♛ Gambit · 2 or 4 players

Gambit — chess with an economy.

Gambit is Pilimo’s twist on the royal game: two or four armies in the corners of one 12×12 board, where every move costs gold, captures and checks pay bounties, and the poorest war chest gets eliminated. Your chess tactics all work — pins, forks, real checkmates — but your chess instincts will need an upgrade.

  • 2–4armies
  • 12×12board
  • 3actions a turn
How to play

Your tactics work. Your instincts don’t.

Every turn gives you up to three actions — the first is always a move, and extra moves cost double, then triple. Spend gold on new pieces and walls, and keep your king safe while you out-earn the table.

Checkmate pays. So does everything else.

Captures pay half the victim’s price, every new check earns gold, and delivering mate pays a fat bounty. Hold the gold mines for income, wall off your corner, and watch the cull: after enough quiet rounds the poorest player — points, gold and army together — falls. Turtling is death; tempo is money.

  • Real chess movement with 4-way pawns on a 12×12 board
  • Buy pieces back into play beside your king
  • Build walls that block every line except the knight’s
  • Checks, mates and mine control all pay gold — the cull eats the poorest
Start a Gambit match
Why Pilimo

Better with people you know.

Gambit was built for chess players who want a bigger fight. Pilimo is the multiplayer social gaming platform that brings the other armies.

  1. 1

    Add your friends

    Bring in the people you play with by handle and keep them in one list across every game.

  2. 2

    Or match nearby

    No one around? Get paired with a Gambit player near you — no lobby-hunting, no waiting room.

  3. 3

    Play live

    Send an invite, take your seat, and play in realtime with every move in perfect sync.

More games

More to play on Pilimo.

Bring your tactics. Let’s play Gambit.

Create a free account and challenge your first opponent in under a minute.

Free to play · invite your friends · match nearby