Ask the Wizard
Stuck? Spend a little gold to ask which piece to move, then where — never the full solution. Out of gold? A short ad tops you back up.
A Chess Puzzle Journey
Gambit Road
One winding road through a kingdom of chess — a thousand stops, a different puzzle at every one, a boss at the end of every chapter, and a duel ladder that climbs from a fumbling rookie past a 2,882-Elo summit. No account to create, no time limit, no connection needed.
Free to play · Android · 12 languages
1,000
Mate-in-N trials,
one per stop
8
Chapters,
40 bosses
49
Named duelists,
80 to 2,882 Elo
10
Board styles,
Parchment to Ink
The Road
Eight chapters, one winding road
125 stops a chapter, a boss every 25, and a relic for every chapter you finish. No puzzle appears twice, and none gives itself away — at most two first moves win. Chapter I opens with a few mates-in-2 against a lone king; from the sixth stop the defence fights back — pawn shields, rooks, knights that block and interpose — and quiet moves and sacrifices grow more common as deeper mates unlock, up to mate-in-10 in the final chapters. The fog only lifts one stop at a time.
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I
The Pawn Marshes
Mud, frogs, and foes who forget their back rank.
Boss · Baroness Pinsworth -
II
The Knight Thickets
Two horses, one narrow path, endless forks.
Boss · The Thicket King -
III
The Bishopric of Bramble
Long diagonals and longer sermons.
Boss · Abbot Fianchetto -
IV
The Rook Quarries
Straight lines cut out of solid rock.
Boss · The Quarry Rook -
V
The Drowned Files
Half the board is underwater. Play on.
Boss · The Drowned Duke -
VI
The Queen's Kitchens
Everything is on fire and someone is stirring.
Boss · Chef Zugzwang -
VII
The Endgame Steppes
Two kings, one pawn, and a great deal of walking.
Boss · The Steppe Widow -
VIII
The Marble Keep
The final ascent. Bring all your shields.
Boss · The Marble Queen
8♚︎
7♝︎♟︎♟︎
6
5
4
3♛︎
2♟︎♟︎
1abcdef♜︎g♚︎h
Try one
A trial from Chapter I
MATE IN 2
The Quiet Diagonal
vs. Sir Blunder the Bold · White to move“Charges his king into open diagonals with great confidence.”
Ask the wizard ● 50
Angle the queen in to e6 — the check reaches all the way to g8, and your rook already guards f8, so the king only has the corner.
Show the mate
- 1. Qe6+ — Good. The rook already seals f8, so the king can only shuffle to the corner.
- 1… Kh8
- 2. Qe8# — Mate. His bishop watched the whole thing from b7.
What's in the box
Everything a puzzle habit needs
Nothing lost but pride
Undo your last move or start a trial over at no cost, as often as you like. The trial remembers; the road forgives.
Two Champions
A full, real chessboard for pass-and-play — no AI, no timer, no scoring, just two people and sixty-four squares.
Relics & crests
Every cleared stop earns a crest and gold; every finished chapter leaves a relic on your Hero page.
Ten board styles
Parchment, Moss, Slate, Wine, Ember, Frost, Twilight, Sandstone, Emerald, Ink — and the whole kingdom repaints to match.
Speaks your language
Twelve languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, picked up from your device — or set by hand in Settings, any time.
Learn in a minute
New to chess, or just rusty? A short first lesson on a real board: move a piece, take one, deliver a mate in one. Skip it, or replay it from Settings whenever you like.
Drag or tap
Pick a piece up and drop it, or tap it and tap its square — on every board in the game. A soft buzz marks each move, capture and checkmate, if you want it.
A minstrel on the road
Three medieval folk tunes of its own — lute, recorder, harp and drum — composed for the game. It hushes when you leave the app and never talks over your own music.
The Duel Ladder
Forty-nine rivals. A thousand rungs.
Best of three on every rung, real games with no scripted lines. Win and you climb; lose and they'll be waiting on the same rung. The first forty-nine take you to 2,882 Elo — then they come round again, rated higher every lap. Your own moves are timed, so every rival you've beaten can be fought again for a faster win. A few of the faces on the way up:
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The Summit Itself
Rated at the highest number a human has ever carried over the board. Some still call it a rumor. It isn't.
2,882PEERLESS -
The Marble Queen
Has not lost since the old king was young. Duels only those who dare.
1,980MERCILESS -
Archmagister Vex
Announces the mate before playing it. Annoyingly, he is always right.
1,760CALCULATING -
Brother Silence
Hasn't spoken during a game in eleven years. Still hums a little.
1,400MONASTIC -
Dame Ostrid
Won't trade rooks. Will fight you for every open file instead.
880TERRITORIAL -
Young Tam
Learned the knight fork yesterday. Will try it on you at least four times.
330EAGER -
Widdershins the Wobbly
Moves a different piece every turn out of sheer indecision. Sometimes it works.
80ERRATIC
Inside the app
The road, the ladder, the board
The Road
One stop at a time
Duels
Pick your next rival
The Trial
Every stop, its own puzzle
The road is open
Gambit Road runs entirely on your device — progress, gold, and board style all live locally. Ads help keep it free, and a one-time purchase removes them; nothing else is collected.
Get it on Google PlayFree to play · Android
Questions
Before you ask the wizard
Do I need an account?
No. Every bit of progress — crests, gold, relics, duel rank, board style — is stored on your device. There's nothing to sign up for and no server of ours it syncs to.
Are there achievements?
Twenty-three, through Google Play Games: for chapters, bosses, the duel ladder, ranks and fast wins. Signing in to Play Games is optional, and the game plays exactly the same without it.
Can I move my progress to a new phone?
Yes. Your progress is part of your phone's own Google backup, so a new phone set up from that backup picks it up. If you're signed in to Google Play Games, a copy is kept there too, and the game offers to restore it on any device.
Does it need an internet connection?
No — every trial, duel and Practice game runs on your device. A connection is only used to serve the ads that keep the game free.
Are there ads?
An occasional banner, and an interstitial between Practice games. A one-time "Remove ads" purchase turns both off for good. Watching a short rewarded ad is a free way to top up gold for wizard hints; gold packs can also be bought.
How hard does the duel ladder actually get?
The forty-nine duelists span 80 to 2,882 Elo, and the engine gets measurably stronger at each tier — from an opponent that blunders on purpose to one with a much sharper positional sense. The ladder runs to a thousand rungs; past the first lap every rival plays at full strength.
What if I get stuck on a trial?
Ask the wizard. He'll tell you which piece to move for a price, and where for a little more — or just undo your last move, or start the trial over, at no cost at all.