> No, I'm not "THE" inventor of 3D chess, however, I am
> the inventor of a very "playable" 3D chess variant
> called Millennium 3D Chess*.
I stand corrected! :-)

> Similar to you, I first began to play 3D chess in 1977
> when a received a 3x8x8 chess board called "Chess in
> the Third Dimension" made by "Skor-Mor" as a gift.
>
> I was immediately intrigued by 3D chess.
>
> Unfortunately, the "Chess in the Third Dimension"
> rules that were included with the Skor-Mor board were
> incomplete and required mandatory level-changing
> moves. Even though I enjoyed the challenge of playing
> this particular 3D variant, it was very difficult to
> find opponents who agreed with these "odd" playing
> rules.
>
> For reference, a copy of the Skor-Mor 3x8x8 chess
> rules can be downloaded from:
>
> http://www.jtelmore.com/3dchess.html
>
> Likewise, other 3D chess variants can be found at:
>
> http://www.chessvariants.com/

> I believe the Skor-Mor board was the one that I had - although
a different set of colors (brown and white rather than brown and
yellow). It had the center-post style though.
I don't recall the rules forcing the level changes. It's quite
possible my friends and I simply dropped those as absurd. ;-D

> So, I decided to write a set of 3x8x8 chess rules with
> the objective of extending the traditional 2D chess
> game into a multilevel environment without distorting
> the basic game. To the end, my Millennium 3D Chess*
> 3x8x8 variant did not "create" new pieces or chess
> rules. Other that the concept of moving between chess
> boards, all traditional 2D chess rules were applied.
*I* sure like the variant and the game has become a staple of my
classroom.

> At the request of a 2D chess colleague, I updated my
> 3x8x8 chess rules in 2001, added a new name to this
> chess variant (i.e., Millennium 3D Chess*), and set-up
> a web site and Yahoogroup where this 3D chess variant
> could be downloaded.
THANK YOU!!!
> Yes, I'm always interested in playing Millennium 3D
> Chess* by email, so feel free to let me know if you
> would like to play.
<GRIN> I posted too soon - You've said so in several messages and
I was simply so excited that I posted before reading. LOL

Orion