Free Play — Rules & FAQ
Free Play is a game against another person, online, on two devices, always with equal odds. When you create a room you pick the game: Manhouse (the default — a symmetric, full Crazyhouse army on both sides, and both players earn the same mana stream to summon reinforcements), classic Crazyhouse (no mana — captured pieces go to your pocket and can be dropped back), plain Standard chess (no mana, no drops) or Puzzle Battle (no chess game — you both race the same 3-minute puzzle run, live). One of you creates a room and shares the code (or a one-tap link) — or skip the code entirely with Find an opponent (quick match) or the Open games lobby. Both vs-bot AND player-vs-player games update your own Free Play rating (a friendly, casual number — separate from your Puzzle rating).
No questions match — clear the filter to see them all.
Getting a game going
Q. How do we start?
One player taps Create a room and becomes White; they get a short room code and a Copy invite link button. Send that link (or read out the code) to your friend. They open it — or type the code into Join a room — and become Black. The game starts the moment both of you are in.
Q. How do I pick which game we play?
With the Game selector in the lobby, before tapping Create: Manhouse — equal odds & mana, Crazyhouse — classic pockets & drops, Standard chess — no drops or Puzzle Battle — race the same puzzles. The room carries the choice, so your friend simply joins whatever you picked — a badge above the board shows which game the room plays. (Play vs a bot plays the selected game too — except Puzzle Battle, which is a live head-to-head race, so it needs a second player.)
Q. I don't have anyone to invite — can I still play a person?
Yes, two ways. Tap Find an opponent (quick match) and you're paired into the first open room for the selected game — or, if nobody's waiting, a room opens for you and the next person to try quick match (or browse Open games) lands in it. Or browse the Open games list yourself and tap Join on any waiting room. Want strangers to find YOUR room the normal way (Create)? Tick List publicly before you create it.
Q. What does the little rating chip next to my opponent's name mean?
That's their Free Play rating on their own device ("ch. 1450"), or "unrated" if they haven't played one yet. It's shown before you've even made a move, so you know roughly who you're up against.
Q. Can I just watch a game instead of playing?
Yes — open a room's spectate link (ask the player for it) and you get a read-only view: the live board plus a compact move list, no move input, no resign/draw/rematch buttons. It updates live as the game is played, exactly like polling your own game does.
Q. Can I play without a friend?
Yes — pick Play vs a bot in the lobby and choose an opponent from the same 7-bot panel the other games use (Mousebot 500 up to Kingbot 3200). You play White; the computer plays Black by the same rules as the game you selected. A Manhouse bot game plays the solo-Manhouse ruleset with equal odds: both sides earn the solo Sorcerer's stream — +1.2 every move, starting with 3, capped at 12 (two-player rooms use the +1/move economy below). Crazyhouse/Standard rooms: the plain engine.
Q. Is there a clock?
Optional. Pick a time control in the lobby (e.g. 5 min, or 3 + 2 with a per-move increment) before you create a game or start a bot game — or leave it on No clock for an untimed game. The side to move counts down; if your clock hits zero you lose on time.
Q. Can I premove — and delete one?
Yes. While it's the opponent's turn, set your next move — or a whole chain, including a pre-drop — and it auto-plays on your turn. To delete a queued premove, tap an empty square on the board or right-click it (desktop) — the same as Lichess or Chess.com. Tapping one of your own pieces starts a fresh premove instead.
Q. Do we need an account?
No — you can play as a guest. Signing in just lets you keep a display name. Enter a name so your opponent sees who they're playing.
Q. I refreshed / lost connection — is my game gone?
No. Free Play remembers your room on this device, so reopening the page drops you straight back into the game where you left off. Rooms are reclaimed after a couple of hours of inactivity.
Q. Can I react to my opponent?
Yes — a small row of fixed emotes & quick phrases (gg, !!, gl, wow, oops, ty, wp, Rematch?, Close one) sits under the board. Tap one and it flashes on both boards. They're a fixed set only — there is no free-text chat — and they're not saved (nothing is stored or kept as history). They work in vs-bot games too (your own reaction flashes), and even when the room's instant connection drops they still get through on the regular sync.
Q. What if my opponent's connection drops mid-game?
A brief blip doesn't end the game. You'll see an "opponent reconnecting…" note while they're away, and play simply resumes when they return.
How the game plays (Manhouse rooms)
Q. Whose turn is it?
White moves first, then you alternate. The board shows your colour at the bottom, and the top bar shows “your move” or that you're waiting on your opponent. You can only move on your turn; the other player's move arrives within a second.
