MergeChess

Each turn, you may move one piece of either color. Pieces move according to standard chess rules, except they are not blocked by other pieces. For example, the Queen can move orthogonally and diagonally uninhibited. Pawns have new movement: They can capture one space diagonally and move (swap) one space orthogonally. If the piece you move lands on a piece of the same color, they swap places. If they are different colors, the target piece is captured and vanishes from the board. If three or more pieces of the same type and color line up orthogonally, they merge into a promoted piece. Larger merges and promoted pieces add more points to your score. The promotion order is as follows:

Pawn → Knight → Bishop → Rook → Queen → King

Matching 3 Kings causes them to vanish.

Game Modes

Survival

The player starts with one white and one black King. Kings start with 30 lives and lose one life for every turn they are left in check (i.e., every turn where they can be captured by a piece of the opposite color). They vanish if their lives reach zero. New kings can be merged into being, but each successive king arrives with one less life than the king before it (never less than 1). The game ends when you run out of kings of either color. Try to last as long as possible!
Note: Kings do not merge in this game mode.

Short Order

The player must fill "orders" of piece configurations shown on the 2x2 mini board before they run out of moves. If you can get that arrangement to appear somewhere on the board, the pieces vanish from the board and the player is awarded more moves. The game ends when the player runs out of moves.

Blaze of Glory

Sixty moves. No orders to fill, no kings to protect — just score as many points as you can before the moves run out. Big merges, crosses, and long cascades burn brightest. When the last move is spent, your score is final.

Defuse

Pieces sometimes arrive carrying a lit bomb, marked by a burning frame and a number: the moves left before it goes off. Defuse a bomb by using it in a merge, walking it to the bottom row, or capturing it. If any bomb's counter reaches zero, the game is over. The board is never quiet for long: whenever it holds no bomb, the next piece dealt is carrying one. Every five bombs defused, the heat rises — new fuses burn shorter, more bombs are allowed on the board at once, and they arrive more often. How long can you keep cutting wires?

There was a mix-up at the chess factory, and they sent us all kings this time! There isn't any real goal here. It's just fun to watch them match into oblivion and see if the endless merging ever ends. 😄