Really Bad Chess

Really Bad Chess is an award-winning mobile game by indie developer Zach Gage that takes the classic game of chess and flips it on its head. Instead of the standard starting position, every game gives you a randomized set of pieces. You might get three queens and a handful of bishops, or find yourself with nothing but knights and a single rook. Your opponent gets a different random set too, and the chaos begins.

The game was an Apple App Store Editors'Choice pick and quickly became one of the most talked-about chess apps ever made. It strips away the need for opening memorization and forces players to think creatively with whatever they are dealt. Each game becomes a unique tactical puzzle rather than a test of rote knowledge.

Really Bad Chess features multiple modes including Ranked play (where difficulty scales as you climb), Daily and Weekly challenges that let you compete on the same randomized board as every other player, and a Freeplay mode for casual experimentation. A Prestige system beyond rank 100 adds long-term goals, and the Knight Hike puzzle mode provides a different kind of chess brain-teaser. Local multiplayer (Versus mode) lets you challenge friends on the same device.

Whether you are a grandmaster looking for a laugh or someone who has never played chess before, Really Bad Chess levels the playing field and proves that chess can be funny, surprising, and endlessly replayable.