Checkmade

Want an Engineer who can revive pieces back? Or a Rook that can move 1 square diagonally? Maybe a Pawn that can also go backwards?

Well you got all of that in Checkmade.

Checkmade is still chess. Same board. Same checkmate. Same feeling that you should have seen that coming three moves ago. 

What changes is the army. You get a point budget, a piece limit, and a pile of blueprints — classic pieces, fairy movers, siege junk, kings that do more than sit in the corner. You build a loadout, take it into a match, and find out whether the theory holds up.

No loot ladders. No pay-to-win pieces. Tokens you earn in play unlock the roster and a few board skins. The rest is sitting with the board until something clicks.

Army Lab

Drag owned pieces onto the board. Watch the budget. Save the ones that feel right.

Every piece shows its move diagram, the actual rules in plain language, and a short scrap of lore if you care about that kind of thing. Some revive allies. Some explode on contact. Some just sit there and make three squares in front of them miserable for the enemy. You will put two pieces together that look brilliant and lose to a pawn that learned to step backward.

The roster

Start with the familiar set if you want. Or don't.

Open Chaos Packs with tokens you earn from matches. Commons stack up. Rares and better show up often enough that the collection doesn't feel like a second job. Pity on every pack: at least one Rare or better. Stack caps keep things from getting silly.

War Machines. Sappers. Hot Cauldrons. Engineers who treat the dead like reusable timber. If it has a legal move pattern and fits the budget, it can end up on your back row.

Match

• Play against AI across a range of difficulties, including ones that will make you doubt your life choices.

• Local hotseat when someone is sitting next to you.

• Quick Random if you want a loadout and a fight without opening the Lab first.

• Play Online by launching the online version. Quick matchmaking or invite code style.

Click a piece, read what it actually does, then move. Illegal attempts get told off. The board does not care about your plan.

Puzzles

Mate in one, two, or three. Built-in challenges to learn the odd pieces without burning a whole match.

There is also a Puzzle Designer: place pieces, set the mate depth, playtest until it is honest, then save it. Publish to the Workshop when you are ready to hand your trap to strangers.

Skin Lab

Board skins and piece presentation, unlocked with the same tokens. Preview before you commit. Classic wood, neon circuit, rune stone — or stick with the original and get back to the game.

If that sounds like you

Checkmade is for people who like chess enough to argue about it, and variants enough to open a spreadsheet. Build an army. Break a few habits. Lose to Nightmare. Open one more pack. Try again.