¶ Chess
Chess is a full game of chess between two players, played on any chess board lying in the world. You can play for gold, with the winner taking the pot minus a small house fee, or play a Friendly game for no gold at all. Every game uses real chess rules and a chess clock.
¶ How to start
- Find any chess board, in a tavern or in a home. You can also buy your own Chess Board from a Provisioner and set it on a table or the floor.
- The board must lie in the world. A board in your backpack or any other container cannot host a game.
- Stand near the board and use it. The chess table window opens.
¶ Opening a challenge
In the Your Challenge panel, choose:
- Stake: one of the presets (1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 25,000, 50,000 or 100,000 gold), type an amount in the Amount field, or pick Friendly to play for no gold.
- Clock: 5 min + 3 s, 10 min + 5 s, or 15 min + 10 s.
- Colours: Random (a coin flip decides who plays White when the challenge is accepted) or I play White (you play White and move first).
Then either:
- click Open challenge, so anyone near the board can accept, or
- type a name in the Player field and click Challenge a player, so only that player can accept. They must be near the board, and they get a message telling them to use the board to accept.
Your stake is taken when you open the challenge and held safely until the game ends. The window shows what the winner would take before you commit.
¶ Accepting a challenge
Open challenges are listed under Open Challenges with the challenger, the clock, the colours, the stake and the time left. Click Accept on one to put up the same stake and start the game straight away. If you cannot accept a challenge, its row says why (for example “Your account”, “Not for you”, “Finish yours”, “Too far” or “Host left”). The challenger has to stay near the board for their challenge to be accepted.
¶ How to play
- Moving: click one of your pieces, then click one of the marked squares. You can only move on your turn.
- Promotion: when a pawn reaches the last rank, the window asks which piece it becomes (queen, rook, bishop or knight). Back lets you pick another move instead.
- Rules: full chess rules apply, including castling, en passant, check and checkmate.
- Clocks: each player has their own clock. Only the side to move loses time, and the clock’s extra seconds are added after each move you complete.
- Draw offers: click Offer Draw to offer your opponent a draw. You can offer once per move, and the offer lapses when your opponent moves. Your opponent can accept or decline it.
- Resigning: click Resign, then confirm.
- Aborting: before Black’s first move, either player can click Abort to cancel the game. Any stakes are returned.
- Back to Table opens the challenge board while your game keeps running. Click Return to your game there, or use the board again, to get back to your game.
¶ How a game ends
| Result | How |
|---|---|
| Win | Checkmate, your opponent resigns, or your opponent’s clock runs out |
| Draw | Stalemate, threefold repetition, the fifty-move rule, a dead position (no mating material), or an agreed draw |
| Draw on time | A clock runs out, but the other player has no way to checkmate |
| Cancelled | Aborted before Black’s first move, the board is moved, or a server restart |
The How to play icon (the open book) on the chess windows opens the in-game help.
¶ Stakes and fees
| Stake range | 1,000 to 100,000 gold. Each board’s challenge panel shows its own range |
| Friendly game | No gold, same rules and clocks |
| Who pays | Both players put up the same stake, so the pot is twice the stake |
| House fee | 5% of the pot, only when a game has a winner |
| Draws and cancelled games | No fee. Both stakes are returned |
Your stake is taken in one payment: from the coins in your backpack if they cover it, otherwise from your bank (coins in your bank box, a bank check, or your bank balance).
Example: with a 10,000 gold stake each, the pot is 20,000. The winner takes 19,000 and the 1,000 fee is removed from the game.
¶ Winning and payouts
- The winner’s prize (the pot minus the 5% fee) is added to your bank balance, and you get a message confirming it.
- Refunds from draws, aborts, cancelled games and withdrawn or expired challenges also go back to your bank balance.
- After a game, Rematch challenges the same player again with the same stake, clock and colour setting. They must still be near the board to accept.
- Each board keeps a Last Games list showing recent results.
¶ Good to know
- Range: you must be within 15 paces of the board to open, accept or move. If you walk further away, your chess windows close. Walking away does not pause the game, and your clock keeps running while you are gone.
- Leaving or disconnecting: a live game does not end when you log out, but your clock keeps running and you lose when it hits zero.
- Unaccepted challenges: a challenge nobody accepts within 15 minutes is withdrawn and your stake is returned. You can also Cancel challenge at any time before it is accepted. If you log out with an open challenge, it is withdrawn and refunded.
- One at a time: you can have only one challenge or game at a time, across all chess boards. You cannot challenge or accept a challenge from your own account.
- Not while dead or fighting: you cannot open or accept a challenge while dead or in combat.
- Busy boards: each board holds up to 6 open challenges and 4 games at once.
- Daily restart: no new game can start between 08:20 and 09:00 UTC. You can still post challenges then. A server restart cancels every open challenge and game, and all stakes are returned.
- Moving the board: if a board is picked up, moved or put in a container, every challenge and game on it is cancelled and all stakes are returned.
- Announcements: open challenges of 10,000 gold or more, and wins from pots of 50,000 gold or more, may be announced to the shard, without player names.