Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Bughouse Chess is a variation of chess played with two teams of two people on two chess boards. Chess clocks are used, generally with 5 minute time controls.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
Bughouse Chess is a variation of chess played with two teams of two people on two chess boards. Chess clocks are used, generally with 5 minute time controls. Team members sit beside each other playing opposite colors. Each player plays his opponent as in standard chess, except that whenever a piece is captured, it is given to the teammate. The teammate can then decide to play a normal move, or place the captured piece on any unoccupied square of the board (exception: pawns cannot be placed on the 1st or 8th rank). Team members have to work together and against the clock to win. The first person to lose by checkmate or time loses for his or her team, thus ending both games.