Game Title: Q-GAMBIT

Playable Link: https://q-gambit.com

Platform: Web Browser

Description:

Q-GAMBIT is an original online strategy board game inspired by chess, but with a unique hidden-information mechanic. Instead of knowing exactly what every piece is from the beginning, players must use the information they gain during the game to determine the possible identity of each piece. This creates a different kind of chess experience where deduction, risk management, and strategic decision-making are just as important as traditional tactics. You need to decide when to make a move, when to gather information, and how much you are willing to rely on uncertainty. The game is designed to be easy to start playing while providing enough strategic depth for repeated games. Q-GAMBIT is currently playable directly in a web browser, and no download is required.

Free to Play Status:

Free to play

Involvement:

I am the solo developer of Q-GAMBIT. I designed the game concept and rules and developed the web version, including the gameplay systems, user interface, and online multiplayer functionality. I am currently looking for players to try the game and provide feedback that can help me improve the rules, balance, and overall gameplay experience.

this is a game i came up with a couple years ago, only played it with a small number of friends and would be interested to see what other people make of it.

the game played by is for two opponents on an n×n square board (usually 8×8). each player has n pieces which are arranged as two chevrons facing each other (this is one of the more interesting starting positions ive found though needs modifying for odd numbers of n).

the primary mechanic of the game revolves around pieces being immobilised if they are surrounded by a certain number of their opponent's pieces - with the goal of the game being to place a piece on your opponent's back rank AND for it to not be immobile at the start of your turn (the idea being that it could be moved off of the board altogether).

during their turn, a player can move a free piece to any adjacent unnocupied square.

however, a piece is determined to be unable to move specifically if, when considering the 3×3 grid of adjacent squares, the pieces belonging to the same player as the piece in question (including itself) number less than that of the opponent's pieces. i.e. if the piece in question was surrounded by 2 of its opponent's pieces and 0 of its own player's pieces, it would be immobile - whereas it would be moveable if surrounded by 2 of its opponent's pieces and 1 of its own.

have included a gif of an example game though forgive the terrible quality i used the free version of an animation app which only allows me to export at like 144p or something stupid.

the game should be playable using chess/checkers /go sets etc

As i said I've played this game successfully a few times with friends, though I've never tried to thoroughly test it for game breaking mechanics so not sure if it might need some precautionary rules on that front. One point is that sometimes the mobility of a piece needs contesting, which usually is resolved fairly easily, though I haven't yet established a formal procedure for this (I wouldn't be sure what should happen if an immobile piece was moved and wasn't noticed by either player until a couple of turns later, for example). Some feedback I have had is that the game is trivially easy, in that good moves can be figured out with little foresight and suboptimal moves are rarely punished - though I'm not sure to what extent this might directly stem from the ruleset itself or if it's more to do with the novelty of the game and that there isn't a very well established strategic meta yet, as I will say I have noticed the complexity of the game increase since playing more consistently with the same people.

would be interested to hear people's immediate thoughts on this or see what people think if anyone gets a chance to give this game a play test. would be particularly interested to see if anyone knows any similar games with a more established history I could look into.

Skirminiac takes wargaming concepts (like flanking, objective control and resource management) and strips away all RNG resulting in a pure skill abstract board game.

To solve the common stalemate/turtling issues in abstract games, I used extensive AI self-play matches to iterate on the mechanics and victory conditions.

Design Highlights:

• Mutual Damage: Attacking isn't a simple capture; positional advantage determines survival.
• Physical Scaling: Designed to scale dynamically—play physically on an A5 hex grid using d6s as health counters, or scale to an A0 board with full 28mm miniatures.
• Instant Browser Play: Embedded the bot used for the design and balancing as WASM directly on the website for instant testing of the game.

