Really Bad Chess+
Chess minus memorization
How much does Really Bad Chess+ cost?
Prices are current as of 16 Oct 2026.
Really Bad Chess+ has no in-app products on record in the United States.
10+ alternatives to Really Bad Chess+
| Really Bad Chess+ |   Mahjong Titan+ |   Flow Free+ |   Checkers Royal+ |   Backgammon+ |   The Game of Life 2+ |   Chess Universe+ |   Game Room |   Dominoes: Classic Tile Game+ |   Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector+ |   Everybody Shogi | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating / 5 | 3.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.2 | 4.6 |
| Reviews | 376 | 43K | 33K | 33K | 23K | 19K | 12K | 7.8K | 6.4K | 1.4K | 978 |
| Released | 2021 | 2021 | 2026 | 2021 | 2021 | 2025 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2021 | 2025 |
Really Bad Chess+ reviews
3.7 out of 5, based on 376 reviews.
What people like
- Random setup makes chess surprisingly fun
- Simple interface works great for quick play
- Helps improve real chess thinking skills
What they complain about
- Latest update breaks screen scaling on phones
- AI gets stuck in infinite check loops
- No draw rules force you to resign
- Moves snap instantly with no animation
Lots of fun
Totally randomized chaotic chess game. Definitely give this one a go
WORST GAME EVER
I HATE IT WAY TO HARD THIS GAME SHOULD HAVE NEVER EVER CAME OUT
Recent update is too zoomed in iPhone 17 pro max.
Love the game. Have for years game updated today and I can not see the entire game on my iPhone 17 pro max. It feels like they are forcing me to play with iPad aspect ratio
The ai is way too lucky
The games usually start out with impossible to defend attacks, the ai doesn’t even go for checkmate strategically, it just wants pieces, and on top of that, the boards are usually very unfair, I’ve started multiple times where a piece that I need is under attack and I defendable in the very first move, not to mention that most of the time, the ai gets undefendable lines that take half your pieces.
new but buggy
the new version doesn’t fit on the phone screen - only iPad…
So much cavalry
A fun game in an incredibly frustrating way. One wish, it would be great to see the board after victory or defeat. A second look at a surprise ending would be nice.
It’s really bad chess ♟️
Worst game ever 😁 really can’t understand it. So I deleting this right now after I’m done bye
Repetitive
If the bot gets in a position where it can constantly check you but never mate you, it will get stuck forever and you can do anything, it will never stop giving checks forcing you to move or block and it’s terrible (five stars bc apple hides 1 star reviews)
Recent upgrade issues
Recent upgrades have caused the play forked to be larger than the phone screen, th entire outer edges of the board are off the screen, also the top of the menus are off the top of the screen
Eh?
Very interesting chess game. The nonstandard starting positions make the game a great series of chess exercises to better your playing skills and a fun way to engage in a game that can feel too serious and/or occasionally repetitive… but it has some serious flaws. No draws is the biggest one I’ve come across so far - the AI has gotten itself in a position where it is unable to beat me, and I am now tasked with either losing anyway or giving up on the app entirely, just because the game’s too dumb to realize it cannot win. I do have the option to surrender, but it kind of kills the fun for me to be required to lose simply because I’m smarter than the AI in this position - it absolutely could pursue a victory, but it can only fathom one move in this position, which should earn me a draw. It’s not smart enough to win, so it’s my job to hold its hand a press the surrender button. I hope further updates allow the AI to, at the very least, not brick games like this.
love
i’m addicted to this game. i don’t even play much chess, but this version is sooo fun. whoever came up with this idea is a genius
Latest update broke the game
A recent update added some new game modes but completely broke the game. On my iPhone 17 Pro the entire app is now “magnified” such that I can’t see the entire board (the left and right-most columns aren’t on screen!) It broke the menu UI as well I can’t read the options because they’re all cut off. I had a 50+ day streak which I lost because of this. Most games when they break something that destroys user progress (streaks, dailies, etc) there’s some sort apology or fix made. I guarantee Apple Arcade won’t bother. Update: they fixed it today 3/23 but guess what, they fixed the other version of the game (the one not via Apple Arcade) TWO DAYS EARLIER! That’s right, the subscription service version you pay for gets updated slower than the regular version.
Fun but… resigning isn’t
There have been several situations where I’ve had to resign because the AI keeps putting my king in check, and because the game doesn’t allow for stalemates, there’s no other way for me to end the game without resigning. Otherwise, I like the way this game plays, I like the unusual set up, I like a lot about the game. And I play it daily.
Bad update
Latest update wrecked the game.
