How to play Bughouse Chess

Bug house chess , how to play .

The rules are the same as regular chess except for these changes for a refresher of those rules .

Check out this video .

The object of this four player chess game is to be the first team to checkmate either opponent , lay out two chess boards side by side and set up the pieces normally on each board with opposite colors next to each other .

Four players divide into two teams .

Teammates sit next to each other with one teammate controlling the white pieces and the other controlling black .

Each board's game runs independently from the other board .

Each teammate has one opponent who is directly across from them .

Players are allowed to talk to their teammate with strategy or moves , but they may not touch a piece on the other board nor may they change seats to swap which board they are playing on .

When you capture a piece , you immediately add that piece to your teammates pool on your turn .

Instead of moving a piece , you may add a piece from your pool to any empty space on the board .

This is called dropping a piece .

You are allowed to drop a piece into check or checkmate , but you may not drop a pawn on the first or eighth rows .

Dropped ponds may promote as normal .

But when a promoted pond is captured , it is converted back to a pond when added to their teammates pool .

If you drop a pawn on the second row , it is allowed to perform the two step move on its first move .

All pieces in your pool must remain on the table in front of the board visible at all times to prevent a player from stalling by not playing bug house is typically played with chess clocks with each board using its own clock .

If you don't have a chess clock , then players are not allowed to delay their move beyond the time .

It takes their teammate to make three moves .

If they do , then they lose the game , the first team to checkmate a king on either board wins .

If both boards are checkmated simultaneously , then the match ends in a draw .

Also a team wins .

If an opponent on either board resigns or makes an illegal move , stalemates on either board result in a draw .