Three-dimensional chess

Three-dimensional variants have existed since at least the late 19th century, one of the oldest being Raumschach (German for "Space chess"), invented in 1907 by Ferdinand Maack and considered the classic 3‑D game.

[2] The expression "three-dimensional chess" is sometimes used as a colloquial metaphor to describe complex, dynamic systems with many competing entities and interests, including politics, diplomacy and warfare.

[10] The design retained the 64 squares of a traditional chessboard, but distributed them onto separate platforms in a hierarchy of spatial levels, suggesting to audiences how chess adapted to a future predominated by space travel.

Rules for the game were never invented within the series[11] – in fact, the boards are sometimes not even aligned consistently from one scene to the next within a single episode.

The complete Standard Rules for the game were originally developed in 1976 by Andrew Bartmess (with encouragement from Joseph) and were subsequently expanded by him into a commercially available booklet.

[12] A free summary in English of the Standard Rules is contained on Charles Roth's website, including omissions and ambiguities regarding piece moves across the four Tri‑D gameboard 2×2 attack boards.

Parmen (possibly named after a lead character in the episode "Plato's Stepchildren") is a Windows application written by Doug Keenan and available free on his website.

Examples include Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov, Legend of the Galactic Heroes,[16] Nova, Blake's 7, UFO, Starman Jones, Unreal 2, the Legion of Super-Heroes franchise, Doctor Who, The Big Bang Theory, and The Lego Movie.