Mediocre, fun for a few days at best
The computer AI is pretty bad and though the concept is great it’s re-playability isn’t. Times when the computer should be able to put you into checkmate it can’t and the game won’t stalemate. The “imbalance” that is supposed to make the game more difficult is often too one sided. There’s no “custom rules” like a rooks only mode or something fun. All around great idea. But greatly mediocre application.
One bug, otherwise perfect!
I found a bug that when you are trying to make a move, it won’t let you move! I found this near the end of a match, if that helps. Otherwise really fun! Edit: It would not move any pieces when I’m in checkmate. pls fix it
Last update ruined the game
I sent an email, and didn’t get a reply. :(
Great game - discovered bug in checks however
I’ve not enjoyed chess before this game. I always knew how to move the pieces. This game just makes it a lot of fun. Have found a weird bug though. Noticed a few times when I’m checked that I could get out of the check by taking the piece with my knight. But the game doesn’t let me do that. Insists on having me move the king or block the attack instead.
computer wins!
not everyone is over 2000 elo but luckily the computer is in this version of chess
I got checkmated when it was not checkmate.
I was playing ranked mode and it said checkmate but i still had several moves
Funny game
The pieces are in the wrong places and it makes it more fun
Zoomed in
they released an update a few days ago that made the whole screen zoomed in too much to see everything love playing this but its broken right now
Interesting but has bugs
Very different than regular chess. Especially challenging to deal with lots of knights and bishops. New way to think about chess. Note if you get in a situation where your best move keeps getting countered with the same move the game will let that garbage go on forever and never call it a draw. Only way to get out is to make a bad move, even a game losing move. I’ve even had a situation where I was in check and only had one possible move and the computer had numerous possible moves but kept making the same one. This will go on literally forever leaving you no choice but to terminate the game. Developer needs to fix that nonsense.
Good idea poorly developed
I love the idea but the game doesn’t feel fluid, the movements are direct, there is no transition, I would like to be able to play online. I think they should do something like Chess.com with your idea and it would be wonderful, without a doubt I would play it. How are you now? I’m sorry but it’s a no
Good for Experienced Players
This game is interesting and can be fun. But if you aren’t a seasoned player don’t waste your time. Get past level 50 and the game goes into Bobby Fisher mode and even though my level has gone back into the 20s, the game beats me in about 5 moves every round now. Would be nice to have some skill level settings.
Opponent started with 10 bishops. . . WTBleep
First off this game is exactly what I was looking for in a chess game. Clean, simple look with options to change easily. Fast gameplay with an undo and challenging. Secondly I never realized how important pawns are since you’re lucky to get two. Sure five queens sounds great, but them grunts hold the fort. Hard to take this game seriously which means losing is as fun as winning. When I cancel arcade this app is staying put.
Update broke the game
Same scaling problem as other commenters. Please fix!
Good
It’s a good game to kill time, and almost everyone can play it because you can just tap where you want the pieces to go.
Not bad but app cheats
I am quite enjoying the app but am getting sick of it cheating in free play. Often when the white king is in check it won’t let other white pieces take the black chess piece that threatens the king. Please fix. And while I understand that this is non standard chess, stardard rules apply to how the pieces move so standard rules should also apply to when one piece can take another.
Really enjoy this game
Except that it tells you "don't be afraid to undo" when you start the game, but you can't undo the last move if you get mated. I lost my daily streak because of that. It wouldn't be a problem if you didn't only get two attempts at it. For a game that's supposed to be good for chess beginners, it sure doesn't like beginners to do well. You can also only undo the last move? I can understand that but like I said, the game itself says "great, this game is perfect for you" when you say you're not good at chess at the beginning. Not that good if you can't fix your mistakes, is it?
Not bad
A fun chess game if you’re bored of the original one all the pieces are swapped and switched witch makes it very fun I highly recommend it.
Completely Unplayable
Completely unplayable since the latest update. Full board no longer fits in iPhone portrait view and there no way to resize it or go to landscape mode. Looks like they did zero real world testing before rolling this update out. PLEASE FIX!!!
Repetition Draws
Please add draws by repetition. The game is really fun but sometimes my king gets trapped in a repetition loop from the AI and makes the game never end unless I forfeit. After 3 repeated positions by both players it should be called a draw and you shouldn’t lose any ranking because the AI wouldn’t change its move.
So Close
I like the app, and overall it’s fun. The frustration set in once you get into an infinite tie. There should be a draw option, in a match if it’s literally impossible for either side to win either the game should auto-call a tie or have the AI surrender at some point. Otherwise I’m going to lose my streak because I surrendered and not because I lost.
