The Chessino

A casino inside a volcano, where every game is secretly chess.

Seven games, and every one of them is secretly chess.

The Chessino is a real casino floor — a bar, a slot row, a table pit and a prize counter — except nothing in it is an ordinary casino game. Every one has been rebuilt out of chess.

Every table tells you the odds before you bet. Each one puts its own house edge on screen, in writing, so you always know exactly how much of a cut the casino is taking.

You play in Chessino Chips, bought at the cage with Pawn Bucks you won out on the road — one for one, and there is a cap on how many you can buy in a day. Nothing here can be bought with real money, and nothing here can be cashed out for real money.

The Gilded Gambit — the volcano casino, glowing gold against black rock. — The Gilded Gambit

ChessjackBlackjack, except the cards are chess pieces and twenty-one is a checkmate. A king and a queen off the top is a Royal Mate and pays two and a half times your bet.
ChessouletteA wheel with sixty-six pockets: all sixty-four squares of a chessboard, plus two en-passant pockets that are where the casino makes its money. A single square pays 63 to 1, a file or a rank pays 7 to 1, and colours pay even.
The Slot RowSixteen machines in six designs — Pawnline Express, Knight Shift, Bishop’s Blessing, Rook Riches, Queen’s Crown Jackpot and King’s Ransom. Each machine’s own piece is both its wild symbol and its jackpot. All the machines share one growing jackpot, which takes a posted 2% of every stake and pays out whole whenever any cabinet lands three of its own piece.
The Knight DerbySix knights race down a rail, drawn from all 48 knights in the game — not just the ones you have caught. The casino’s 8% cut is on screen before the gates open. If a runner happens to be a knight you did catch, its win pays you a small bonus, but owning it does not change its odds at all.
Knight FlightA knight leaps off a board and climbs. The longer he climbs the more your bet is worth, but an enemy queen is waiting somewhere to bring him down. Cash out before she does. Where she strikes is locked in before you bet, so it cannot be nudged.
PawnkoA glowing pawn tumbles down a board of gilded pegs and lands in a multiplier pocket. Every peg is a genuine fifty-fifty — the casino’s edge is in the payout table, never in the fall — and a risk dial trades a safer middle for wilder edges.
The Exhibition PitsThe house’s own players face each other, never you, and you bet on the result: player A, player B, or the draw. Odds come from the gap between them and the 6% cut is declared. Each player’s strength is rolled on an eight-sided die, and a roll of eight puts the hardest engine in Casteria in that chair.

The Slot Row captured from the game: the six machine designs, one for each rank of chess piece, each showing its jackpot and its odds up front. — The Slot Row — the six designs, one per rank. Every machine shows its odds before you sit down.

The Knight Derby — six of the game’s 48 knights race, and the casino’s 8% cut is shown on screen before the gates open.

If one of the racing knights is a piece you caught yourself, it pays a small bonus for winning — and that bonus is written on the board with everything else. Owning a runner does not change its odds at all.Nothing here is rigged in either direction, and every result can be checked afterwards.

the prize counter

Nine things you can only buy with chips.

The counter at the back of the floor trades in chips, not Pawn Bucks, and none of its wares are stocked in any town. Two of them follow you home across the whole continent.

The Comp Button2,500chips
Pays you free chips on your first visit each day.
How
Carried in your bag. Every real day, your first walk onto the Chessino floor pays a stipend of 250 chips.
When
Regulars. It pays for itself in ten quiet visits.
The Golden Dice2,500chips
Two gilded dice that decide nothing, loudly.
How
Use them anywhere. Both roll with a satisfying clatter and fate posts the total.
When
Whenever you would rather something else made the decision.
The Confetti Cannon4,000chips
A burst of chessboard confetti over your head.
How
Use it anywhere. It reloads itself in about half a minute.
When
Wins, birthdays, Tuesdays. The janitor has made peace with it.
The Firework Crate6,000chips
Five rockets. A real show over whatever town you are standing in.
How
Use it under an open sky. Five uses to a crate.
When
The kind of evening a toast is not enough for. Never indoors; the chandeliers have suffered.
The High Roller’s Top Hat12,000chips
Changes how the casino staff treat you.
How
Carried in your bag. It puts itself on your head the moment you walk into the Chessino, anywhere in the building.
When
When you want the dealers to stand up straighter before you reach the table.
The Bottomless Tumbler25,000chips
Every drink the bar pours you is on the House, forever.
How
Carried in your bag. Every drink the bar pours you is free, permanently.
When
If you spend a lot of evenings in the Chessino.
Blindfold, the House Cat75,000chips
A cat who walks with you across the whole continent.
How
Use to call her or send her home. She follows you everywhere in Casteria, sits when you stop, and blinks at exactly the wrong people. One companion walks at a time.
When
Always. That is the point of a cat.
Blunder, the House Hound75,000chips
A dog who walks with you across the whole continent.
How
Use to call him or send him home. He bounds after you everywhere, sits crooked, and trips over nothing at all. One companion walks at a time.
When
Always. He has already forgiven you for asking.
The Dragon’s Eye100,000chips
A fist-sized gem, cut in the profile of a knight.
How
The House won it off a dragon in a losing endgame and has regretted it ever since. It hums when you hum.
When
Deep in the Emberway there is a door that should not exist. It fits. No refunds.

None of these win you a game, and not one of them can be carried into a battle. The Chessino sells you a good evening, and it is honest about which one it is selling.

the boost case

Three permanent boosts, sold beside the prize counter.

The Boost Case sells the game’s three buyable boons. Each one has three levels — +5%, +10%, +15% — bought in that order, with chips. Once you own a level it works forever.

The Scholar’s LadderYour team earns more experience from every battle. +5%, +10%, then +15%.
The Merchant’s LadderYou earn more Pawn Bucks from everything that pays them — battle wages, story rewards, lesson pay. +5%, +10%, then +15%.
The Gambler’s LadderThe casino pays a bonus on top of every win, shown as its own line when you get paid. +5%, +10%, then +15%.

Levels cost 25,000, then 50,000, then 100,000 chips. One full ladder is 175,000 chips; all three are 525,000.

Boosts only change what winning pays you. They never make your pieces stronger, never change how the chess plays, and never change your odds at any table.

Three more permanent boosts cannot be bought at all. Beat Chess in the Park — twelve boards at Rookwood’s festival — and you win the Three Tenths: +10% Pawn Bucks on every payout, +10% experience from every battle, and +10% on top of every casino win, forever. A fourth comes from completing the Codex.

The free demo is the first part of the game — two towns, Openfield and Frostford, and the road between them. Everything you catch there carries straight into the full game.

Demo coming soonFollow for updates