Play Star Wars Chess Online

Star Wars Chess came out in 1993 for MS-DOS, developed by The Software Toolworks. It was one of those licensed games that tried to blend a classic board game with the Star Wars universe, something a bit more common in the era of CD-ROM multimedia. The game used digitized sprites and animations from the original trilogy, which gave it a distinct look compared to other chess programs at the time.

You control either the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire, moving pieces like X-wings as bishops or AT-ATs as rooks across a 3D-rendered board. The main objective is checkmate, just like standard chess, but every capture triggers a short animated battle between the two pieces. These sequences are the heart of the game; watching a stormtrooper blast an Ewok or a tauntaun charge a probe droid adds a layer of silly spectacle. The AI offers several difficulty levels, so it can be as forgiving or punishing as you want. Playing it feels like a casual, humorous twist on a serious game of strategy.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".