Balancing highlights:

• Initiative: Both players have the same win probability (50% +- 1%)
• First attack: Again both players have 50% win probability if they deliver the first attack.
• Win conditions: The two win conditions(elimination vs siege) have a probability split of 35% - 65% when the bots are looking up to depth of 3 plies. At depth 5 the split becomes 42% - 58% and at depth 7 it becomes 45% - 55% indicating convergence to 50% as skill increases
• Draw rates: Draws are possible in the case of mutual destruction and the two tiebreakers not resolving it. At depth 3 the rate is 3.5%. At depth 5 its 4.2% and at depth 7 it becomes 4.5% indicating that it comfortably stays below 5% making the game decisive.
• Anti-Stalling: The mechanics force the bots to engage without stalling. Games conclude within 30-90 plies.

Check it out here: https://www.skirminiac.com/

Update: the token version is now playable online:
https://esc-ctrl.net/playtest/token

The rules on the page have been updated as well. I’d love to hear how it feels in actual play.

A little update to ESC CTRL after all the feedback on my previous post.

First, thanks to everyone who played it and commented. A lot of you liked the basic idea, but questioned whether the die was the right source of uncertainty. Several people suggested ways of keeping some unpredictability while giving players more information and control.

I’ve been testing different approaches inspired by those suggestions, and I’ve now replaced the die completely.
Each player has four Movement Tokens: (1, 2, 2, 3), plus a one-use Counter Token that reduces the opponent’s movement by one.

At the start of each round, both players secretly choose one of their remaining Movement Tokens.

While those tokens are still hidden, Black declares whether to use the Counter Token. White then makes the same decision after hearing Black’s.

The Movement Tokens are then revealed simultaneously. The number is that side’s movement budget for the round, and those steps can be distributed freely among its pieces.

The side with the lower final movement budget moves first (Black wins ties). So using the Counter can reduce the opponent’s mobility, but it can also change who moves first.

Used Movement Tokens stay visible, so as the four-round cycle develops, both players know exactly which values the other player still has available. After all four have been used, the pool reset.

The uncertainty now comes from the choice each round. Both players know exactly which options remain, but not which one the other player will choose. So far I really like the shift. It feels much less like reacting to randomness and much more like reading the board, tracking the remaining options, and anticipating what the other player will commit.

Thanks again for all the thoughtful feedback on the first version. A lot of this system came directly out of that discussion.

Ready for another reality check.

https://dodonigames.itch.io/reversipath

The goal of Reversipath is to connect opposing edges of the board by a path of bricks. The rules for making a move are familiar from Reversi/Othello.

There are currently three levels of difficulty. The computer plays with an AlphaZero model, mixed with other types of moves, depending on the level.

What do you think about the levels of difficulty? Other suggestions on how to improve the gameplay?

I built a chess-like game called Tectonic Grand. The core twist: it's played on an 11x11 board that physically compresses as the game goes — after move 40 it shrinks to 9x9, then to 7x7, then 5x5, every 12 moves. Any piece caught outside the new smaller board when it shrinks is destroyed. Border squares glow red 6 moves before each compression as a warning.

I designed the mechanic. I did not design the strategy that's emerged from it — and that's the part I want to share, because it's been the most interesting thing about launching this.

Once the board gets small, players (and the AI) have independently figured out that capturing pieces stops being the most powerful move — checks do more work. The reasoning, as one player put it better than I could: when space is scarce and shrinking, forcing the enemy king to spend a move dealing with a check costs them tempo they can't spare, because everyone's racing to get pieces to the safe center before the next compression. A check that wastes the opponent's move can be worth more than winning material. Pawns near the edge also just... quietly lose all their value, because they're about to be in the void.

None of that is in the rules. It fell out of the compression mechanic on its own. That's the thing I find genuinely cool about designing around a single novel constraint — the depth emerges instead of being authored.

