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Tigris & Euphrates
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- 1997
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- 6.4
Rules assistance for Royal Chess
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with saved question history.
Rules assistant for Royal Chess
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Royal Chess is an expansion for Chess released in 1983 for 2 players and ages 7 and up. It was designed by Robert Valentine and its main mechanics are Hand Management.
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About the game
Description from the publisher: Royal Chess is like playing a game of poker and chess at the same time. It makes chess more exciting and fast-paced, while keeping the challenge of planning every move. It's the perfect combination of strategy and chance. Each game contains two decks of 50 cards and is played with any chess set. The object of Royal Chess is to capture the Royal Family (the King and Queen pieces). You pick up five chess cards and if you have the corresponding chess piece, then you can move it like regular chess. But because your opponent does not know what cards you have, they may make very risky moves and may even try to bluff you! After you play a card, you pick up a new one and always have five cards to choose from. There are also two Jester cards (wild cards) which can be played to re-claim or move any of your pieces.
Editions
- Royal ChessenRoyal Chess Cards1993
Categories
Mechanics
Designers
Publishers
- Royal Chess Cards
Questions and answers
Royal Chess supports 2 players according to the catalogue. This is the publisher’s listed player count, so the game is designed for exactly that number of participants. Variants for other group sizes, if any, are described in the rulebook of your edition, so check it before setting up a different configuration.
The catalogue lists Royal Chess for ages 7 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Royal Chess belongs to these categories: Abstract Strategy and Expansion for Base-game. Its main mechanics are Hand Management. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Royal Chess are: Robert Valentine. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Royal Chess as an expansion for Chess. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to the base game and usually cannot be played on their own, so you need Chess to use it. Check that your edition of Chess is compatible, as some expansions were revised between editions.