Maharajah
Queen + Knight
Your pieces. Your opening.
It plays like chess because it is chess. The difference is that you choose the pieces, place them on your half of the board, and reveal both armies only when the game begins.
Free forever. Play against the AI directly in this browser.
Choose your experiment
You play One big piece vs the classic army — 39 points a side.
Play this matchupStart here
No theory to learn first. If you know how the chess pieces move, you are ready.
A normal chess army also costs 39 points, so both sides begin with equal resources.
Use your half of the board. Build a fortress, a cavalry attack, or one enormous threat.
The rules are chess. The position is new. Your judgement matters before move one.
Three new pieces
Each new piece combines two moves you already know.
Queen + Knight
Rook + Knight
Bishop + Knight
Play together
Create a room in the app and send the code to a friend. You both build in private; the board is revealed when both armies are locked in.
Watch
Short walkthroughs of the app — the desktop build and the mobile build.
Take it with you
Online with a friend, offline against the engine, or two players sharing one device. There is no paid tier and no advertising.
| Platform | Notes | Download |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone & iPad | Universal iOS build. | v0.3.2 App Store |
| macOS | Mac desktop build. | v0.3.2 App Store |
| Windows | Windows desktop build. | v0.3.2 Microsoft Store |
| Android | Phones and tablets. | v0.3.2 Google Play |
| Linux |
Universal x64 build. Make the file executable to run — how. |
v0.3.2 AppImage |
| Source & Releases | The engine inside the app, as source. | v0.2.1 GitHub |
Engine
We measured it instead of guessing: 208 games against a known reference engine. Level 1 lands around 1100 Elo for beginners, level 5 around 2080. Levels 1–4 play identically on a cheap phone and a fast desktop — we checked that too.
See the numbers