How to play Falling Chess

Position falling chess formations, capture opposing pieces and clear full rows. Keep the spawn area clear to continue your run.

Place, capture, clear

Move and rotate your squad of three or four pieces. Check the next formation and use the ghost landing guide.
Drop the squad. Completed rows clear, and eligible placed pieces capture opponents using their chess movement patterns.
Plan your next landing. Captures can lead to counter-captures. Capture streaks increase your score.

In solo play, the squad you place starts ordinary captures. Each eligible piece captures once per turn. Bonuses and Gravity Cascade can change the eligible pieces. In PVP, the game scans all pieces of the active color for captures.

Know your pieces

Pawn: One square diagonally downward. Both colors capture toward the bottom of the board.
Knight: An L-shaped jump: two squares in one direction and one across. It can jump over pieces.
Bishop: Along diagonals, until another piece blocks its path.
Rook: Along a row or column, until another piece blocks its path.
Queen: Along rows, columns and diagonals. It cannot jump over pieces.
King: One square in any direction. A bonus can upgrade a piece to a king.

Choose a mode

Single Player

Play Classic (10 × 20), Compact (8 × 12), Quick (8 × 10) or Blitz (6 × 10). Your squads can be either color. Build your score before the stack reaches the spawn area.

Gravity Cascade

Play a Classic board where unsupported pieces fall after placement. As pieces settle, new rows and capture opportunities can form.

PVP

Choose guest online matchmaking or Play Computer. Players take turns placing their color on a shared board. Online matches are unrated, with no account or cloud save.

Controls

Move left / right: ← → or A D
Rotate clockwise: ↑ or W
Soft drop: ↓ or S
Hard drop: Space
Pause / resume: Esc or pause button

Solo and computer games pause. Online PVP continues while the menu is open.

On touch, use the on-screen buttons, swipe left or right to move, tap or swipe up to rotate, drag downward to soft drop, or swipe down fast to hard drop. PVP controls work on your turn.

Settings and the end of a run

Adjust sound, music, haptics and reduced motion in Settings. When the next squad cannot spawn, solo play may offer a revive and an endgame chess sequence before the final score. PVP compares the two color scores.

PLAY ONLINE