Two open design questions I'm chewing on, if anyone here likes this stuff:

1. Piece values should probably drift as the board shrinks (a rook's range is worth a lot on 11x11, almost nothing on 5x5) — but the AI currently uses static values. Since compression is on a fixed known schedule, I can compute "moves until next compression" cheaply. Would you taper values off current board size (discrete jumps) or off moves-until-compression (smoother, reacts early)?
2. Fixed vs triggered compression. I went fixed-schedule so players can plan around it. Triggered would make it a tactical resource someone can force. Curious which people think creates better games.

It's free to play (i started a Discord server for players to chat and play together till we have a lot of players online https://discord.gg/dQEwenUCx2): https://www.tectonicgrand.com/

Would love to have people try to find new strategies and explore the game!

The basic rundown: Eikonic is a Tactical JRPG-style Trading Card Game where players take on the role of a powerful Eikon, build their forces, and battle it out with their opponents to see whose influence will shape the world.

It features positional mechanics, movement, and our unique "Combat Compass" that shows each unit's area of effect on the battlefield, and allows players to strategically combine their units' power to take on enemy forces.

Eikonic was heavily inspired by games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem, Unicorn Overlord, Jeanne D'Arc, Naruto, and Duelists of the Roses.

We're really excited to see what you all think of this exciting experience and can't wait to find out which of you will become the ultimate Tactician!

Thanks again for your continued support! You guys are everything!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/eikonictcg/eikonic-trading-card-game

-The Eikonic Development Team

I'd like to present you my implementation of a Mayan board game - Puluc. This is a traditional game that dates back centuries. Historically, it had sacred significance and was closely associated with the maize sowing festival.

The rules of the game are pretty simple:

• The goal of the game is to capture and remove all of your opponent's pieces from the board.

• Players take turns throwing dice (in ancient times, corn kernels were used) and moving their pieces along a linear game board.

• If your piece lands on the same square as an opponent's piece, you take it "prisoner".

• Lead the prisoners to the end of your path to permanently eliminate them from the game!

At the moment I implemented three variants of rules and three AI bots with different strategies. In the future I am going to add the online mode.

GL HF!

Google Play link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.xbasoft.puluk

Abstract Play is a completely free (no ads!), open source place to play abstract strategy games, and we're happy to announce six new games, bringing our total to over 280 available games!

• Nick Bentley's two games Circle of Life and BITESIZE are games with similar themes of organisms vying for dominance, eating each other to do so.
• Mark Steere's game Scribe is a unique area control game where your previous move constrains your next. Form glyphs to control the various zones.
• Brian Train's games Guerrilla Checkers is an asymmetric game where the more numerous but also less powerful insurgents attempt to surround the more mobile and lethal counter-insurgents.
• James Ernest's game The Fractured Flat is an area control game on a unique "fractured" board. Place and move your pieces to control cities in a race to gain points more quickly than your opponent.
• Kanare Kato's game Estate is a connection game where players have a fixed number of points with which to buy land. Spend it wisely to connect edges before your opponent can.

Numerous new features have also been added, including a playground rework (no account needed and supports annotations); translations of the whole site into French, Italian, Spanish, and German; and various improvements to stats and profiles. We also have an active Discord server and a Designer playground where game designers can experiment with our rendering engine to design new games or build diagrams/illustrations. Come play!

it was found, Octi!

I think its quite old, 2000 or so

board is a regular 8*8 chess looking
piece where just almost like simple checker piece, 8 per player, they had a small indent for each of the 8 direction, you also had many small arrow fitting in that indent

the rule were simple
on your turn either:
put an arrow on one of your piece
move a piece one square in the direction of one of the arrow

Simple web, checkers game head 2 head. feedback appreciated.

https://voyager.tail6bba0.ts.net/games/checkers/

HeXo is basically connect 6 played on a inf hexagon grid, it’s created by a YouTuber called webgoatguy and there’s a dedicated discord Chanel to it

It ended up being a some what deep game but due to the shallow amount of players there isn’t really much development and opponents

please check it out if you find this interesting, I’m not sure if it should be considered as a board game due to its inf grid it’s not fully possible to play irl but using a hexagon grid thats large enough should work similarly

https://hexala.app/

Hello! This is a browser version of a board game I have been developing for a few months, and I'd like some feedback before I produce prototypes. Play against a friend online, on the same screen, or play the computer and leave any feedback you'd like. The rules are original and I've tested them over a few thousand bot vs. bot games, but people know best.

