How to Play Team Human Chess

Begin by finding enough people to play team human chess. In all, you will need 32 people, 16 per side. Ask friends, family members and co-workers to join you for a game of human chess. You may even need to ask those people to invite people in order to find the necessary 32 people.

Come up with a way to distinguish which pieces the individuals are portraying while on the human chess board. If you and the other players are very creative, you could create larger versions of the tops of actual chess pieces for your human player to hold or even wear during the game. You could also have the human chess pieces hold signs which state what piece they represent.

Create the rules for your human chess game. The basic rules of the game, such as how pieces can move, should remain the same. However, you should also set time restrictions and determine how decisions will be made regarding the moving of pieces. Will teammates simply turn to one another and talk to one another? Will there be one team captain who makes all of the decisions? These topics should be covered before the game of human chess begins.

Recruit an objective observer to watch from the sidelines and enforce the rules of the game. With any team game of this nature, there is bound to be some kind of argument. Whether it's regarding how much time is used or how a certain piece moved, tensions may flare during your human chess game. Having a friend or two on the sidelines making sure that the game is fair is probably a good idea.

Bring chairs and some food and beverages for when players are “killed” during the human chess game. Any game of chess can take quite a bit of time. If a human player is taken off the board at the beginning of the game, he could get bored rather quickly. Make sure that these people are comfortable while the human chess game concludes.