CheckMess
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Chess will never be the same.

Same board. Same pieces. But each player hides five spells.

The proof: your pawn can step back.that empty square was a trap.their queen just froze.your rook just jumped a pawn.a bomb is counting down to zero.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

Available on the App Store and Google Play.
Free, optional in-app purchases.

Watch the game with sound

For fifteen centuries, chess was played in silence. People recited openings. They bowed to those who had read everything.

Then five cards landed on the table.

We didn’t break chess. We woke it up.

What stays the same

  • The board, the pieces and how they move.
  • Castling, en passant, promotion.
  • Calculation, patience, sacrifice.

What changes everything

  • Each player hides five spells.
  • An empty square can lie.
  • You don’t put the king in check. You take it.

Pick your spells. Hide your hand. Take the king.

CheckMess is a chess game with spells, available on iPhone and Android: the rules of chess, five hidden cards per player, and you win by taking the king. If you know how a knight moves, you’ve done the hard part.

  1. The CheckMess deck editor, with the Freeze, Potion, Trap, Tornado, Apple and JumPack cards.

    Pick your spells.

    Before the game, build your hand: five cards out of fifteen spells. Your opponent will never see it.

  2. A game in progress: the player has just cast Trap on an empty square.

    Hide your hand.

    On your turn, cast at most one spell, then make your move. Freeze a piece, trap a square, send a rook over a pawn. They see your pieces. They don’t see your hand.

  3. A game well under way, with several active spells on the board.

    Take the king.

    Kings don’t get mated here. They fall. No check to escape: the game ends when a king is taken.

The rule that changes everything. On a turn when you cast a spell, you can’t take the king. One exception: a Time Bomb can destroy it when it explodes.

A real game, from the first spell to the fall of the king.

Twenty-seven seconds, five turns. A bishop taking off with JumPack, a Time Bomb counting down to zero, a Magic Shield, a Freeze dispelled at once… then a king falls.

Turn the sound up: the music and sound effects come straight from the game.

Recorded from a real game of CheckMess, on a phone.

Never the same again. Proof, in game.

Fifteen spells. No book mentions them.

Your friend read thirty chess books. None of them mention Tornado. Tap a card to read its sheet, exactly as it appears in the game.

  • Read the sheet

    Freeze their best piece. Or save yours.

    Target
    Any piece, yours or the opponent’s, except a king, an already frozen piece or an enemy piece under Magic Shield.
    Effect
    It cannot move and nobody can capture it.
    Duration
    Your turn, the opponent’s turn and your next turn; on your own piece, one more opponent turn.
    After the spell
    You then make a normal move; you may capture, except the king.
    Good to know
    A new Freeze releases your previously frozen piece. A frozen piece survives Time Bomb. Dispel can remove the freeze.
  • Read the sheet

    The pawn that wanted to be a queen. Right now.

    Target
    One of your pawns that is not immobilized.
    Effect
    It can move straight ahead 3 squares if it has never moved, otherwise 2, if the path is clear.
    Duration
    This turn only.
    After the spell
    You then make a normal move; you may capture, except the king.
    Good to know
    This advance cannot capture, gives no en passant and can reach promotion.
  • Read the sheet

    The square is empty. Or is it?

    Target
    An empty square, not a Tornado.
    Effect
    Sets a hidden trap: the opponent knows it exists, not where. The first piece that stops on it, even yours, is immobilized.
    Duration
    Armed until the start of your 3rd turn from now, that is 3 opponent turns; a caught piece is stuck for 2 of its turns.
    After the spell
    You then make a normal move; you may capture, except the king.
    Good to know
    A trapped piece can still be captured, king included. Castling, Swap, Backstep, Apple and Jedi also trigger the trap; passing over it does not.
  • Read the sheet

    A tornado on the board. Good luck predicting it.

    Target
    An empty square with no Swamp or Tornado.
    Effect
    No piece can enter or cross this square, and no spell can target it.
    Duration
    Stays put during the opponent’s turn, then moves before every turn; vanishes at the start of your 3rd turn from now.
    After the spell
    You then make a normal move; you may capture, except the king.
    Good to know
    It blocks your pieces too and moves at random to an adjacent empty square, diagonals included.
  • Read the sheet

    Bite. Step forward. Regret it.

    Target
    An enemy pawn that is not frozen, trapped or under Magic Shield, with a free square in front of it.
    Effect
    The pawn immediately steps one square toward your side.
    Duration
    Instant.
    After the spell
    You then make a normal move; you may capture, except the king, for example that pawn.
    Good to know
    Impossible onto its last rank (no promotion) or onto a Tornado. A trap on its new square triggers.
  • Read the sheet

    Your rook just learned to fly.

    Target
    One of your rooks or bishops that is not immobilized.
    Effect
    When it moves, this piece can jump over a single pawn, yours or the opponent’s.
    Duration
    This turn only.
    After the spell
    You then make your move, but none of your pieces can capture this turn.
    Good to know
    It cannot jump over another piece, two pawns, a Swamp or a Tornado.
  • Read the sheet

    The fog hides nothing. It disarms everything.

    Target
    An enemy rook, bishop or queen without Magic Shield or an active Fog.
    Effect
    This piece can only move one square, in its usual directions.
    Duration
    The opponent’s next 2 turns.
    After the spell
    You then make a normal move; you may capture, except the king.
    Good to know
    It can still capture on an adjacent square. A fogged rook cannot castle.
  • Read the sheet

    A swamp right in the middle of their path.

    Target
    An empty square with no Swamp or Tornado.
    Effect
    No piece can cross this square: a piece moving through must stop on it.
    Duration
    Until the start of your 3rd turn from now, that is 3 opponent turns.
    After the spell
    You then make a normal move; you may capture, except the king.
    Good to know
    Knights jump over it, a piece standing on it leaves freely, and your pieces are blocked too.
  • Read the sheet

    The pawn that steps off the straight line.

    Target
    One of your pawns that is not immobilized.
    Effect
    It can also step one square diagonally forward onto an empty square, without capturing.
    Duration
    This turn only.
    After the spell
    You then make a normal move; you may capture, except the king.
    Good to know
    Its diagonal captures still work, and this step can lead to promotion.
  • Read the sheet

    The pawn blocking your way just stepped back.

    Target
    One of your pawns that is not immobilized, with an enemy pawn right in front of it.
    Effect
    The enemy pawn is pushed back one square toward its side; your pawn stays put.
    Duration
    Instant.
    After the spell
    You then make a normal move; you may capture, except the king.
    Good to know
    Impossible if the enemy pawn is frozen, trapped or under Magic Shield, or if the square behind it is occupied, a Tornado or its back rank.
  • Read the sheet

    Swap places. Swap roles.

    Target
    Two of your adjacent pieces, diagonals included, no king, neither frozen nor trapped.
    Effect
    They exchange squares and keep their effects.
    Duration
    Instant.
    After the spell
    Swap counts as your move: your turn ends at once, with no capture.
    Good to know
    No pawn may land on its last rank. Swapped pieces lose castling and the double step.
  • Read the sheet

    In chess, a pawn never steps back. Here, it does.

    Target
    One of your pawns that is not immobilized, with a free square right behind it.
    Effect
    It steps back one square on its file, toward your side.
    Duration
    Instant.
    After the spell
    Backstep counts as your move: your turn ends at once, with no capture.
    Good to know
    It does not regain its double step and triggers a trap on its new square.
  • Read the sheet

    You froze my rook? Not anymore.

    Target
    A piece, yours or the opponent’s, except a king, that carries an effect; not an enemy piece under Magic Shield.
    Effect
    Removes the chosen effect: Freeze, trap restraint, Fog or your Magic Shield.
    Duration
    Instant.
    After the spell
    You then make a normal move; you may capture, except the king, even the enemy piece you just unfroze.
    Good to know
    One effect per cast. Never a hidden trap, a Swamp, a Tornado or a Time Bomb.
  • Read the sheet

    Safe from magic. Not from pieces.

    Target
    One of your pieces, except the king.
    Effect
    The opponent can no longer target it with a spell: Freeze, Fog, Apple, Jedi or Dispel.
    Duration
    The opponent’s next 2 turns.
    After the spell
    You then make a normal move; you may capture, except the king.
    Good to know
    It can still be captured and still suffers traps and bombs. Recast, the shield starts again from zero, without stacking.
  • Read the sheet

    Tick. Tock. Boom.

    Target
    An empty square with no Tornado or other bomb.
    Effect
    Places a visible bomb that does not block movement. When it explodes, it destroys the piece on its square, from either side, king included.
    Duration
    Explodes at the end of your 2nd turn from now: the opponent gets 2 turns to react.
    After the spell
    You then make a normal move; you may capture, except the king.
    Good to know
    Only its square is hit. A frozen piece survives; Magic Shield does not protect. A destroyed king loses the game; both kings at once: draw.

Freeze, Potion, Trap, Tornado and Apple are free. The other ten unlock with Mana, earned by playing or bought.

The spellbook isn’t finished.

Fifteen spells today. Others are waiting for their moment: we’ll reveal the full spellbook season by season. What you master now, your opponents will discover later.

Freeze

Immobilize and protect

One spell per turn, before your move. Board counters count each player turn as 1.

Five cards. Your style. Your secret.

Fifteen spells, 11,628 possible hands. Only one is truly yours. Show me your deck and I’ll tell you who you are.

  • Freeze
  • Freeze
  • Magic Shield
  • Fog
  • Swamp

The Ice Wall

Nobody gets through. Two Freeze, a Magic Shield, some Fog and a swamp: their attack runs out of breath before it arrives.

  • Trap
  • Trap
  • Tornado
  • Apple
  • Time Bomb

The Bluffer

They’ll never know where it’s safe to step. Two Trap, a Tornado, an Apple to lure them in, a Time Bomb to finish.

