. Turns may not be skipped or passed, and parts of turns may not be omitted. Order shall be determined by the Blognomic council, unless there is unanimous agreement among the initial shareholders about a good way to determine an order.
• 202. One turn consists of one part in this order: (1) proposing one rule-change and having it voted on.
• 204. If and when rule-changes can be adopted without unanimity, the players who vote against winning proposals shall receive ¤10 each.
• 206. When a proposed rule-change is defeated, the player who proposed it loses ¤10
• 207. Each player always has exactly one vote per share owned
• 208. 
• 210. 
• 213. If the rules are changed so that further play is impossible, or if the legality of a move cannot be determined with finality, or if by the Judge's best reasoning, not overruled, a move appears equally legal and illegal, then the first player unable to complete a turn is a Corporate Raider. This rule takes precedence over every other rule determining who is a Corporate Raider
• 214 A Corporate Raider is someone who is able to get the company to buy back everyone else’s shares for a below-market price, to be determined by council law
• 215 A corporation may be owned by no more then two shareholders at once

Notes from the Author

Ideas

1. Individual corporations may want to hire a player to make moves for their side throughout every day. It is legal to follow the advice of Stockfish, or any chess engine recommendation system, to make the best move
2. Proposed Rule: The game on CB1 can start no earlier than three days from now, on CB2 no earlier than six days from now and only once someone has won CB1 (if CB1 ends with stalemate, CB2,CB3, and CB4 vanish into thin air), on CB3 no earlier then checkmate on CB2 (if CB2 ends with stalemate or resignation, CB3 and CB4 vanish into thin air), and on CB4 no earlier than checkmate on CB3 (if CB3 ends with stalemate or resignation,CB4 vanishes into thin air).
3. What if Ag and Au, or two others, are the only corporations that are allowed to pay instant dividends to shareholders when capture an opponent ?
4. What if Ag and Au, or two others, are not limited liability, but instead full liability?

1. Each side can only move at most four times per day, once the game starts.
2. Once each game starts, each turn of the chess game must move within 72 hours of the opponent’s move, unless the board owner declares a different time limit.
3. Quorum votes themselves more shares then the minority, because they can
4. What property rights exist in Blognomic? This should be established early on
5. Has it been mentioned explicitly that Initial ownership of shares by council members is up to the council ?
6. Should Council be able to vote on changes to Corporate law (subnomic ruleset)?
7. Should Council be able to expropriate property once privately owned?
8. Should Council restrict it's own ability to regulate moves made by a corporation? Recomendation: if going to regulate, start mid-game not at the beginning before letting red tape proliferate.
9. Change 215 To be "Only biggest two shareholders, or the shareholders making up 80% of ownership, whichever group is smaller, can vote or take turns

Further Discussion

Glossary: