RPS Chess

How to Play RPS Chess

1. What makes it different from chess

RPS Chess uses a standard chessboard, standard piece movement, and standard king-hunting. Two things change, and they change everything else:

• Every piece has a type — rock, paper or scissors (and in the Extended variant, lizard and spock too).
• Captures are decided by type, not by geometry. Moving onto an enemy piece does not automatically take it. Your piece's type has to beat theirs.

So a rook that reaches an enemy square is not guaranteed a capture. If a rock moves onto a paper, the rock loses. This makes the board far less about material count and far more about matchups — which is the whole point of the game.

2. The capture table

This is the heart of the game. A capture only succeeds if the attacker's type beats the defender's type.

Standard mode — rock, paper, scissors

Type	Beats	Loses to
🪨 Rock	Scissors	Paper
📃 Paper	Rock	Scissors
✂️ Scissors	Paper	Rock

Extended mode (RPSLS) — adds lizard and spock

Type	Beats
🪨 Rock	Scissors, Lizard
📃 Paper	Rock, Spock
✂️ Scissors	Paper, Lizard
🦎 Lizard	Spock, Paper
🖖 Spock	Scissors, Rock

Not every piece type is a promotion advantage — a queen's power comes from movement, but its type still decides whether any given capture lands. A weak-typed queen can be blocked all game by a well-placed pawn of the right type.

3. How games end

There is no check and no checkmate. Nobody has to "get out of check" — you are never forced to answer a threat. The win condition is simpler and harsher:

• Capture the king — that wins the game outright.
• Wipe out the enemy side — also wins.

Because of that, the usual chess instinct is wrong. Leaving your king "in check" is perfectly legal here, and it is exactly how people lose. Guard the king.

4. Draws

Games are drawn by stalemate (no legal moves), insufficient material, the fifty-move rule, threefold repetition, or agreement between the two players. The game tells you which one applied when it ends.

5. The four ways to play

Mode	What it is
RPS Chess	The main game. Full chessboard, RPS-typed pieces, hidden king. You can pick Standard or Extended type sets.
RPS.IO	A live arena for 2–64 players. Every piece climbs ranks from pawn to king, and you fight to be the last one standing or reach king first. This one is real-time, not turn-based — see the arena rules.
Tag Team	Two-on-two chess. You and a teammate share a side and alternate moves, so coordination decides the game.
RPS Shoot	Movement rules from chess, but any piece can capture any other. No type matchups at all — pure tactics.

6. Starting a game

From the main screen, press Play Now and pick a mode and an opponent:

• vs Computer — four difficulty levels: Easy, Medium, Hard and Master. Works offline, and it is by far the fastest way to learn.
• vs Player (Local) — two people, one device, taking turns.
• Play Online — matched against another player, with ratings that go up and down.
• vs Friend — send an invite and play a private match, no rating at stake.

7. Puzzles

If you want to improve faster than playing full games allows, puzzles are the shortcut. There is a daily puzzle, a scored Puzzle Rush, Puzzle Battle, Survival, rated puzzles and Puzzle Blitz — each one a small tactical position with a correct answer.

Because this is RPS Chess and not standard chess, puzzle solutions are often about the type matchup rather than the shape of the position. That is the skill the game is really testing.

8. Playing with other people

• Account — you can play offline without one. An account (email, or Google sign-in) is needed for online play, ratings, friends and clubs.
• Friends — add other players and challenge them whenever they are online.
• Clubs — join a club, chat with its members, and play clubmates.
• Leaderboard — rankings across the game.

Please remember that club chat is visible to other members, so keep personal information out of it.

9. Making it yours

Unlock and equip skin packs to restyle your board and pieces, choose an avatar and country flag, and pick from several board themes and languages. You can also draw your own playing piece with the built-in editor.

10. Five tips that win games

• Matchups beat material. Before you build a plan, work out who on your side beats what. Trading into a losing type loses you the piece.
• Mind the terrain. A mountain square flips rock-versus-paper. Fight for it.
• Protect the king from the right type. Ask "which enemy piece beats my king's type?" — that one is the threat, and it is the only one that can win outright.
• Play the free lessons. The in-game Learn section covers king capture, winning trades, forks, skewers, centre control and piece value.
• Start against Easy bots. The type system takes a few games to feel natural, and bots never get impatient.

Play RPS Chess free