  • Potion
  • Potion
  • JumPack
  • Skew
  • Swap

The Charge

Their king won’t have time to breathe. Pawns that race ahead, a rook that flies, two pieces that trade places.

You lose, you change a card, you come back. The perfect deck doesn’t exist: that’s exactly why you’ll keep looking for it.

Choose your battlefield.

Twenty-one illustrated arenas surround the board. In solo, yours surrounds the whole board. Online, each side carries its player’s arena, and whoever leads in captures spreads theirs around the whole board.

The Courtyard of Spells arena seen from above, around the board.
Courtyard of Spells Drag to turn the board.

Six arenas are free, marked with a star. The others unlock with Mana.

Change your army. Keep your strategy.

Six piece families, each with a light side and a dark side. With white, you play your family’s light side; with black, its dark side. Your opponent sees your pieces, and you see theirs.

  • Arcane Guardians Dawn and Eclipse. Enchanted armor, free from your very first game.
  • Sweet Treats Vanilla and Chocolate. Play with desserts. Win like a tyrant.
  • Realms of Iron Azure Guard and Ember Clan. Steel against black iron.
  • Ether Shards Celestial and Abyssal. Pearl against obsidian.
  • Pantheon Solar and Nocturne. Figurines worthy of a museum.
  • Legends Dawn Clan and Shadow Clan. Goblins and orcs, because why not.
A game played with the Sweet Treats pieces, Vanilla versus Chocolate.
The Play online screen, with the chosen deck, Find an opponent and Private duel. The CheckMess home screen, with Play solo and Play online.

The friend who always beats you at chess has never played you here.

  • Find an opponent

    One search, and every duel counts toward your CheckMess Elo rating.

  • Your friends, one tap away

    Add your friends, see who’s online, chat and invite them to play. Or share a private duel code.

  • The invite that can’t wait

    It reaches you even mid-game. “OK, after this game”: your friend joins you right after, and you both get twenty seconds to pick your decks.

  • Every win leaves a mark

    History, stats and replays: watch again the spell that changed everything.

Messaging with clear rules, blocking and reporting.

Test your wildest ideas. Then surprise your friends.

  • Against the AI

    Five levels, from Discovery to Expert, to break in a deck before taking it online.

  • Interactive lessons

    Learn every spell move by move, on the board. Your opponent will teach you the rest.

  • Classic chess

    No spells, three levels. To catch your breath between duels.

  • No account needed

    Choose “Play without an account”: solo and lessons are open. A free account, with email, Google or Apple, unlocks online play, friends, the shop and Mana.

Dear purists,

We know. We touched your game. The most beautiful, the noblest. We added tornadoes, swamps, a bomb and a pawn that steps back.

Rest assured: the knight still jumps in an L. Castling is there. So is en passant. Your forks, your pins, your sacrifices still work. Your chess knowledge pays off every turn. It just isn’t enough anymore.

A quick reminder: in the late fifteenth century, the queen, which could only move one square diagonally, became the most powerful piece on the board. People called it “mad queen chess”. Some cried scandal. Today, nobody can imagine playing without her.

We’re not asking you to love CheckMess. We’re asking for one game. Just one. Our money’s on the rematch.

With all due respect, and five cards up our sleeve,
The CheckMess team

A spell has the same power for everyone. What changes is who casts it.

Here, you can’t buy a stronger spell: you play it better. Freeze freezes just as hard in your hands as in theirs.

You earn Mana by playing with an account, plus a daily bonus. You can also buy it. Some spells, arenas and piece families unlock with Mana, which can never be exchanged for money.

Free, optional in-app purchases.

Questions before your first game.

Is it really chess?

Yes. The board, the pieces and their moves are those of chess, including castling, en passant and promotion. Each player adds five spell cards, and you win by taking the king.

How do you win?

By taking the enemy king: there’s no check to escape. On a turn when you cast a spell, you can’t take the king. A Time Bomb, however, can destroy it when it explodes.

How many spells per turn?

One at most, always before your move. A played card recharges over the turns, and every capture earns you a recharge.

Do I need an account?

Not for solo play and lessons: choose “Play without an account”. Online play, friends, the shop and Mana need a free account, with email, Google or Apple. You can delete it at any time from My profile.

Is the game free?

Yes, with optional in-app purchases. Five spells, six arenas and the Arcane Guardians family are free. The rest unlocks with Mana, earned by playing or bought.

Will there be new spells?

Yes. The spellbook will be revealed season by season: new spells will join today’s fifteen.

Which devices and languages?

The game is available on the App Store for iPhone and on Google Play for Android, in English, French and Spanish.

What about my data?

Everything is explained in the game privacy policy. You can export your data from My profile.

CheckMess

They called it sacrilege.
We gave the king a spell.
The game is fifteen centuries old.
Tonight, it’s twenty.

The gates are open. Your move.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

Available on the App Store and Google Play.
Free, optional in-app purchases.

A question, an idea, a partnership?

Players, creators, press or partners: the team reads every message.

Write to the team contact@checkmess.com