Given how Chess has been around since forever (apparently it emerged in 7th-century India, before evolving into the game as we know it several hundred years later, but I digress…), there are plenty of us out there who know the game well.
My history with the game involves fond memories of learning to play with my dad, the original Battle Chess on the family PC, and then later getting soundly beaten by more serious players at university. I have been rediscovering the game recently through my children, which is lovely, but also through the rise of video games that incorporate chess staples into their core design. Gambonanza is one such game.
What is Gambonanza, then?
If you know the difference between a knight and a bishop, and how a pawn takes an opposing piece, then you’re already aware of how many of Gambonanza’s mechanics work; however, there are several fun roguelite elements baked into the pie, and they mix things up in some surprising ways.
For starters, the game takes place on a much smaller board than your standard Chessboard. On the other hand, the board scales up as the game progresses, and as you move through its five stages across its five levels, you’ll have to defeat increasingly complex enemy formations. In other words, Gambonanza makes things a bit easier for you at first, before cranking up the challenge and kicking your arse. But it’s a roguelite, so you’re going to mostly enjoy it, right?? Right?! RIGHT!!
Of course, Chess is a big part of the equation, but there is a lot more going on than that. If you’re familiar with some of the more popular roguelike deckbuilders out there, then you’ll quickly be at home with developer Blukulélé’s eponymous gambit mechanic. Simply put, you can equip up to five of these gambits, and they act like items, artefacts, or Balatro’s Jokers, changing up the rules just enough to keep things feeling fresh while working together in interesting ways.
Your gambits and pieces interact to create synergies that affect the board and even other pieces. Meanwhile, your enemy soon gets access to special powers, making certain pieces invulnerable until others are taken, or replicating pieces if you skip a turn.
To aid your efforts, you have access to a pool of pieces that you build over your run, and they sit to the side of the board, ready to be called into action. This is a roguelite, though, so losing a piece means it’s gone forever, and this ensures that there’s a constant turnover of pieces from your stash onto the board.
Making the move to mobile
I’ve been playing on PC, but the slower-paced turn-based action makes this a perfect handheld game, either on Steam Deck or on Android and iOS, where Gambonanza is now available. Because it borrows much of the essence of Chess, it’s nearly always easy to parse what’s going on, and the graphics are nice and clear for the most part (although some of the gambits will require a bit of learning).
Much like Chess, anguish always follows a foolish move. In real life, it happens when you take your hand from the piece, and your opponent pounces with relish. For me, that same sinking feeling of messing up in Chess is replicated perfectly here. I don’t think that’s either a good or a bad thing, but it’s definitely a thing, and the high-stakes roguelite gameplay ensures that any mistakes feel all the more punishing.
There are many ways of avoiding defeat, and Gambonanza thrives on balancing the complexity of Chess with the creativity of finding new and interesting synergies from the tools it gives you. When you’re not working out puzzles and outwitting bosses with various abilities, there is a shop that sells new pieces for your collection, tokens to gamble with, an ever-expanding selection of gambits, and other improvements to your build.
Losing deep into a run is always tough to take, but each round itself is nicely self-contained and quick to work through, so I thought there was a really good flow to the experience. There’s also a decent amount of run variety, although if you’ve played any other Chess-themed games recently, all of this is going to feel familiar. Gambonanza does offer an interesting point of difference with its CRT-style visuals, and overall, I’ve been enjoying my time with it. If you like Chess, you should probably check it out, too. Badum tisch.
Gambonanza is out now on Android, iOS, and PC, and I played on PC via access kindly provided by the publisher and friends.
