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What the Chess?

Physical edition

The tabletop version of What the Chess?

A full 10-by-8 board, molded chess pieces, and the custom Jester that makes the game what it is. Same rules as the browser game, played across a table.
I'd buy a copy

Not a preorder. No payment required.

The What the Chess? board game set up for play: the 10-by-8 folding board with cream and black pieces including the Jester, beside the boxed edition with its lid and pieces.

Why the table is different

Same rules. A different kind of pressure.

Across a table there is no interface hinting at what the Jester can reach. You have to see the jump yourself, and so does your opponent.

You spot the jump, not the app

No highlighted squares. The multi-jump chain that wins the game is the one you find on your own.

Conversions you physically perform

When a piece changes sides you turn it over yourself. Watching an opponent do it to you lands differently.

Setup becomes a decision

Choosing a formation or building your own back rank happens in front of your opponent, before a move is made.

The Jester

The piece the whole game turns on.

The custom Jester piece, in the pink and purple of the What the Chess? brand.

Each side gets two Jesters. A Jester hops diagonally over an adjacent piece and lands on the empty square directly beyond it on that diagonal. Hop over your own piece and nothing happens to it. Hop over an enemy piece and it switches sides, staying exactly where it stands.

A Jester cannot jump an enemy King, cannot immediately reverse the jump it just made, and cannot jump the same piece twice in one chain. Within those limits, a single turn can run several jumps together.

The custom Jester sculpt is the centerpiece of the physical set.

Board and formations

10 named formations in the box.

Both players choose their starting formation before the first move, from the same 10 formations that exist in the digital game, or from a Custom Build of their own.

Citadel

Harbor

Bastion

Sentinel

All 10: Citadel, Watchtower, Bastion, Crescent, Harbor, Palisade, Fortress, Keep, Sentinel, Compass.

In the box

What the Chess?, boxed.

The closed What the Chess? game box, showing the pink Jester hat logo and the line 'a twisted chess game where enemy players switch sides'.
  • The folding 10-by-8 board.
  • Molded chess pieces for both sides.
  • The custom Jester pieces.
  • Formation setup and Custom Build reference.
  • 2 players, 30 minutes.

Physical game interest

I'd buy a copy

The physical edition is still being prepared. This is not a preorder and no payment is required. Tell us you are interested and we will let you know when it becomes available.

This is not a preorder. No payment is required, nothing is reserved, and no future purchase is implied.