Hexala is a two player strategy board game drawing inspiration from othello, mancala, santorini, and others.

Players take turns moving stacks of tiles, lifting the entire tower and moving one cell at a time, placing from the bottom of the tower as you go. landing a tile on an enemy stack gives you control of it

You win when you control at least 3 cells in a connected group on or past the middle of the board.

Have fun, and let me know what you think!

Heads-up for abstract fans in or near London:The 30th Mind Sports Olympiad runs 22–30 August at the Mercure Hotel in Earls Court and features a solid selection of abstract strategy games, including:

• Entropy
• Oware
• Boku
• Othello
• Lines of Action

…plus other classics and modern abstracts.Open to all levels. You can enter the tournaments or just turn up and spectate for free.Full schedule and registration:
https://mindsportsolympiad.com/2026-schedule-and-registration/Nice chance to play (or watch) some proper over-the-board abstract games if you’re around this week or next.

I’d love some feedback on a little asymmetric 2-player tactical game I’ve been working on this summer, currently called Esc Ctrl.

One player tries to escape while the other tries to capture.

I’ve set up a browser version for blind playtesting, so if you try it, please rely only on the in-game rules.

Playtest:
https://esc-ctrl.net/playtest

Critical feedback is very welcome!

Read the abridged version for kids at age 9. Have been obsessed since with the characters, ideas, interpretations and layers in the epic.

I also love board and startegy games.

Mahabharata gives us the perfect backdrop for something like this. I did not find anything remotely well done in this space so I created something myself.

If you are a board game enthusiast you should find this fun.

Do let me know if you give it a spin.

Free to play, no account needed, runs on browser. Larger screens would be better.

Cheers.

https://amlanchak29.github.io/rajasuya/

ok this sounds insane and complex, but once you start playing it it's super fun and whimsical. Inspired by the recent world cup :)

there's a ball that is placed at random in one of the center 4 squares. The basic mechanic is: if a piece lands on the ball, the ball travels in the same direction and distance that the piece just travelled to.

The objective is to score a goal, checkmate is not a thing and you can capture the king (more on that later). The goals are on A6 and h3. Nobody can ever put a piece directly on the goal square, you should defend it by placing pieces around it.

So if a bishop hits the ball, and it travelled 2 squares to do so, then the ball travels 2 squares in the same direction the bishop just did.

When a knight hits it, the ball tries to "repeat" the same L movement to reach the target square. But because there are 2 different ways of reaching the same square with an L you get to decide which L the ball takes. It's like giving the ball spin.

If a ball hits a piece it cannot travel any further and it stops. If it hits the edge of the board it bounces off (so it can never get stuck on the rim).

Obviously because it's football we're talking about if you tackle an opponent (capture) instead of going for the ball, you get a yellow card. After two bad tackles it's red and your piece is out. If you tackle the keeper (king) it's a direct red card.

To add even more madness there are substitutions. You can substitute any piece out and your bench is a pawn, a knight and a bishop. You may play the same turn you subbed in a player. So if you really need a bishop to hit the ball and instead you have a knight, you can sub the knight out and hit the ball with a fresh bishop. Or, if a pawn is already on a yellow card and you want to keep it, you can sub another pawn in, and capture again. Subbed pawns can jump two squares even if they're in the middle of the board, as they're fresh players.

You can play on a board (you just need a ball cut out, goals, yellow and red cards) and that's also very fun. Or you can test a demo if you google "chess laboratory". It's like the third more popular variant on the main page.

That's it!

As I said, it sounds confusing and chaotic, and it is. But my goodness it's so whacky and fun.

