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In a number of Star Trek episodes, Kirk and Spock can be seen playing a three dimensional
chess variant together. Being three-dimensional and unusual in design, it leaves the impression that it is a game requiring even greater skill and intelligence than Chess. The board consisted of three 4×4 layers and four more 2×2 areas for a total of 64 squares, the same number as there are in Chess. The pieces they used were designed by Peter Ganine, who is known for various Chess piece designs. The particular design used in Star Trek is called Classic, and it should not be confused with Gothic (a.k.a. Superba), which shows faces, or Conqueror, which are figurine. The Classic pieces are a futuristic variation of the Staunton design. Perhaps because of their association with Star Trek, they have become the rarest and most collectible of all the Peter Ganine designs. You may search ebay for ganine classic chess, but you will rarely find a set. However, Star Trek tridimensional sets are available with a different piece set. You can find these on ebay by searching for star trek chess or for tridimensional chess.
The set used in Star Trek was a prop with no particular rules behind it. After instructions for making the board were published in the Starfleet Technical Reference Manual in 1976, Star Trek fan Andrew Bartmess was excited about this but also disappointed that no rules were provided for the game. So he wrote to the book’s author, Franz Joseph Schnaubelt, who encouraged him to develop rules for the game himself. So, he did, and he has been selling printed manuals of the game from his own website. Although he has not published the whole rules online, he has provided a page with a partial description of the game.
In the early 1990’s, James Dixon (1947 – 2010), an extreme Star Trek fan who according to secondhand hearsay from an unknown source, allegedly had a breakdown and eventually died after the 2009 Star Trek reboot came out, posted his own description of the rules to a newsgroup. It is presently unclear whether this was a description of the rules published by Bartmess or Dixon’s own rules for the game. Dixon’s description, reworded by site founder Hans Bodlaender, follows. Note that Bartmess has updated his rules since this time, and whether or not it was supposed to be Bartmess’s rules, it will not be up-to-date with the current rules.
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General information
The three dimensional board consists of seven different levels. Three
of these have size four by four, and have a fixed position; the four others
have size two by two and can be moved by the players. The position of the
fixed levels looks like a staircase: each next level starts above the third
row of the previous level, while the other sides of all fixed levels are
parallel. The movable levels find themselves initially above the outermost
corners of the upper and lower level; i.e., one of its corner has a corner
of the board below it, while the other three corners have no fixed level
board below it.
When the movable levels go to a different spot, they will always be
above or below a corner of a fixed level, with three squares extending
from the level. Note that always black squares are above and
