♟︎ blunderbuss
chess by text, on a clock

Chess with a friend, where stalling is a move.

Set a clock. It starts when you open the game and runs until you move. Let it hit zero and a random legal move gets played for you — no extensions, no waiting a week for a reply.

Start a game

You’ll get a link to send. Nothing starts until they open it and join — and after that, each player’s clock runs from when they open the game, not from when the other one moved.

How it works

  1. 01Set the clockAnything from one minute to three days per move. Pick the pace you actually want to play at.
  2. 02Send the linkDrop it in Messages. Nothing starts ticking until they open it and join, so a link that sits unread costs nobody anything.
  3. 03Play wheneverYour clock starts when you open the game, not when they moved — so a text you haven’t seen yet costs you nothing. Leave it unopened too long and it starts anyway, one clock’s worth of grace and no more.
  4. 04Run out, and the board decidesA random legal move is played for you and the turn passes. It happens on the server, so it happens whether or not anyone has the page open.

Why a clock this rude

A per-move clock keeps a casual game honest. Nobody has time to run the position through an engine, and nobody gets to sit on a losing board for a week. A random move is a real consequence — it just isn’t a loss, so a game survives one.

No accounts, no apps to install. A game is just a link — anyone holding it can watch, and only the two of you can move.