Really Bad Chess

Name: Really Bad Chess
Rating: 3.82254 (1544 reviews)

Games

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Really Bad Chess

Games

3.8

1.5K ratings

Age Rating

Seller

STFJ LLC

In-App Purchases

$0.99 – $3.99

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User Reviews for Really Bad Chess

I am the worst player....

Like you ad says, WHY NOT? I have ENJOYED EACH GAME! I know I am a horrible chess player. I taught my 10 year old brother to play...I never won another game from him.***I sincerely hope that you have an AWARD for poorest player; I’ll win it no problem...I have not won a game yet here either.I have a few NEW PLAYER SUGGESTIONS. THE STARS will go higher....Questions...1) why can’t I move any of my three pawns?? There were several times that if I was allowed I would have distracted their Queen...and blocked a ROOK. (you have to play to understand the above...) 2) I’m confused about the red attacks, when I attack the attacker, nothing happens...it freezes. 3) what’s happening with the blue line on the AI s side? What does it do, besides distracting me!!! 4) Will I ever be allowed to get a Queen in place of the Pawn who walked to the rear of the AIs lines??? *****If I ever win, I hope you have fireworks!!! At least now, I have a reason to lose and laugh while I’m doing it!

1stCeye, Jan 08, 2021

Good but...

This app is good and its really fun and addicting, but.... there is a few problems.1. There should be a easier way to win, let me explain. Whenever i capture all of the opposing teams pieces and I'm only left with queen vs queen, I CANT WIN the other queen-no matter how hard the difficulty- always runs away or keeps moving, it doesn't even make a move on you. You cant capture her.2. You are not allowed to move where the other team would capture you. Whenever i move a piece and its in the way of the opposite team it wont let me. This game doesnt let you have a chance to get captured (not that you would want to) but its not like real chess.Overall the game is good but can you please fix these things, i know its called really bad chess but its the only good chess game out there and i would like it to be like real chess. And this is coming from someone who doesnt know how to play chess but would like to through this game. One more thing you shouldn't have to PAY to change the color of your board or PAY to play with friends its retarded i would like to play or challenge with friends but i cant becaise it costes $2.99 which i think is really quite expensive for a chess game and a little extra features .

Bctatyolo, Oct 24, 2016

Great concept, but horrible execution

It seemed like a great game at first, and I made the mistake of purchasing the version without ads. The odds are never in your favor. Let me explain this more thoroughly. The board is set up against you, even on a difficulty level of zero. The AI opponent can leisurely stroll a bishop across the map—first turn—and take one of your pieces. If you are unprepared, it will take two of your pieces, sometimes three. Almost all the time, you’ll have two of three unguarded pieces, so even if you set up to protect a piece, you’ll have compromised the others. The opponent’s entire back row is set with queens, bishops and rooks, so you cannot swipe a bishop across the board without having it taken immediately- so, it’s not really worth it. They also have no pawns and you have plenty- sometimes even in the back row. While pawns may become queens by reaching the other side, it’s near impossible to do so when every single piece on the other side can put-maneuver or block it. So, pawns are essentially useless. Yes, I know that in card games like poker, it’s about how you play the cards, but imagine playing against an opponent with all aces. It’s doable, but never in your favor. So, I say again: it’s a great concept, but the rather unfair set-up has lost my interest.

CmmrGhost, Jun 03, 2018

Playing against stockfish are we?

Long story short for those who may not want to read all of my review, if you are new to chess and saw this game as an opportunity to learn some strategy then just uninstall it and move on. It isnt worth the headache.So let me get this straight. You make a game for people to play chess without having the big intimidating move sets to worry about and instead give us an ai to play against that seems to always perform the best possible move? I wanted this game to teach me how to move, defend, and break through pieces and to the transfer that to regular chess. It seems like a good training tool to get used to using different formations and to learn how adapting can win you games. All this was my expectation. Instead, i was met with a game that places me against possibly the MOST ept chess bot in existence. For example, in one game i was up several big pieces. I had four pawns, a queen, two knights, and a rook against my opponents three nights and maybe three pawns. I LOST. If you give the bot some sort of reasonable give and make it blunder some moves or at least play like a normal person id change this to five stars. Its a great premise, but im unspeakably tired of getting ripped apart by an ai that constantly plays the best move against me, someone who is just getting into chess and cant grasp yet how to move AND defend at the same time.

Daa Babie, Feb 19, 2023

Great idea ruined by horrible AI

The AI is legitimately the worse I've every played against. It constantly hangs pieces and doesn't take pieces that I leave hanging. It doesn't seem to pay any attention to even the most basic tactics. I understand that it can't be too hard so it appeals to a wider audience, but it feels like I'm playing against someone who learned the rules of chess only a couple days ago. The poor play from the opponent pretty much removes the need to actually play chess. The whole game is decided randomly at this point--you take a piece and hope your opponent doesn't see that he can take back. Once you get to higher difficulties, your opponent will pretty much always have some opportunity to win, so it's left to chance whether he actually sees it or not. All of this makes the game really repetitive and boring. If there's no need to actually think about the game then it immediately loses the appeal that traditional chess has. I'd love if the game implemented a proper engine, like a lower level of stockfish, to play against instead of whatever it uses right now. I want to feel like I've achieved my high score instead of just feeling like I got lucky a couple times in a row.

Honey8465, Sep 19, 2021

Best thing to happen to chess in 500 years.

