Welcome to Game of Kings Online Chess, where you can play chess online with other Scratchers, or watch an ongoing game! At start you might have to wait 45 seconds of idle time until a seat is available. You have 30 seconds to make your move. The same of course is the case for the other player, so please be patient. Scratcher level is required to play online ( https://en.scratch-wiki.info/wiki/Scratcher - due to cloud variables). If no one else is online, you can play against the GoK chess engine while waiting. After program start you are placed onto a player slot if available, otherwise you can watch the ongoing game in the meantime. Click the "Join" button to take a slot. Once you got a playing slot and it's your turn (your name will show a visual marker), click the piece to move, then click the field to move to. You have 30 seconds for each move, otherwise the slot can be obtained by someone else. As a spectator, you can watch the ongoing game. Either human vs. human, or human vs. the GoK engine, or GoK engine vs. the GoK engine. GoK steps in if there is no other player around. FAQs: - "There is a bug!" Unlikely, 200k games (see also: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/148769358), no known problems. Consult experienced player. Read all instructions. - "Why invalid move?" It probably keeps or puts you in check. - "Castling doesn't work!" It does, see castling rules. - "Board is set up incorrectly" Maybe you mixed up king and queen. - "Opponent pawn captured my pawn which had already passed it!" That's called 'en-passant'. - "Why is it a draw when engine only has king left and I still have pieces?". Most likely draw by stalemate (no legal move but also not checked) - "How to castle?" Move the king two squares; king must not be in check, none of the passed squares must be in check, and neither king nor rook must have moved before. - "How to play en-passant?" Move your pawn diagonally by one square, behind the opponent pawn which just moved two squares.
