Feature Creature ChessHow to play
If you know chess, you already know most of it. Every piece is a stack: a coloured disc for its team, a monster, and a hat. The hat decides how it moves. The monster decides its powers.
Moves and winning
- Hats move like chess pieces: 👑 King, 💎 Queen, 🏰 Rook, 🎓 Bishop, 🎩 Knight and 🧢 Pawn. Pawns step forward (two squares on their first move) and capture diagonally. A pawn that reaches the far edge becomes a Queen.
- Tap one of your pieces to see its options under the board: Move, 🪙 Trait and its card. Glowing circles show where you can go.
- A normal move onto an enemy captures it instantly, no matter its health.
- Capture a King and that player is out. All their pieces leave the board. The last player standing wins.
- When one of your Queens attacks a King, you'll see Check!
Health
Every piece starts with 5 health. Hurt pieces show a health bar (❤ in the flat view). Attack cards usually take 1 health. Some take more, but never below 1. A piece that's already at 1 health is captured by the next attack that hits it. Kings and 🪨 Pebble monsters can't be captured by powers; they stop at 1. Heals restore health up to 5.
Power cards
Each monster has one power card that can be used once per game, and using it takes your turn. Which half you get depends on the hat:
| Wearing | You can use | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 🧢 Pawn | Team power, on your own pieces only | Protect (no capture or hits until your next turn), Swap places, Heal 1, Heal 2 (also cures poison, darkness, stars, slime, crystal, trees and freezing) |
| Rook, Knight, Bishop, Queen, King | Attack power, on enemy pieces | Earthquake, Blizzard, Lightning Storm, Firestorm, Poison, Flood, Crystal Cage, Change Rank, Meteor Shower, Time Rewind, Revive… |
Some attacks hit several pieces you pick. Others strike random enemies, push pieces back, poison them (they can't move until healed), turn them into a tree, crystal or dark spot, flood squares with water, or bring your captured monsters back. Every monster's exact powers are listed in the monster gallery.
🪙 Trait moves (coin toss)
Every monster type has one trait move. Pick 🪙 Trait, choose a target, and a coin is tossed: heads, it works; tails, nothing happens and your turn is over.
| Type | Trait move |
|---|---|
| 🌑 Voidling | Copy: copy an adjacent enemy's monster type (and its trait). |
| 🪨 Pebble | Harden: turn to stone: this piece can't be captured or hit until your next turn. |
| 🧊 Frostfang | Frost Bite: freeze an adjacent enemy and every enemy touching it for a turn. |
| ⚡ Voltpup | Shock: stun an adjacent enemy so it can't move next turn. |
| 🔥 Cinder | Ignite: set an adjacent empty square ablaze for 2 turns (enemy Pawns stepping in are benched). |
| 🌪️ Skyreaper | Push: push any enemy monster 2 squares backwards (toward its own side) onto an open square. |
| 💧 Gloop | Phase: slide through one of your own pieces (Rook, Bishop or Queen lines only). |
Extra rules
- Pawn takeovers: when a Pawn captures, the captured monster loses its hat and leaves the board. If it was a Rook, Knight, Bishop or Queen, your King can promote that Pawn to the same hat for a short time.
- Queen's demote: if your Queen had a King in check and that check gets broken, your Queen earns a one-time move that strips an enemy's hat, turning it into a Pawn.
- Fire and water: burning squares bench enemy Pawns that step in. Water squares can't be landed on until they dry up.
3 and 4 player games
With 3 or 4 players the board grows to 13×13 and each army starts in a triangle camp on its own side, pointing at the centre. Pawns march toward the centre and promote on the far side. Each time a King falls while at least two players remain, 16 empty squares crumble away for good. Nothing can move onto them, slide across them or target them. This keeps the endgame from dragging on a huge board.
Playing online
- Choose a mode (for example, 3 players or 2 players vs computer) and press Create.
- Share the 5-letter room code. Friends open the game on their own phone or computer, type the code and press Join.
- Computer seats are played automatically. The game waits on open seats until a friend joins.
Rooms are deleted after 3 days without moves.
Controls
- Rotate: drag the board left or right (a full 360°). Drag up or down to tilt.
- Zoom: mouse wheel, or pinch with two fingers.
- Flat view shows a classic 2D board, and Coordinates adds a–m / 1–13 labels.
- The Move recap under the board lists every move and card played.