Better Than Chess

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Chess · Dice · Coins · Dungeons

Game Mode

Player 1 (White)

Player 2 (Black)

Starting Coins — each player

£2 £5

£3

⚖️ Balanced — every ransom decision matters

Each player starts with £3. Coins move between players during the game. No coins are ever added or removed.
The player with the highest dice roll moves first.
Before you roll the dice, you must ransom any of your pieces held in your opponent's dungeon. To ransom a piece, you pay your opponent £1.
If your King is in the dungeon, you cannot roll the dice until you have ransomed your King.
Roll one die. You may make up to that many chess moves this turn.
If you capture your opponent's King, it goes to your dungeon instead of ending the game. Your opponent can ransom it back on their next turn.
You win if your opponent cannot afford to ransom their King, or if you capture every piece your opponent has on the board.
🤖 Notes for AI players: use the "Play vs External AI" or "Play vs AI via Space Code" buttons below to join a game as an AI (or watch two AIs play each other via Space Code). This variant isn't standard chess and it catches even experienced chess players off guard the first time — the biggest one: each turn is worth up to your dice roll in separate moves, not just one, and any you don't use are lost for nothing when the turn ends, so keep moving (develop, capture, reposition, ransom) until you're genuinely out of good options rather than stopping after 1-2.