Frustrating Design Issues
I am writing this hoping the developer may considers either changing this or adding an option for the users. The concepts of Really Bad Chess is very interesting. It lets you play positions which are often impossible in regular chess or even in chess 960. Sometimes perhaps the position is conceivable but you will never see it in either a match or a chess puzzle. Unfortunately there are some serious problems with the app presentation and design. A very serious flaw in the app for me is that when the AI moves their pieces the pieces it moves appear at their destination instantly. It is very frustrating to have to look over the entire board for 1-3 seconds to identify what piece was moved and to what square. If you focus your mind at the board and search for moves this is incredibly frustrating. Another big problem is that the black and the white pieces have a thick white outline which makes it difficult to analyze the board. At minimum it makes it confusing and uncomfortable. Could you either add an option to not have the white outline, or just use standard widely used chess fonts that are in the free domain? I could think of many other ways Very Bad Chess could be improved but those 2 are the biggest issues.
Super fun!
Love the different take on the game. Don’t suggest it for folks wanting traditional chess. Do suggest it for a different take on chess though. Really enjoy the challenge of totally different set ups. I feel it does help with normal chess in doing analysis of situations. But this is DIFFERENT than normal chess. I really enjoy this!
Did latest update break app?
The app is now oddly zoomed in so you can’t actually play it properly. Happened today.
Super fun, but…
There are a couple of small things I’d like to see. First, A.I to be a little easier. A couple of good games and I feel like I’m playing pros. Secondly, and lastly, the colors of the boards, themes, need to be easier to see. You can’t see the colors you’re choosing due to the menu list. These are the only two complaints I have… besides this, it puts a SUPER FUN twist on a regular game. Great game, little changes that are fairly minor.
Flawed Conceptually
This game regularly makes boards that are impossible to win, against ai that seemingly knows it every time it happens. Even if you have “better” pieces due to rank it could just put them in unlucky places. This happens all of the time. There’s a reason chess has set pieces- because checkmate can be handed to you on a platter in this game. However- in this game the higher your rank is the better pieces the ai has- meaning it tends to give the ai these impossible boards unless you purposely keep your rank low (and what’s the fun in that). You’ll sit there wanting to chuck your phone across the room because you went from rank 70 to 50 seven times because the ai got lucky with it’s placements. 2 stars because if you’re lucky you can get very far into the rank before falling again, and it IS fun when it’s rigged against you.
Cool but buggy
I really like the game. It’s hard to get out of my old mental chess ruts and think in new ways, which is fabulous. Sometimes the game though won’t allow me to make legal moves, good moves. It’ll only show that queen can go to so far on a diagonal but not far enough to take the piece I want/need to take. That is frustrating.
Needs regular Chess
Good game just need a regular mode too
Update bug
I love this game but the newest update makes it impossible to play. The board is too big to be seen and there is no way to change it.
Excellent game let down by lack of multiplayer
Clever, challenging and satisfying, this is an almost perfect mobile game that is curiously missing any real multiplayer support. The only way to play against a friend is 1v1 on the same device, meaning you’re mainly stuck playing AI. Playing asynchronous boards with friends would make this game a must have.
Great game but...
Really fun game. It’s chess but with a randomiser but they don’t let you play most of the game modes unless you agree to let them harvest your personal data. Shame.
Amazing
I started a match by moving a pawn two squares only to immediately have my king captured the very next move. 10/10.
Scaling issue on this update
Game is no longer playable as the scaling is wrong with this update, at least on pro max phone. It’s zoomed and can’t see the menus or the whole board.
Great but appreciate better graphics, and maybe encompassing more of the screen,
This is a fun app, but I’d like it if you had animations for the pieces moving. So it didn’t just look like it was snapping. And also increase the size of the chess board on the screen
Really Bad Chess+ FAQ
- Is Really Bad Chess+ free?
- Yes. The app is free, in all 172 countries it sells in, and it sells nothing inside it.
- Does Really Bad Chess+ have a free trial?
- No. None of its offers (US) come with a free trial.
- What are the best alternatives to Really Bad Chess+?
- Mahjong Titan+ (4.7 from 42,724 reviews), Flow Free+ (4.7 from 33,060 reviews) and Checkers Royal+ (4.7 from 32,531 reviews).
Really Bad Chess+ download
Last updated 25 days ago.
Really Bad Chess+ sells in 172 countries. It was released 5 years and 6 months ago, on 2 Apr 2021. It holds a 3.7 rating from 376 reviews.
Supports 1 language: English.
How much does Really Bad Chess+ make?
Third-party estimates for the last 30 days, worldwide — not the store's own figures, which Apple publishes for nobody.