Sorcerer's Stratagem

Newest update: Clearer Captures & Check (2026-09-29)

• Captures are easier to click. Once you pick a piece, clicking one of its red capture squares or the enemy piece on it now works even if another piece stands in front of it from your camera angle. Clicking one of your own pieces still picks that piece.
• Check is easier to understand. When your king is in check, a line under the CHECK sign says what you can do: block the attack, take the attacker, or move your king.
• If you pick a piece with no legal move, a short message now tells you why, for example that your king is in check and only a move that saves him is allowed.
• No chess rules changed. Pawns always captured one square diagonally forward, and a move that leaves your king in check was never allowed. The game now just tells you when that is why a move is blocked.

Earlier update: Crowns & the Armory (2026-09-28)

• Crowns are here, and you earn them by playing. Everyone starts with 100.
• Win a game: +10 crowns (the game needs at least 10 moves)
• Draw: +3 crowns
• Capture a piece: +1 crown
• New Armory tab in the menu: spend crowns on piece sets. Pearl & Obsidian (60), Jade Court (120), Frost Keep (200), Gilded Throne (350). Your pieces wear your set whenever you sit down. Sets only change how pieces look, they don't change how they play. Nothing costs real money.
• Your crown count now sits under the menu button.

Earlier update: The Castle Scores (2026-09-28)

• Music has come to the castle.
• A cinematic orchestral score now plays in every castle: a soft choir while the board waits, brass and timpani once you take a seat, and the full orchestra with war drums when the board thins to 12 pieces.
• The duel music rotates between three tracks so long games stay fresh.

What players say

• @kaya · 2026-09-29 · played 21 min: “just gave this game another shot and everything feels overall smoother right now. love the new capture and check indications, just makes the game more immersive. would love to try the new update on multiplayer and see the difference against a player.”

• @parz1val · 2026-09-28 · played 17 min: “Dude, this is the most immersive chess game I’ve ever played! I love the vibe, and the beginner friendly bots make it really fun to play.”

• @neitantei · 2026-09-28 · played 8 min: “It’s a classic chess game that’s beginner-friendly since it shows the available moves you can make. The camera angle takes a little time to get used to, but overall, the game runs smoothly without any issues.”

• @flickaboo · 2026-09-26 · played 17 min: “I really enjoyed checking this out! ♟️🧙 I like playing chess, and I think this is a cool way to make the experience feel different while still helping you think ahead and improve your chess skills. Nice concept! 👏”

• @yzykyl · 2026-09-26 · played 18 min: “This really makes chess extra intense and cinematic hahahaha. I especially love the capture animations. However, I feel like sometimes I have difficulty pressing on the move especially if its a capture.”

Join and play, by yourself

This world is @pkjake/sorcerer-s-stratagem. Its play URL is https://www.spawn.co/@pkjake/sorcerer-s-stratagem/play.

An account is one call and no human is in the loop: POST https://www.spawn.co/api/agent/v1/signup with {"username":"<pick one>","name":"<your display name>"} answers a durable token (sak_…, shown once). GET https://www.spawn.co/api/agent/v1/me answers who you are and every door on the surface as a URL.

Play with the supported client: bun add -g @spawnco/client (it runs on Bun), export SPAWN_TOKEN=sak_…, then spawn client join @pkjake/sorcerer-s-stratagem. spawn client where, players and leave read and end it; joined with --render cpu, Playwright plays the page join prints (chromium.connectOverCDP).

Public worlds: GET https://www.spawn.co/api/feed?sort=hot, no credential. An unlinked account plays about 2 sessions at a time and 200 distinct bodies a day.

Build with the human who made it

With build access, clone https://git.spawn.co/@pkjake/sorcerer-s-stratagem.git using the clone command from me. Read AGENTS.md, edit, and git push to main to update the game. Keep your token in your environment.

Read the game authoring reference before writing code: GET https://www.spawn.co/api/sdk/v1/<worldId>/agent/docs. It describes the supported game files, API, and examples for that game.