Colour Chess

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Colour Chess + Lure features as part of the prestigious Mind Sports Olympiad where we hold the Colour Chess World Championships and it was awarded their Game of the Year award in 2019. (1st WC Results, 2nd WC Results, 3rd WC Results, 4th WC Results)

It also won an award from Imagination Gaming, following their work with the game at schools and events across the country and it was nominated by Mensa in Deutschland for their 2018 game awards.

Colour Chess is available as a free to play app on iOS and Android. 

Download it here!

Want some tips?

Take a look at our tips and tricks page to help you with this Chess variant’s unique mechanics.

 

 

What is Colour Chess + Lure?

Colour Chess and Lure are stand-alone games that can be combined. The game can be enjoyed by any level of ability, from kids (who enjoy focusing on the colours while they are learning the movement of the pieces), right through to Chess Grandmasters (who expertly incorporate the colour strategies into their existing skill-set).

In both games the premise is similar: use the colours to control and predict your opponent’s movements.

Each player takes two turns at a time, but on the first turn players must move onto the same colour tile that their opponent moved onto on their last turn. This allows you to bait pieces, force movement and control certain colours on the board.

Strategies and skills learned through traditional Chess are directly applicable to Colour Chess, but you must learn to incorporate the use of colours in your strategy and adapt your skills to a new board every game.

There is also a strong emphasis on creativity and exploration, whether it is in the construction of the board, the different pieces and game modes you can combine, or how to escape a seemingly impossible situation!

You can download the English manual here on the Board Game Geek website. (German ‘Farben-Schach’ manual available here). There are also some additional game variations.

The game is available from our shop and select high street retailers.

In the Box

A whole host of modular components allow you to build all manner of board sizes from little puzzle style games, right up to oversized 9×9 or 10×8. With more than one set there is no limit to what you can make! (Oversize boards play particularly well with Swarm variations where many pieces move at once).

  • 32 Traditional Chess Pieces (flippable for Swarm variations)
  • 24 Lure Pieces (also flippable)
  • 84 Coloured double-sided Tiles (40 x 40mm); coloured on the front and light / dark on the back
  • 20 Frame pieces for making different size boards and holding everything snugly in place
  • Full colour Game Manual – 28 pages of instructions, variations and diagrams (most of it is variations and game setup ideas, you only need to read a few pages to start playing!) (you can download the manual here)

Setting up the board

With two of you placing the tiles, you’ll be ready and playing in a couple of minutes (unless you’re busy making pretty patterns!)

There are 3 distinctly different ways of setting up the game:

Randomised

The quickest way to get started – randomly fill in 5 of each colour in each half of the board, then fill the last 4 spaces with random tiles. (To quickly separate board pieces for future games, give one player tiles with black backs and give the other player tiles with white backs). 

 

Patterned

Create a patterned board to battle on. What will you come up with?!

It’s not just for looks either, patterned boards create very interesting games!

The board below for example will create strong clustered play, with pieces defending or transferring between zones. At the start, White has no moves onto purple whilst Black has no moves onto red; both players will have to carefully choose their opening moves to create opportunities on these colours and prevent themselves from having forced or missed moves. 

Competitive

For advanced play, players will build the board from scratch between them, trying to place colours in a way that will complement their playing style.

Taking from a shared supply of visible tiles, players alternately play a piece anywhere into the board: they must play either into a corner space, or edge to edge with an existing piece. 

As you are able to play tiles anywhere, you must balance developing your own structure with interrupting that of your opponent.

Different size boards

The game has a modular frame with pieces varying in length from 1 to 4 tiles, allowing you to create different sized game boards. This allows you to create smaller boards for quirky piece combinations and more puzzle-like quick play, or to combine pieces from Colour Chess and Lure together on one board. You can also combine multiple sets to create sprawling battlefields for Swarm play or 4 player Colour Chess.

Game Types

As well as Colour Chess, there are a number of game variations included for you to enjoy. Each one will require you to think differently and utilise the colours in a new way.

Action Tiles

You can use the reverse side of the tiles to play a traditional Chess game, but after every move you make, you must flip an un-occupied tile.

Each colour allows you to do something different; there are tunnels, portals, extra moves, quicksand, lava and more!

(You can also start the game with a few tiles revealed, as below).

 

 

Swarm Colour Chess

A strangely strategic game where most of your pieces move during your turn. Focus turns to locking pieces by making them move in the first part of the turn so that they cannot move again to threaten you.

Pieces are flippable to keep track of what can still move.

“What initially felt like chaos was in fact controllable, like conducting an orchestra, dozens of moving parts but over which you have full control.” – Chris Bowler, UK Gaming Media Network

Lure

A stand-alone game of blocking, bluffing, manoeuvre and sacrifice, that plays on the same board as Colour Chess.

To win, capture pieces using your swords or get pieces to the opponent’s back row, whilst defending your own with your shields. Or risk an instant win with the king!

The game can be played very simply with just a king and a sword each while you are learning the game, making it accessible enough for young kids to play. As ability grows, you can add more pieces and even start introducing chess pieces to learn how they move.

Lots of shields creates slowly shifting positional play, while lots of swords leads to a more aggressive capture-orientated game. You can even add Rams and Spiders, which allow you to shunt and trap other pieces.

“A very interesting, fast playing and strategic game that is easy to teach and play. If you are looking for an addictive abstract strategy game that can be played in less than fifteen minutes then you should give Lure a look.” – Chris Bowler, UK Gaming Media Network

Sequence Colour Chess

Play through each of the colours in turn (as shown at the edge of the board), but this time it is the colour that you are moving OFF that matters. You will be able to see far ahead to what pieces might move and timing your movements and destination spaces is key.

Colour Chess + Lure

Combine the pieces and game types!

Add the fluidly moving swords and shields into Colour Chess to create defensible bases, or add chess pieces into Lure to shake up the strategy.

And more…

There are even more variations included in the manual, and additional content on the variations page.

If you like what you see, you can order your copy through our shop. If you are a retailer, please get in touch about bulk options.