Something juicy, the “Boards”

To demonstrate that something real could be derived from reading the novel, I will explain how to extrapolate the possible boards configuration.
There is it a lot of assumption here even if we have same basic rough information.

From the novel : there are 3 main big boards and several others smaller. Each of the big boards have a 20 m side length and a surface of over 500 square meters.

This mean that they have to be squared boards, but a 20 m side length is equal to 400 m2, so 20 m is an incorrect measure. And this could be because is just an approximation, in fact the exact phrase is : “The whole construction must have measured at least twenty meters to a side.”

Let’s correct the calculations and the boards have to be at least 23 meters to a side, so about 529 m2.
These numbers perfectly fit with the description, nearly 20 meters and over 500 m2.

Starting from this measure we will try to calculate the dimension of the pieces and of a single game box.

We know that the game is played standing up directly on the board and physically shifting the pieces around.
So a game box shall be large enough to accommodate the game piece.

We know that Gurgeh is a tall guy so I will assume 2,00 m high while the Azadians are short and 1,60 m is a good shot.

The pieces are big enough that need to be moved and placed in a box by the Azadian with both hands. The pieces obviously have been created by the Azadians so 1,20 m high piece could be a reasonable choice.
This is about 2/3 of the height of the Azadian people.

Do you agree with my assumption ?

Anyway using the “Staunton” model of our traditional chess pieces the proportion of the height respect to the base is about 3,00 to 1.
So 1,20 m divided by three is 40 cm for the base.
A square at least shall have 60 cm side length to accommodate a piece like this.
This mean that a 23 m length board is composed of 23/0,6 = 38,3  box to a side rounded to 38.
The missing 0,3 m could be easily occupied by the perimetral frame surrounding the board.

So this just for the basic calculations, but …
Are we sure that the board is composed of squares ???

This is a detail never clearly mentioned in the novel where instead is explained that the board is composed of a “stunningly complicated and seemingly chaotically abstract and irregular mosaic pattern”.
Read it again “mosaic pattern”.

This is the hint, the shapes of the boxes are like a mosaic.
Of course the mosaic mean that the square are not “squared” but have several different shapes.
If more or less my calculation are correct the “average” dimension of these irregular shapes is generally around 60 cm but the shapes of each single box could be different.

Is there anyone creative enough to conceptualize this board and boxes ?
Again, as I have already explained in the first post, this is a fictional game so we must assume a lot of speculations.
But we are not walking in the dark. In fact we know a lot about the Azadian culture and this is the “Starting Point” of all our considerations.

So getting back to the boards, remember there are three main boards and I will assume that all of them have identical dimension (23m x 23m) but with different mosaic pattern.

To help you consider that the boards are called :

• Board of Origin
• Board of Form
• Board of Becoming

These are not just imaginary names, the game have evolved for millennia so the names should have a real meaning.

I suspect that some possible mosaic pattern could be derived from these names. As an example “Origin” mean original or ancient so related to a something primitive and easy. Thus we are talking about a mosaic pattern composed basically of simple geometrical shapes.

The second is like the combinations of all the possible shapes in a random combination, because “Form” is a generic noun and represent the possibilities offered by the life. At some point, we choose ours shape or what we want to be and obtain in life.

The last is something that start with a shape then become a different shape because “Becoming” is like a transformation from the “Origin” using the path we have chosen in the “Form”.

The picture is just to visualize the concept of the possible box shapes of the “Origin” board. Consider that the real boards configuration is much more complex, but this will be explained in future posts.

Remember AZAD is a representation of life so the three boards represent the evolution of the life itself.

Obviously this is my interpretation but this the method that I will use for the game development.