Strategy board game · Android 6.0+
A bold new take on chess strategy.
California Chess is a two-player strategy board game built on a chess foundation, then reimagined with original rules — hidden traps, board-shaping captures, and a palace-bound king. Easy to pick up, hard to master.
What makes it different
Familiar pieces, original rules. Every capture changes the shape of the game.
Three battle maps
Play on an 11×11 grand board or two compact 9×9 layouts — each with its own setup and palace depth. Pick your battlefield before the first move.
Hidden poison pawns
At the start, each side secretly marks one pawn. Capture it and your attacker is lost too. Every exchange carries a quiet risk.
Captures reshape the board
Take an enemy chariot and you plant a permanent barrier deep in their territory. Take a cannon and you earn a mobility base. The board never stops changing.
A king bound to the palace
The king moves only within its inner palace. Wall it in with barriers and the endgame becomes a siege — classic tension with a modern twist.
Play in English or Chinese
The full interface and move log follow your device language, in English or Simplified Chinese.
No accounts, no ads, offline
Sit down across one device and play. No sign-up, no tracking, no network required.
The pieces
Each token is a black-enamel medallion with fine engraved gold relief. Every piece has a front and a flipped face — cannons swap their yin-yang, poison pawns reveal a skull.
Get California Chess
Free to play. No accounts, no ads, works offline. Download the Android build today; the Google Play and App Store releases are on the way.
Latest build · v1.0 · June 2026 — New hand-crafted black-enamel-and-gold piece artwork — fine engraved relief, with a front and a flipped face for every piece — on a cleaner board.