Relay
Relay: Bughouse on two tiny boards
How to play Relay
Relay
- Two teams of two, two 5x5 boards at once. You play the big board; your partner plays the small one, with the other colour.
- What you take, your partner drops. A piece you capture goes to your partner's hand; one they capture comes to yours. As your move, tap a piece in your hand, then any empty square.
- The first checkmate on either board wins for the team. Ask your partner for the piece you need with the chips: Knight, Rook, Queen, any piece, or Hold (no trades for now).
Marks on the board
- Last move: where it came from and where it went
- The piece you picked
- A square it can move to
- A piece it can take
- A King in check
- A hint, or the next tap in the guide
Small print
Pieces move as in chess on 5x5: Pawns step one square, there is no castling, and a Pawn that reaches the last row becomes a Queen (taken, it goes over as a Pawn). Pawns are never dropped on the first or last row. A drop may give check or mate. Kings are never taken.
Against the AI there is no clock: your opponent answers your move and your partner's board is never more than one move ahead of yours. In rooms both boards play at once, each player on their own clock (3+0 by default), and running out of time loses for the team. No legal move but not in check: a draw; so are 240 moves in all.
Classic piece set: cburnett by Colin M.L. Burnett (CC BY-SA 3.0).