The Gameboard

The SOLARI-board

The SOLARI-board - our solar system in small format

As you see, we can represent our solar system in simplistic form on a chessboard, where the proportions by nature do not correspond to the real ones in space.
We simply assume, that the solar system is a disk, which is almost really the case.
The numbers 1 to 6 on the four sides of the board are the coordinates. With them we can determine each case of the inner 6 x 6 square by two dices (squares 11 to 66).

In the center is the sun, covering the four center squares (33,34,43,44). They play a particular role.

Around the center squares we have the squares for the small planets. They symbolize their orbits and are marked with the inner circle. On the four squares in the corners we have the inner planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. They are the starting positions for the chasers, bearing the same names. The other squares are starting positions for the comets.

The squares further outside symbolize the asteroid belt without any planets, they are marked by the circle with little dots. On the four squares in the corners we have the starting positions of the moons, although they are not there in real space. But these squares were free of comets and therefore they offered themselves for the blockers (moons). All other squares in the asteroid belt serve as starting positions for a large number of comets.

The boundary squares symbolize the orbits of the large planets (large circle). The large outer planets move here, they serve as doublers and they start on the corner squares. The numbers are the coordinates, mentioned before. We need them to reenter comets after a total shot.

The surrounding squares of the 8 x 8 - board are the counting squares. They symbolize the so called Kuiper belt, where we have uncounted comets and several dwarf planets in our solar system. That's why the counters are named after the four largest dwarf planets.

The coordinates of the SOLARI - board

The 8x8-board has the coordinates from 00 to 77. With two normal dices we can only throw the coordinates from 11 to 66. The squares with 0 and 7 are the margin squares. The four center squares have the coordinates 33, 34, 43 und 44.