You have to actually capture the king as it is done in so many other games. You have won the game once that is done. You should not be surprised to learn that the pieces are positively or negatively charged, considering this is a magnetic chess. The pieces bearing positive charge are placed on the white side and those bearing negative charge on the black. The charge that these pieces carry does allow them to produce their own magnetic field. The king however is neutrally charged, which implies that it neither repels nor attracts any other piece. It also does not get repelled or attracted by any piece.

If a piece is moved to already occupied space, it will repel closest chess pieces, provided they are of the same rank. The pieces placed diagonally will not be affected. The closest piece on the side will be attracted, provided it is of the different color. No piece attracts or repels the king as it is neutral and hence forms a shield against the magnetic field. This makes way for a lot of new strategies which do not apply to the normal game, making it more interesting.

Aspects of physics are incorporated in the game along with chess strategy and mathematics as well. It forces a person to think and plan on a different plane altogether. This is thus, a mentally stimulating game. The magnetic chess also has variation namely the anti- magnetic chess. In this kind of chess, rules are same as the magnetic chess except that repetition in the position is not allowed and friends as well as enemy pieces are repelled. Thus magnetic chess has ushered in a whole new phase for chess playing.

When someone walks into a room, their eyes will be riveted towards a chess set. It demands attention. As such it’s important that you select an impressive piece. You don’t just want everyone to see your bargain basement plastic chess set displayed. Instead you want to ensure that the piece is as impressive as its symbolic value. You want to find a set that is quality, made with precision, care, and artistic insight.

There are various materials you can choose for your set. Various types of stone are often available, since stone represents the power and magnificence of the mountain from which it was quarried. These can include alabaster, slate, or soapstone pieces. Marble is also a type of natural stone, and the basic black and white marble chess set is almost an icon in the gaming world.

Metallic chess pieces are also a popular choice. These can either be metallic pieces upon a wooden board, or the entire set can be metallic. There are a variety of materials that chess sets can be crafted from including steel, copper, wrought iron, and aluminum. The important thing is that the craftsman who made it paid attention to the details of the piece.

There are also theme and novelty chess sets. These can be crafted with pieces that represent characters from a book, movie, period of history, or really anything. Beware of these, as they are often not very functional. It can be difficult keeping track of which character represents which piece, and is distracting to the flow of the game.

Conquest, Sean O’Connor; $1.99. Predictably, a RISK clone is on our list. Less predictably, it’s not the popular $4.99 app Lux. Conquest plays faster, is designed to look and feel like the classic board game, and gives you scads of maps and options to choose from. After playing Conquest, Lux and other RISK clones look like kludges.

Monopoly, Electronic Arts; $4.99. There is no amazing animated sequence of a guy in a top hat and monocle taking down Godzilla, and there is no 3-D camera tracking the progress of a housing development under construction. There is no flashing screen urging “Finish Him!” when you foreclose on a property. It’s Monopoly, just like you remember it. This is a good thing.

Scrabble, Electronic Arts; $4.99. Confession time: Scrabble makes the list because bad Scrabble is better than good Chutes and Ladders, or a variety of other choices. But EA has dumbed the game down to the point where more competitive Scrabblers will be frustrated at their inability to challenge and be challenged, and it suggests words to make you smarter than you are. If you don’t know that Xi is a Greek letter and Xu is a currency, Scrabble has no business telling you. That said, if you’re not a purist, it works great and looks like the real thing

Shredder Chess, Shredderchess.com; $7.99. If you’re a casual fan of the game, get one of the many free apps available. Shredderchess is for serious chess buffs. It offers a variety of pleasing board/playing piece graphics, and more importantly has the strongest chess algorithm on the app market. But don’t be scared; it scales back to any playing strength. It tracks your rating and allows you to set the engine appropriately, provides for coaching options, and includes virtually endless chess puzzles to solve. Worth the price whether you’re serious about chess or about learning chess.

The Game of Life, Electronic Arts; $4.99. EA has updated life for the iPhone, tweaking it to play faster and adding a lot of 3-D perspective in the movement. What the heck, it’s a video game now, right? But just like the original, you and your friends or family will be amused and entertained by this classic until it kills your battery (the usual way a “Life” session ends.)

Whether you played the original board games during your “wonder years,” or are just discovering the naked aggression of Risk or the cold heartless capitalism of Monopoly, these apps give you a way to play them at a safe distance from family members or friends-a feature that may have come in handy for some families the first time through.