This one's good. A non-computer, single-player chess game!
SCP-177 / Discussion
Forum
» Per Page Discussions / Per page discussions
» SCP-177
This is the discussion related to the wiki page SCP-177.
A question: if the white player picked up a piece during their turn and attempted to preform a illegal move, like putting a pawn three squares ahead, or sliding a knight across the board, what would happen? would they find it physically impossible to put the piece down onto the board into the wrong position, like it gets two centimeters away and simply won't go down anymore, or they couldn't use their arm to do it, it paralyzed them, or would the game just stop because they cheated?
Also I'm pretty sure its logistically impossible to beat a computer at chess; it can't happen. The best anyone or anything can do is tie.
It says that if you attempt to cheat against SCP-177, the board would be thrown at you at a very high speed, enough to kill you, if not take your head clean off.
People have beaten computers at chess. It's just very difficult to do.
oh, ok, my mistake. I thought machines had enough computing power to see all the moves possible, all the branches, and effectively "solve" chess. Guess i had it incorrect. Now if there's any automatic checker boards or tic-tic-toe squares floating around here that have scientists claiming that they can beat computers…
Not really. With dozens of possible moves per turn, the number of possible turn sequences increases exponentially the farther ahead a program tries to calculate things. In order to not run out of time or memory, chess-playing programs have to either limit how far ahead they calculate everything and/or exclude all the moves that, supposedly, their opponents would never make.
This makes chess programs vulnerable to novel strategies and really long-term plans. Granted, you have to be really smart to come up with a working strategy novel enough to surprise the computer or long enough to only become apparent to the computer once it's too late to escape, but it can be done. A computer with an infinite amount of memory and an infinitely fast processor probably would be unbeatable, though.
If 076 ever has to be neutralised, this might be a viable means.
I'm not sure anymore. I'd say simply go "hey Able, you should try playing chess" and leaving him to it. But it's possible that he might simply concede defeat, rather than do rematch after rematch after rematch. It is also possible he might not be interested at all. He only seems to care for challenges presented by humans, not by objects.
However, if the board really is unbeatable and he gets it into his head that he must beat it, that'll keep him occupied enough to no longer present a danger. I believe he did play tic-tac-toe for quite a long while before conceding that the game can't be won.
It's… an unbeatable chessboard. Full stop. Kinda boring, really. Also, why does the description say "eight (8) white pawns, eight (8) black pawns, two (2) white rooks…" instead of, say, "two sets of standard chess pieces, one black and one white"?
Addendum 177-AAA seems out of place now. I remember the SCPs it's referring to (before they were removed during The Incident), but as it is right now, this addendum is just kinda hanging out there. Even a change to something like:
"SCP-███ and SCP-███ were neutralized shortly following moves performed on date ██/██/██. Given the nature of these SCPs and the names of the personnel involved, it seems unlikely that there is not a causal correlation of some kind. Therefore, it may prove fruitful to add other humanoid SCPs scheduled for termination to the player roster"
would improve it, IMO.
Giving bearhugs to the unsuspecting since 1872.
I think it wouldn't be half bad to pit it against SCP-343, because that would probably [REDACTED]
I find it excessive to outline every single chess piece. 8 rooks for white, 1 king, 2 bishops.
We all know what chess is. It'd save a lot of room just to say "With a standard chess set, white and black."
Anyone agree?
*blink* White has 8 rooks? Now that's an overpowered setup…
But yeah, the listing of chess pieces kind of makes sense from an anal-retentive position (the SCP researchers are partly writing for the ages and goodness knows the pieces have changed over the years) so I'd say keep it in.
Also, the mention of SCPs who've played against it needs to be changed/removed since those SCPs are no longer mentioned as having played. It feels like one of those "As you know, that incident where that guy played it and something happened means we need to do something" comments that's too vague to fit in a report. Again, anal-retentiveness makes sense for a Foundation who has records dating back a hundred years (or at least some of the entries show the Foundation has been around in one form or another since then) and expects to be around for a good time longer. Reference to another (unwritten) document would be preferable to me rather than an "as you know" comment.
It's supposed to be unbeatable, so I suppose it could give you eight queens.
Of more interest - what happens with a forced draw? (50 moves for each side without a pawn being moved or a piece taken.) Something bad happening might make me understand why anyone would think this shouldn't be left in the breakroom for Site 19…
I wonder if SCP-698 could be used to beat this thing…a chess move doesn't count until you remove your hand from the piece, so one could simply linger for 5 and a half minutes and then see what it says.
But I have a suspicion the turtle would just say "you should not have played this game." Or would guide you to lose quickly if it turns out somehow winning would cause a [BAD THINGY]. And of course The Foundation doesn't give a rip about knowledge for knowledge's sake so this whole idea is a total non-starter. I guess I just can't help thinking that turtle hasn't been fully explored, maybe I should go talk about this in its thread…
A move doesn't count until you take your hand away, so it wouldn't be considered a decision until you had done so. However, once a piece is touched it must be played, so the turtle might tell you that you should have moved the bishop instead but by that point it's still too late to do anything about it.
Oh yeah I forgot about the touching a piece rule, now my idea is even worse.
I'm not sure why this is an SCP rather than an anomalous object. It's a chessboard that plays chess and nothing else. How dull.
I was under the impression that anything "impossible" like an object that displays some form of sentience (or perhaps just Very Fine engineering, Clarke's laws and all that) would be eligible as an SCP…is there a nuance I'm missing?
From a purely in character perspective, you're absolutely correct. The Foundation would and does have an interest in collecting and cataloguing such items. However, out of character it's a boring piece, and I don't personally see the justification for keeping the article.
It's always been my interpretation, and I would venture to say the interpretation of most readers, that plenty of boring material and documentation exists in the SCP Foundation's IC database, but needn't actually be written out on the wiki. We keep track of the ones that are interesting to read about as fiction; the boring others are implied.
Yeah I can't really argue with the boring part. Even if it really could be used to kill an unsuspecting chess fan, what a boring way to off somebody in a secret lair full of impossible horrors.
A chess set is a good artifact for an SCP though. Perhaps something a little different can be done with it. Movements of pieces somehow tied to external events? Maybe it's a disguise for something else? A given chessboard layout would make a good password of sorts. Hmm. EVERYBODY HOLD YOUR BREATH UNTIL I GET BACK TO YOU ON THIS
What about an animate chess set with pieces who really believe they're fighting a war, with individual names and personalities?
That'd be less boring but it needs a bigger hook than that. Like the surviving pieces hold a grudge and come after you at night. Which… is just silly. I am a silly man with silly ideas.
It may be silly, but I like it all the same. Maybe if you play poorly enough the pieces hold a council of war and depose you, and refuse to accept any more moves you make.
Well, that is, assuming you don't cheat against it…
/forum/t-99611/scp-177#post-
page revision: 2, last edited: 15 Jan 2023 15:06