Q. What is mana and how do I spend it?
Mana () is the currency you spend to summon pieces onto empty squares. You start with 3 and gain +1 every move (no income on your very first move), up to a cap of 10. There's no clock — mana only builds as you play. Tap an affordable pocket piece (bright), then an empty square; the mana is spent and that drop is your move.
Q. What do pieces cost?
Pawn 1.5 · Bishop 2.5 · Knight 3.5 · Rook 4 · Queen 7 (a queen costs less than two rooks). Pawns can't be dropped on the first or last rank.
Q. Can the two sides get different mana-per-move rates?
Yes — when you create a Manhouse room you pick two rates, one for White and one for Black, instead of a single shared one. This is for balancing a game between two friends of different skill: give the stronger player the slower rate (say 1/move) and the other player the faster one (say 1.5/move) so the economy — not just the moves — helps close the gap. You (the room creator) always play White, so you set both rates before your friend even joins; they inherit whatever you picked. If you leave both at the same value the game plays exactly as before. In games against a bot there's no second human to balance against, so both sides always share the White picker's rate.
Q. Do captures go to a Crazyhouse pocket?
Not in a Manhouse room — captured pieces are gone for good, on both sides. There the only way new material arrives is summoning it from your mana stream. That keeps the duel symmetric and readable. (In a Crazyhouse room captures do go to the pocket — see below.)
Q. What happens when my pawn reaches the last rank?
A promotion picker (♛/♜/♝/♞) appears so you can choose — no forced auto-queen, so under-promotion is always available.
Crazyhouse rooms
Q. What changes when the room is Crazyhouse?
It's the classic Crazyhouse game — no mana at all. Every piece you capture goes into your pocket (shown under the board), and on any of your turns you can tap a pocket piece and then an empty square to drop it back into play, for free — that drop is your move. Pawns can't be dropped on the first or last rank. Both sides play by the same rules, starting with empty pockets.
Q. Can I see what my opponent can drop?
Yes — your opponent's pocket is always shown as read-only chips (with counts) above the board, so a surprise drop is never invisible information.
Standard chess rooms
Q. What changes when the room is Standard chess?
It's plain chess: no mana, no pockets, no drops — captured pieces are gone for good. Everything else (the optional clock, draw offers, resign, rematch, premoves and the promotion picker) works exactly the same as the other rooms.
Puzzle Battle rooms
Q. What changes when the room is Puzzle Battle?
There's no chess game between you at all — instead, the moment your friend joins, you both race the exact same 3-minute puzzle run: identical mate puzzles in identical order, +1 per solved puzzle, a wrong move skips that puzzle (no retry). A strip above the board shows your opponent's live progress; when both clocks are done, the higher score wins (equal scores draw). Full run rules: the Puzzle Battle FAQ.
Q. Which puzzles does a battle room serve — Crazyhouse or Standard?
Whichever the creator picked on the lobby's ⚔ Battle puzzles chips (♞ Crazyhouse by default, or ♟ Standard — plain chess, no drops). The room carries the pick, so the joiner races the same variant. Battle solves and misses also feed your puzzle rating, exactly like trainer attempts.
Q. Does the room clock or draw/resign apply to a Puzzle Battle?
No — the battle brings its own fixed 3-minute clock per player, and there are no draw offers or resigning: you just solve. Leaving mid-race forfeits your remaining time (the run can't be paused or resumed).
Ending a game
Q. How do I win?
By checkmating your opponent's king. In a Manhouse room a side is only mated when it has no move and no summon saves it — if its mana can afford a piece that covers the check, the game goes on.
Q. Can we draw or resign?
Offer draw sends a draw offer; if your opponent offers back (or taps Accept draw), the game ends in a draw by agreement. Any move withdraws a standing offer. Resign hands your opponent the win.
Q. Can we play again?
When a game ends, tap Rematch to start a fresh game in the same room — no new code needed. To keep a series fair, a rematch swaps colours: whoever had White now plays Black, and vice versa. New game takes you back to the lobby to start over.
Q. Can I share the result?
Yes — when a game ends, a Share result button appears. It shares (or copies) a short, spoiler-free line about the game so you can brag to a friend. It never includes the moves or the board.
Q. Is it rated?
There's a casual Free Play rating, separate from your Puzzle rating — both vs-bot games AND player-vs-player rooms update it when the game ends (a resign/timeout counts too — you staked the game). It lives only on this device (no server-wide leaderboard), and the result banner shows your change ("+12 Elo → 1012") so it's never a mystery.