Bughouse

How Bughouse is played

Bughouse is chess for two teams of two on two boards. Partners sit side by side and play opposite colours: White on board A with Black on board B, against Black on board A with White on board B.

Passing pieces

A piece you capture goes at once into your partner’s hand, and the pieces your partner captures come into yours. A promoted piece goes as a pawn.

Dropping

Instead of a move you may drop one piece from your hand onto any empty square of your board, even with check or mate. A pawn may not be dropped on the first or the last rank; dropped on its second rank it may still make its double step.

Turns

Here the four players move one after another: White A, White B, Black B, Black A, and again. A player whose board waits for the opponent’s move is skipped.

Waiting and sitting

A player in check without a move is mated only when no dropped piece could block the check: by a knight, a piece right next to the king, or two pieces at once. Otherwise, and when stalemated, they wait for a piece, and their board stands still. A player may also sit, wait on purpose for a piece, three times a game.

The end

The first mate on either board ends the match: the mated player’s team loses, both boards together. The same table three times (both boards, the hands and the player to move) is a draw, and so is a table where nobody can move.

The story

United States (earliest records) · the early 1960s to today

When and where

Bughouse is chess for two teams of two on two boards: a piece you capture goes to your partner, who may drop it on their own board. Little is known of its start; it seems to have grown up in the early 1960s.

How it changed

In 1956 the US chess federation's Blue Book used the name for a two-player game in which captured men went straight back onto the board. American newspapers of the 1970s write of the four-player double bughouse.

Today

Chess servers have offered it since 1995, with clocks running on both boards. This app plays the rules most servers use, but in turns: the four players move one after another, so three bots can play it with you.

Did you know?

It has many other names, among them tandem chess, Siamese chess and transfer chess.

Sources: Wikipedia

More games

Chess and variants

• Chess · Classic chess or Chess960 with a shuffled back rank, against a bot.
• Chess960 · Fischer random chess: the back rank starts in one of 960 setups.
• Antichess · Losing chess: give away all your pieces, captures are compulsory.
• Atomic chess · Every capture is an explosion that clears the pieces around it.
• Crazyhouse · Captured pieces change sides and can be dropped back onto the board.
• Duck chess · After every move you move the duck, which blocks everyone. No check.
• Fog of War · You only see where your pieces can move. Capture the king to win.
• Kriegspiel · Only your own pieces in sight; an umpire judges every move.
• Friendly Chess · Nothing is captured: pieces unite and set off chain reactions.

The chess family

• Chaturanga · India’s ancient chess, the root of the family: take the king to win.
• Shatranj · The medieval ancestor of chess, with a weak ferz and a jumping alfil.
• Medieval chess · Europe’s chess before 1475: the ferz and the king may leap on their first move.
• Courier chess · Medieval Germany’s chess on a 12 × 8 board, with the courier, the man and the schleich.
• Makruk · Thai chess: a slow, strategic game with a counting rule.
• Ouk Chatrang · Cambodian chess: Makruk with a leap for the king and the met.
• Sittuyin · Burmese chess: set up your pieces, then promote on the diagonals.
• Kar Ouk · Ouk Chatrang where the first check wins: guard your king.
• Xiangqi · Chinese chess: a river, palaces and a cannon that jumps to capture.
• Janggi · Korean chess: no river, palace diagonals and a cannon that always jumps.
• Shogi · Japanese chess: captured pieces return to the board on your side.
• Minishogi · Shogi on a 5 × 5 board: six pieces a side, short and sharp games.

More players

• Chaturaji · India’s four-handed chess: kings can be captured, captures score.
• Four Seasons Chess · Alfonso X’s chess for four from 1283: four seasons, the last king wins.
• Three-player chess · Three armies on a hexagonal board: you against two bots.
• Four-player chess · Four armies on a cross-shaped board: in teams or all against all.
• Verney’s four-handed chess · Verney’s game of 1881: two against two, mate both enemy kings.
• Eight-player chess · Eight armies on a board of 516 squares: all against all, in pairs or four against four.