You're calling on examples of strongly-pedigreed, well-informed. very slight game variations, and claiming they're equivalent with a whole-cloth supposition of

You're calling on examples of strongly-pedigreed, well-informed. very slight game variations, and claiming they're equivalent with a whole-cloth supposition of the rules based on nothing but an examination of the board and pieces. The gradual evolution of a well-documented game doesn't really compare with uninformed assumptions about how a game might work based on little more than mere physical artifacts.