RPS ChessAbout RPS Chess
The short version: RPS Chess is an independent chess variant where every piece is also rock, paper or scissors, and captures are decided by that matchup instead of by the board. It is free to play, and it is made by the people who run this site.
What the game is
RPS Chess uses a standard board, standard piece movement and standard king-hunting, then changes one rule: a piece can only capture an enemy it beats. A rook that reaches a piece it loses to simply does not take it. The whole game bends around that — material matters less than matchups, and terrain can flip a matchup outright.
It comes in five ways to play:
- RPS Chess — the main turn-based game, with a king you choose in secret and no checkmate: the game ends when the king is taken or a side is wiped out.
- RPS.IO — the live arena, 2 to 64 players at once, where pieces rank up from pawn to king as they collect experience.
- Tag Team — two-versus-two chess on a single board.
- RPS Shoot — chess movement with the type matchups switched off, for players who want the other half of the game.
- Puzzles — daily, rush, battle, survival and rated tactical positions, including puzzles built from real games.
If you have never played it, How to Play RPS Chess explains the capture tables and the win conditions in a few minutes. The RPS.IO arena rules cover the arena in full.
Why it exists
Chess is a game about geometry: count the material, control the squares, and the better position wins. Rock, paper, scissors is a game about the read: nothing beats everything, and a weaker position can beat a stronger one with the right type. RPS Chess exists because those two ideas contradict each other in an interesting way — a queen is powerful everywhere except the square where it is the wrong type.
That contradiction is the game. It is why there is no checkmate here, why the king is hidden, and why the guides on this site talk about matchups and terrain rather than openings books.
Where you can play it
- In the browser at rpschess.io — nothing to install, and no account needed to start a game against the bot or a friend in the same room.
- In the Android app — the same game and the same account.
- On iOS — an app build is in preparation. The game already runs in Safari on iPhone and iPad.
Playing online adds accounts, friends, clubs, achievements and a leaderboard; the game itself works offline once it has loaded.
How this project is run
RPS Chess is a small, independent project. There is no publisher and no studio between the game and the people playing it — the same people who design the modes maintain this site, write the guides and answer the email.
Three things are deliberate about how it is run, and you can check all three:
- Everything shipped is written down. What's new is the running record of changes to the game and the site, with dates. It is not decoration — it is how anyone can tell the project is active.
- The guides are written for players, not for search engines. Each one covers a question the game actually raises — the capture tables, the opening, the mistakes beginners make, how to convert a won position — and each is specific to this game rather than generic chess advice with the words swapped.
- Playing costs nothing. The game is free and supported by advertising, which is why there are ads on this site and in the app. Every mode is open from the start, no mode is behind a payment, adverts are never placed over the board while you are playing, and we do not sell personal information. The details are in the Privacy Policy and the Cookie Policy.
How to get in touch
Bug reports, questions, corrections to a guide, feedback on a mode, or a request about your account and data — all of it is welcome, and all of it is read. The contact page explains what to include and how quickly we aim to reply. You can also email rpschesshelp@gmail.com directly.