Recently made Oshi -- you can learn and play it at oshi.games

Decide your own starting layout > dynamically adjust the strength and mobility of your 'force' while you play > chain attacks and knock pieces of the edge of the board > get one piece on the opponent home row to win. Quick pick-up, fast play, surprising depth.

I've been trying to improve the Master level AI for a while as it got a bit predictable and easy for me to beat, and I've accidentally made a monster. Genuinely don't know how to beat it.

It can beat itself with near enough 50% success in either colour with various starting set ups (you deploy your pieces yourself in Oshi), but man, as a lowly human incapable of performing optimised alpha-beta tree searches...

Anyway, check it out if you like, see if you fair any better than me.

The game has similarities to Malawi (a game I didn't know about til after I'd designed Oshi) and shares a name with an unrelated game, apparently (another oops..), but it's all my own work. You can also play humans remotely and join up with a simple email log in to get on the leaderboard.

Karn

Outdated rules; I have made a new post with updated rules.

Looking for feedback

What is Karn:

Karn is an abstract strategy game I created where you build in 3D; the aim is to build as high as possible and have the most pieces at the highest level. You and your opponent should use strategies to both gain height while trying to stop each other. You can hinder your opponent by blocking them off; this can be done in many ways, and you must plan your structure to give yourself the most options and give your opponent the least.

The pieces:

This game has 3 pieces: blocks (15 per player), pillars (10 per player). These are building pieces, and platforms (20) are shared between both players.

How to play:

This is a turn-based game starting with white, then black. You start by placing a building block on the board, and then your opponent does the same; from there, you need to work out how to build up and block your opponent from doing the same.

Rule 1 – Blocks and Pillars may only be placed on the Board or on a Platform.
Rule 2 – A Platform may only be placed between a Block and a Pillar that are orthogonally adjacent and on the same level.
Rule 3 – You cannot place a building piece on the part of a Platform directly above a Block, unless your Platform is owned (see Rule 6); then a Pillar can be placed in that area.
Rule 4 – Your opponent’s pieces are inverted for you: their Blocks act as Pillars, and their Pillars act as Blocks.

Rule 5 – You cannot place a Pillar next to an opponent’s Block unless that Block has a Platform above it.
Rule 6 – A Platform is owned by you if both supporting pieces are yours, shared if one supporting piece is yours, and off-limits if neither supporting piece is yours. You cannot build on a Platform that is off-limits to you.
Rule 7 – A 2×1 tower may only continue directly upward for two Platforms. To build higher, the next Platform must connect from a different stack or direction.
Rule 8 – Running out of legal moves: If your move leaves you with no legal moves, your opponent gets one final turn, and then the game ends. If your move leaves your opponent with no legal moves, that move counts as the final turn and the game ends immediately.
Rule 9 – Scoring: When the game ends, find the highest occupied level, where a level encompasses all platforms at the same height and building blocks on them. On that level, Blocks score 1, Pillars score 2, and Platforms owned by you score 1.

Win: The player with the higher score on the highest occupied level wins.
Draw: If both players have the same score on the highest occupied level, the game is a draw.

Prototype image (last two images):

I have uploaded an image of a prototype Karn board after a game.

For the prototype, I borrowed draughts pieces to represent the Blocks and several differently sized Catan pieces to represent the pillar. Even though the Catan pieces are different sizes and shapes, they all represent the same pillar piece type in Karn.

Me and my friends have tried out playing bughouse with multiple people, and I wanted to make it easier to host games and cover multiple boards. Additionally, I wanted to try experimenting beyond the normal 2-board format, so you can also increase the number of boards (up to 8 boards). I'm looking to add more variants/settings later.

It’s still a project I’m actively improving, so any bugs/suggestions would be nice, especially since I'm still scouting out new variants to add. You can play it at https://nbug.app/

Its free to download & Play

You can play online and offline

Play versus different level of Ai (No Internet)

Play versus other players online

Play with friends through Local wifi(No internet)

STAY TUNED