Have been playing chess since I was a kid. But can't recall ever being so excited about the game until this surreal and wacky version of the game appeared recently. Not only is it truly fun and exhilarating, but some of the mating nets which arise during play can be truly beautiful, if utterly bizarre. For longtime players it's magical to trap your opponent with, say, four bishops or some other acid-trip combination. Let's face it, regular chess is frequently a dour serious time-consuming business. Really Bad Chess turns the game upside down, is quick to play, and is highly addictive. A delight in every way. Bravo, Zach Gage! Bobby Fischer, who proposed Fischer Random Chess, would approve of this game one suspects. If you're a chess purist or snob, you owe it to yourself to give this app a shot. Kick in the measly $2.99 while you're at it. Gage thoroughly deserves it.

In Two Minds, Mar 02, 2017

Great Idea and Great Potential!

This is a really cool idea and has great potential! But I quickly got tired of it after 2-3 weeks...mainly because it was really fun at first and it was new. But soon, it gets to where the computer has far better pieces; then I win, I go up 8, I loose I go down 2, until eventually I start to plateau, winning 1, loosing 4 and so on because I stay disadvantaged...It not real chess, and I get tired of having 1Q and 1R against the AI’s 3Q and 3Q...it starts to become work and lots of loosing when I wants it to be fun and entertaining and maybe win half instead if going up 8 points and then down 2 on losses until it gets easier again...like I say, it’s not real chess and I don’t feel like I’m not learning a whole lot from the losses since the pieces are random. Another irritating thing about the game, 3 repeated moves with the King and AI’s piece is not a stalemate, but will go on forever until you give up pieces for the AI to win or if you can’t block the you’ll go back and forth until you surrender...

Jeep Trackhawk, Dec 23, 2020

No way to draw

My first game ended with my opponent having a king and 2 black bishops. I had a king, 2 pawns and 3 white bishops. However, all the opponent had to do was park his 2 bishops on a single diagonal, such that both were attacking one of the two promotion squares for my pawn, and there was nothing I could do to progress. I couldn’t kill his bishops because nothing would rech them, I couldn’t promote either pawn without losing it (while still being unable to kill the attacking piece), and I couldn’t checkmate without at least 2 piece that could force an attack on a blck square.However, I also don’t want to resign, because I feel like I have the superior position and materiel. This is why chess has the stalemate option, something that Mr. Gage apparently didn’t understand when he made this game. The game may be technically interesting, but the implications of what it does clearly were not thought all the way through.

Kohou, May 22, 2021

A-mazing Chess Spin-off

This game is endless entertainment, I love the AI(although it does make what I would call mistakes) it always poses a good challenge, regardless of difficulty level. I have had a great time playing the game, level 15 up to 102, where strategy changes a bit toward seeing how much you can get the AI to mess up. I think the decision making in the AI is best in the 50-75 rank range, as far as entertainment value goes.I haven’t experienced many bugs, occasionally the game will crash but it has saved the game state most of the time so it will reload where it left off.The ad integration is great, they are hardly annoying or intrusive, since you choose when to play them, although I do get the same ad nearly every time.I would love a pvp mode across devices. The 1v1 seems okay but net play with friends would be a real treat. I know that is another order of complexity when it comes to app development but I love this game and playing it with friends would be amazing.Thank you for creating this!

MaXx_The_Great, Jun 27, 2018

Great, but...

I absolutely love this game. A wacky take on a great strategy game. My only problem is that the game seems to refuse to tie. I somehow ended up with two kings. I know this game said to throw out all we know about chess, but it seems odd that I have to forfeit just to go to another game. Even moving a piece back and forth 50+ times to the same two spaces didn’t draw the game. That means the AI wins and I lose rank when in reality it should be a draw and I keep the same rank. I know loss in rank is very minimal, but it still seems like the game should know when winning is impossible and will draw the game. This and the fact that I can’t free mode the daily after I have lost both time. I understand you shouldn’t be allowed to free mode the daily if you haven’t won, but it would be fun to give extra tries to it even though I lost. Anyways, these two issues are extremely tiny and arguably nit picking, so I only took off one star as everything else is a ton of fun!

MinutesPerBeat, Aug 05, 2019

Description

Really Bad Chess is just like chess, but with totally random pieces. Try 8 Knights, 4 Bishops, and 3 pawns — why not? As heard on NPR's Weekend Edition 5 out of 5 Stars "An essential puzzle experience for anyone even remotely interested in strategy games" - TouchArcade Whether you play chess daily, or quit just after learning the rules, this small twist will open the door to an entire new world of chess. ------WHATS IN THE “BOX”?

The free version of Really Bad Chess lets you compete vs. an AI in Ranked, Daily, or Weekly Challenges. Improve your skills using the included Freeplay mode. A single in-app purchase unlocks Versus Mode so you can compete against your friends locally! It also removes ads, displays captured pieces, and adds soothing alternate color-palettes to choose from. ------REALLY BAD PRESS "Makes chess fun even if you’re really bad" - The Verge "Feels more modern than chess has ever felt" - Applenapps "Really Bad Chess takes a really bad idea and somehow manages to make it a lot of fun." - Pocket Gamer "Really good fun" - MacLife ------A WORD FROM THE DEVELOPER Chess is one of those games I always wished I enjoyed, but its commitment to beauty, elegance, and perfect balance always turned me away. Really Bad Chess removes these boring restrictions and flips chess on its head. As much as random pieces change the game in some ways, I was really surprised to notice how much the game remains the same, and how powerful some pieces are — you've never truly struggled against a pawn until you've struggled against a pawn in the back row. For chess pros, Really Bad Chess will give you a new type of challenge — the pieces & the moves are the same, but you'll have to throw out your openings and your understanding of normal patterns of play. For novice chess players (like most of us), Really Bad Chess greatly opens up the game. Instead of starting by studying openings, in your first games you'll get to discover the joy (and challenge!) of learning how to checkmate. I hope you have as much fun with Really Bad Chess as much as I did making it. -zach