Ancient Indian chess was played with dice, but not the likes of those featured in this game. In Proteus, the chess dice produce fascinating subtleties with simple rules. Your eight dice begin pawn-side-up on your first two ranks. Pieces range from Pawn (2) to Queen (6). Turns consist of moving one die and rotating another to the piece of next higher or lower value. Replacing the King is a Pyramid, ranking below a pawn, which can neither move nor be captured. You win if your opponent cannot move, or if you have captured the more valuable set of pieces when either player has been reduced to one die. Five variants are included, offering more bizarre fun.

I wont bother to summarize the game, if you havent figured it out your not going to. I usually dont go for chess variants, its like trying to improve the thermos. But this game kicks monkey ba**z, because its small and fast. You could sit down and play it while waiting for your food at a restaurant. And in spite of this fact it doesnt kill strategy. My fiance just played with me and I was very pleased with the $4.99 purchase.

Sat down and played a game with my brother in about 15 minutes. Initial reaction: 'Let's play again.' And again. The simple mechanics coupled with familiar strategies made this game an instant favorite for us: we have yet to try all the variants but each brings unique challenges that we both found distinct strategies for.

Hard to find a better value for the cost. For those who need a gift exchange idea, this is a must for any gaming enthusiast.

I used to play chess when I was younger. However, I never had the determination/interest to put enough time into it to become a really good player, and I find the game a little bit dry compared to all the offerings from Germany.

When I heard about Proteus, I was intrigued. The game seemed to have all the strategic qualities of chess, but without the overall complexity or length, so I picked it up. Since then, I have had no reason to regret that purchase.

For 8 dollars, you receive 16 custom dice (8 white, 8 black), which isn't really expensive when you compare this to the price of regular dice. These dice represent your chess pieces, and depending on their facing will be your regular Pawn, Knight, Bishop, Rook or Queen pieces. The six face is the traditional Steve Jackson Games' Pyramid, which is a piece which cannot move, but cannot be captured either.

At the beginning of the game, you place all your dice as Pawns on the black spaces of the first two rows. You then alternate playing with your opponent, white going first as in chess. On his/her turn, a player must do the following:

• Move a piece.
• Rotate a different piece.

Moving a piece is the same as in chess, including capturing opponent's pieces. Rotating a piece is changing its value up or down by one level (from Rook to Queen, or from Pawn to Pyramid, for example). As there is no King to checkmate, the game finishes when a player is unable to move (in which case he loses) or when he has only one piece left. At that point, players calculate the worth of the opponent's pieces captured (Pawns being worth 2 points, up to Queens being worth 6), with the highest total winning the game.

A nice touch in the game is the concept of 'backstabbing': you can capture a Queen by moving to the space right behind her. This compensates for the strength of the piece, and makes a strategy of having multiple Queens risky: you could give your opponent a lot of points easily that way. This is due to the fact it is possible to mount double attacks in the game by moving a piece in position to capture another and rotating a second piece to a new one which can also capture from its current position. I found that aspect an interesting twist on regular chess. The game is also more dynamic than chess as the board changes more between players' turns.

Several variants are provided in the rules, so the game can stay fresh for a long time. These variants can also add more randomness to the game, which is good for people who want less strategy and more action.

The only problem with the game is that a playing mat isn't included. While you can print one on Steve Jackson's Games web site, it would have been better to have the game ready to play when you buy it.

The other problem people can point to, being that you could play the game with regular dice, isn't an issue for me. I tried it before buying the game to see if I'd like the concept, and I found that it is a lot more difficult to visualize the board when only dots represent the pieces. Since the game is quite cheap, it isn't worth the bother of trying to do so when you could simply buy the dice.

All in all, Proteus is a good game for its price, bridging the gap between chess and non-chess fans. You can play a game quite quickly, and I'm always willing to play another one afterward.