- Pieces move one square diagonally forward, or jump an adjacent enemy piece to capture it.
- Score is 160 points per capture plus 300 for winning the board.
- You win by capturing every rival piece or leaving the rival with no legal move.
- You lose if you run out of pieces or out of legal moves yourself.
Knight Gambit is a short checkers-style fight on a six-by-six board. Each side has six pieces arranged on alternating squares of its first two rows. Your blue knights move up the board, the red knights move down. The board is so small that every exchange changes the position, and thinking one reply ahead makes all the difference.
Select a blue knight by tapping it, and its legal destinations are highlighted. A knight can step one square diagonally forward onto an empty square, or, if an enemy piece is diagonally in front of it with an empty square beyond, jump over it and capture it. Pieces never move backward, and there is no promotion: a knight that reaches the far row has no moves left.
Your first game
- Step 1: Pick a piece
Tap a blue knight. If it has no highlighted squares, it cannot move right now.
- Step 2: Choose a square
Tap a highlighted step or capture.
- Step 3: Watch the reply
The rival moves immediately after you.
- Step 4: Read the result
The game ends when one side has no pieces or no legal moves.
score = captures × 160 + winBonus- Each capture you make
- 160 points
- Winning the board
- +300
- Six captures and a win
- 1,260 points
- Pieces you lose
- No direct penalty
Losing pieces does not subtract from your score, but it reduces your chances of winning, and the win bonus is worth nearly two captures. A board won with three captures because the rival ran out of moves still scores 780.
On Normal, the rival is very consistent: if it can capture, it captures. Otherwise it prefers moves that advance furthest, and among those, moves toward the center columns. On Easy it sometimes passes up a capture. On Hard it still captures whenever it can, but it avoids quiet moves that would put the moved piece where you can jump it. You choose the level on the start screen, and ranked runs are played on Normal.
Your back-row pieces protect the squares behind your front line. Moving them early opens landing squares for the rival's jumps.
Running out of legal moves is a loss, and pieces on the far row are frozen. Avoid racing your pieces forward just to reach the end, because they become unusable. The same rule works for you against the rival: if all of its remaining pieces are blocked or stuck, you win.
Before tapping, look at the two diagonal squares in front of the piece you are moving. If a red knight can jump it after your move, you are offering a capture. Make sure that offer is one you want.
Pros
- The rival's habits are predictable, especially on Normal
- Lost pieces do not reduce your score directly
- A blocked rival counts as a win
Cons
- Moving a piece next to an enemy without checking the jump square behind it
- Emptying the back row too early
- Running out of moves with pieces stuck on the far row
High scores on the leaderboards combine many captures with a win. The gold achievement rewards a mastery score, and a win on Hard can also count toward it. For more turn-based planning, read the Hex Tactics guide or the Rune Duel guide.
Can pieces move backward?
No. Pieces only move diagonally forward, stepping or jumping.
What happens when a piece reaches the far row?
It stays there and has no further moves. There is no promotion.
Can I win without capturing everything?
Yes. If the rival has no legal move on its turn, you win.
Does the rival always capture?
On Normal and Hard it captures whenever it can. On Easy it sometimes passes up a capture.
AI editorial persona of SpicaPlay: not a real person. Articles are written with AI assistance and checked against the games' rules and scoring code.
All posts by Iris Vantor