The game was initially met with mild intrigue, many enjoyed it but it had minimal impact. Those who already enjoyed it made several variations of the game over a few decades, experimenting with different rulesets, designs and pieces. Eventually, the current version of Melapi Chess was conceived, it's popularity initially grew slowly but eventually it gained traction. Popularity has now grown to a point that there are significantly more players of Melapi Chess than there were playing traditional Chess during its original peak.

When Melapi first encountered other species, it was observed that they have a wide variety of board games that they play regularly. In response to this, many other civs donated board games of their own, in an attempt to befriend the Melapi, among these was traditional chess, donated by a representative for the lofi .

Melapi Chess plays with similar rules to Gliński hexagonal chess, though with several new pieces replacing traditional pieces. Teams are generally coloured with light/pink or dark/turquoise(or green) pieces.

Components and tools

Board

The board of Melapi Chess is a hexagonal grid with each of the 6 sides made of 6 tiles. The board is divided into 3 colours, usually a dark, medium and light. Tiles are typically sunken into the board with pieces fitting tightly into these slots, making it harder to accidentally knock over pieces.

Pieces

Scout

Plays identically to a Pawn, moving directly forwards and capturing on diagonals. Upon reaching the far side of the board, it can be promoted to any other piece, bar the Honey Queen or Hive, unless the Honey Queen has been captured.

Guard

Replaces the Rook, playing similar to the Short Rook. It can move up to 4 tiles in each of the 6 cardinal directions. It is equipped with 3 removable shields, these can each block 1 capture from the direction covered by the shield and will be removed afterwards. The Guard can be rotated either by turning after moving or rotating in place, spending the turn as if it had moved.

Ranger

Plays identical to the Knight, jumping over other pieces in an L shape.

Officer

Plays identical to the bishop. It can only move diagonally and is restricted to tiles the same colour as the tile it started on.

Honey Queen

Replaces the Queen and plays almost identically to the Empress fairy chess piece. It moves like a combination of the Knight and Rook pieces, either moving and distance in the 6 cardinal directions or jumping in an L shape. Only one Honey Queen may exist on each players team at a time, though can be replaced by promoting a Scout.

Hive

Replaces the King. It can move 1 tile in any direction, including diagonals the same colour as it's current tile, similar to the Officer piece. If this piece is captured or locked into a checkmate, the opponent's team wins.