Rulehouse
Master a new form of chess across the globe! Fifteen different levels, all with different rules, locations, and funny characters!
Play the original version here!
Controls
- Left Click - Move Pieces, Interact with Buttons
- Right Click - Return Pieces, Cancel Premove
- R Key - Refresh Level
- Mouse Wheel Click - Refresh Level
Credits
- Dalichrome - Art/UI
- Jacob Engelbrecht - Chess Backend, UI
- Ian McBee - Dialogue and Piece Design
- Gaberiel Soares - Music, SFX
- Testers - Jack Williams, Brendan Glenn
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Demo 1.3.1 & NEXT FEST18 days ago
- Demo-Itch.1.2 Patch: Gun Diagram, Alien Nerf, Save Fix31 days ago
- Thanks ITCH! - Front Page and Demo in Browser33 days ago
- DEMO IS OUT!!!35 days ago
- Guns and Tiktok!Jun 04, 2026
- Demo Sneak Peak: New Art, New Non-Linear BoardsApr 11, 2026
- How we won - Blog and Old Jam Version PageMar 29, 2026
- v0.2, Winning and SteamMar 23, 2026
Comments
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The dialogue in this game was way funnier than I excepted. Gameplay is challenging but easy for beginners, honestly more fun than regular chess.
Nice game: a little challenging but not too much; I don't play/am not practised at chess, but I still had fun playing. I can't tell if it would be too easy for avid chess players, balance is a tricky business. Best of luck with development!
Really well made!! I love the artstyle :D
Really fun but really infuriating. Can't wait for the full thing. Had some trouble on the alien but nothing should be changed anywhere. I'm a souls enjoyer so the pain is therapeutic to me. Runs smooth and art work is great.
man this is just amazing
This was something beautiful. Love the humor
why is it so laggy? i can't play
Hey sorry to hear that, the game is pretty restricted in the browser due to how the chess AI and UI work, but can you let me know your computer specs? In the meantime try switching to Upscale Rendering in the settings and see if that helps.
Finally, Chess 3
luckily i beat the alien before it got nerfed but then got bored and recently finished it. retried the alien for fun and now its just trash.
MY F P S ---
It's a bit laggy, even when downloaded
Would you mind giving your computer specs? Seems like some users are lagging and we're trying to pinpoint why.
I use a MacBook Air, M1 2020, with 8gb of memory. I noticed that the title screen is quite laggy, but the gameplay itself is pretty optimized and smooth going so it might be somewhere there. Also, thank you for making it a mac compatible game, there aren't many out there.
Your game is amazing. I'm stuck at the prison level though 😭 how do I win?
Your game's art and gameplay are super catchy., but the only thing is too short. Can't wait for full game.
Your game style is awesome, the cutscenes and portraits are all top-notch. I hope as many people as possible get to see your gem!
realy fun experience cant wait for full game
The game was too peak , I never in my life remembering enjoying playing chess this much before..
Rulehouse 👽♞
i found peak
help I can't escape jail
like after I beat Kim jong un
Did I find gold?
the prison break level is peak design tbh
Linux version pleaseeeee
Linux version is on the way! Give us a week or two to give it a little QA :)
Okay brevv
Just wanna know when it's gonna be out. It's a W game, tbh.
The game is really cool, it's like checkers with chess rules, even though the UFO level a little headache i will try to beat it lol, Well, all love to the devs, and keep up the good work!
wow. this was amazing, so challenging too! the new rules that would be added kept me wanting to play more and see what else was coming, and the ending was fantastic. 10/10, gg dev
The gameplay could be considered somewhat dry or luck-based at time. But it is offset by the lovely writing and the tasteful graphics. I enjoyed how each board reflects the place where we are (shoutout to the Chinese board, reflecting xiangqi).
MAN what a game only the pick one is hard rest are luck based and some mind play
Story is also top notch
at last where he is the not only person in ship could work in a spooky ways
forward to wise list it
Cool game and a fun concept! Pretty interesting story for what's happening too!
For anyone struggling with the alien:
Essentially you want to try and have the ice pawns take his poison pawns(anything that takes a poison will die anyway), you can use your first couple moves to move the ice pawns up 2 places and prevent their poison pawns from moving. (If he does something dumb like march his middle pawn into where your night can take it free feel free to grab it)
I don't think I ever took BOTH with the ice pawns, but even one helps makes things easier. After that just protect your poison pawn or remaining ice pawn as best you can
Cool game but I found one little bug: while I was playing the amazon level the monkey just froze in one pozition and could't move at all so I had to restart.
