⚙️ Options

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❓ How to Play

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♚ What Is This Game?

🎮 Core Loop

• Play & Win → Your ELO rating rises.
• ELO rises → You unlock new eras (Stone Age → Medieval → Space → Future & more).
• New eras → The 3D world, skybox, buildings, and atmosphere all change.
• Earn bonus pieces → Extra Queens, Rooks, Bishops, Knights added to your bank.
• Deploy them → Use Setup Board to place bonus pieces before each game.

⚙️ Setup Board & Piece Banking (Key Feature!)

• Banking Pieces: Right-click (or long-press on mobile) any piece in Setup Mode to remove it from the board and add it to your Piece Bank. Yes, even standard pawns! You can bank any piece except the King.
• Sacrifice Now, Dominate Later: At low ELO the AI is weak. You can intentionally start games with fewer pieces (remove pawns, a knight, etc.) to bank them. These banked pieces carry over between games and can be deployed in future matches when the AI gets tougher.
• Deploy From Bank: Click a piece in your inventory panel, then click an empty square in your 3 rows to place it. You can deploy banked pawns, bishops, knights, rooks, or queens.
• Board Profiles: Save your favorite piece arrangements and load them before any game.
• The Strategy: Bank extra pawns early when the AI is easy. Later, deploy extra queens and rooks when you need them against tougher opponents.

⚔️ What Makes It Different

• 3-Row Setup: Unlike normal chess, you get a third empty row to arrange pieces in. Combined with piece banking, this creates a whole new layer of strategy before the game even starts.
• 20 Historical Eras: From Cretaceous dinosaurs to Neon City to deep space. Each era has unique 3D scenery, lighting, and atmosphere.
• AI Scales With You: The AI uses Stockfish calibrated to your ELO. At high levels, the AI also gets bonus pieces to keep things fair.
• AI Cheat Bar (Locked at game start): Set the AI difficulty level from 0 (Off) to 20 (Brutal) on the main dashboard before you play. Once you start a game, this level is locked and cannot be changed until you return to the Home screen. This prevents mid-game difficulty switching and keeps your progression fair.
• Board Profiles: Save and load your favorite piece arrangements.
• Newspaper Theme: The entire UI is styled like a vintage newspaper. Headlines react to your games with humorous articles.
• Dynamic 3D World: Procedural skyboxes, particle effects, animated environments, and dynamic lighting that change per era.

🏆 Progression System

• ELO Rating: Start at 400, climb to 10,000+.
• Levels: Each level band unlocks a new era with new visuals.
• Piece Inventory: Win games to earn bonus pieces (Pawns, Knights, Bishops, Rooks, Queens).
• The AI adapts: As you get stronger and deploy more pieces, the AI matches your strength.

🎮 Controls & Buttons

• ▶ New — Start a new game.
• ↩ Undo — Take back your last move.
• 💾 Save — Save your progress (ELO, inventory, settings).
• Right-click drag / Alt+drag / Two-finger drag — Orbit the camera to explore the 3D world. Press V to reset view.
• ⚙️ Opt — Open options: AI controls, multiplayer, styles, stats.
• 🔄 Flip — Flip the board perspective.
• 🏁 Board — Cycle board color themes (classic, marble, neon, etc.).
• 🖼️ 2D — Cycle 2D piece styles.
• 🌐 MP — Multiplayer: create or join tables online.

🌐 Multiplayer

• Create or join tables via the MP button or Options panel.
• Real-time play via WebSocket with ELO-based matchmaking.
• Each player brings their own piece bank for fair play (capped).

💡 Tips for New Players

• Bank pawns early! The AI is weak at low ELO. Remove a few pawns using right-click in Setup Mode — they go to your bank and stay there forever.
• Open ⚙️ Setup Board before each game to see your 3 rows and your piece bank.
• You can start a game with fewer pieces on purpose. It's a valid strategy to stockpile for harder games later.
• Try different board themes and piece styles to customize your look.
• Right-click drag or Alt+drag (desktop) or two-finger drag (mobile) to orbit the 3D world. Scroll/pinch to zoom.
• Watch AI vs AI games with the 🤖 Watch AI button in Options.
• The 🤖 AI uses real Stockfish engine calibrated to your level — it gets smarter as you do.

🎓 Interactive Tutorial — Coming Soon

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

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💡 Right-click (or long-press on mobile) any piece to remove it to your bank

💾 Save Profile 📁 Load Profile... 🗑️

↩️ Reset Default ✅ Start Game ❌ Cancel

🧩 Puzzle Mode

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💡 Hint ⏭️ Skip Next Puzzle ➡️

Theme: All Themes

📐 Position Editor

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📊 Career Stats

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