Nice find! Fix will be in the next patch :)
Yup same on the Australia level too
Love the demo!
I discovered a bug where the draw screen doesn't appear when the opponent is cornered, and when it's the opponent's turn, they do nothing and softlocks the game.
Usually in this scenario, the expected result is you skip the opponents turn since they can't do anything. The turn indicator does a little animation and a small audio cue plays to indicate that you can go again. But its pretty subtle since it can happen a lot. Let me know if thats the case or there is a bug :)
the problem is i can't do anything too. game is just softlocked at this point
the ufo guy made me want to rip my hair out
Thanks for playing it through! We're gonna be reworking the Alien again for the next version. Trying hard to have our players finish playing with their hair intact lol
no please keep it at this difficulty it was fun
Yeah, but it'll be cool going bald.
Yeah I gave up at the alien too. I did manage to beat it on hardcore though, somehow it was easier there
BRO HOWWWWWWWW? I have been stuck on that level for over 40 mins
very good. very exited for the full release!
Greatly appreciated! :)
For the Alien UFO level, is it intentional that my pawns can't do the same cross behind to eliminate move that the alien can?
Also, why is it that when I take a cow using my regular pawn, my pawn then gets eliminated?
it's en passant, an you can do it too
That Alien level got me, I don´t even know how I won. Other that that the panda level was kinda hard and the rest of levels were pretty good, on difficulty and design. I specially liked the prison scape level, it felt so unique.
pretty fun, the writing got plenty of chuckles & the variance of mechanics and pieces was fun too. wish there was an indicator that all rules carry over tho-- i got hit with an en passant after the second stage because i didn't realize it was still in play.
i do wish the Lock was balanced better. maybe i just got hella unlucky, but it kept doubling up its knights so that it essentially had an impenetrable forcefield.
Why does the main theme sound like Sexyback?
Let me start off with that the art and concept are amazing!
I was frustrated with the alien level and decided to write a solver. Result: black can force a win - white is guaranteed to lose with perfect play in at most 36 plies, and every white first move loses. This means that it's not enough to play perfectly, the player also needs sheer luck. This soured the game for me, as it turned a puzzle game into a puzzle-themed luck game. I think ensuring the levels are solvable regardless of random rolls is something you can improve, as I see other players mention the same frustration in the comments below.
First thanks for the compliments and for playing! Second, I think the point you make is a very interesting one and you're fundamentally right our game is just that, a puzzle-themed game. We're not trying to mimic chess puzzles, but to mimic chess matches. Chess abounds in luck, but it presents itself different than other games. Luck in chess is experienced through how poor of an opponent you may have. For example someone randomly matched against Magnus Carlsen, we'd say is unlucky as they'd be unlikely to win. In this way, in our game, each level we gauged difficulty on how able we were to win and how interesting we felt it played with the AI in place. Not how it would play with a perfect opponent. Sometimes we hit the mark and sometimes we miss and people dislike it, so is the process of game dev. So all to say, we will be reworking the Alien stage and hope you can give us another chance in the future. Regardless appreciate the thoughtful comment! :)
Thanks for responding. Everything you said is fair, but I think it slightly misses what I was trying to say. To rephrase, I wanted to make these observations:
1. The alien level is hard! As many have said.
2. I managed to find out what exactly makes it hard: the opponent can force a win.
3. Generally, two player games become not very interesting if it is discovered that an opponent can force a win. Even Tic-Tac-Toe allows a draw at worst. Same with checkers; for chess, we don't know yet, but it's probably the same.
4. I also tried solving the second-hardest level for me, North Korea. There black cannot force a win, perfect play leads to a draw, and indeed it wasn't as difficult :)
So, this is something you may be able to use: if in one level the opponent can force a win, then that level is probably too hard, and you may want to revisit it. Happy to share my solver program if you'd like.
I really like what I've experienced so far. I like that the boards are a bit smaller, which kinda raises the stakes, considering the goal is to get your pawn to the other side first. Also, the character conversations and cutscenes contribute very well to the game's humorous vibe. I recommend that everyone give this demo a try!
Hey! I came across your game and really enjoyed it. I also loved the animation and visual style you’ve created for it. I’m a freelance animator/illustrator, and I was wondering if you’ve ever considered making a short animated teaser or cinematic clip to showcase the game.
If you’re interested, I’d love to share my work and discuss a few ideas for your game. Feel free to reach out to me!
📧 akiracomicart2@gmail.com
📸 Instagram: @eve_verse_