How to Play Crazyhouse
Chess where what you take, you keep — and drop back on.
Crazyhouse is chess in which nothing leaves the board for long. A piece you capture goes into your pocket in your color, and on any later turn, instead of moving, you may drop it onto any empty square — a knight behind the enemy king, a pawn that forks two rooks. Material never runs out, attacks never quite end, and a quiet position is one drop from a mating net. Play it offline against the computer at three levels, or online on a clock, on any of the eight boards.
Ways to play Crazyhouse
Against the computer
Pick your side and a level — Easy, Medium or Hard — and play Crazyhouse offline. The game is kept in your browser, exactly where you left it.
Online, on a clock
Create a board, choose your color, set a clock from one minute to sixty — or none at all — and share the code. Only the side to move has their clock running.
In 2D or 3D
Lay the board flat or stand it up. Every piece rises onto its square, and you can flip between them mid-game.
Seven boards, seven sets
Classic felt, Renaissance marble, Stone Age sandstone, Ice Age glacier, Jurassic amber, a Crustacean tide pool and a medieval chamber — changed while you play.
🎯 Objective
Checkmate the other king. A dropped piece may give check or mate. Stalemate, threefold repetition — pockets included — and the fifty-move rule are draws; on a timed board, a flag that falls loses.
🎲 Crazyhouse setup
- The board and the pieces are set exactly as in chess.
- Each player has an empty pocket beside the board. It fills with the pieces they capture, shown in their own color.
- The pocket is in view for both players: what your opponent holds is never a secret.
- Choose your side and the engine’s level — Easy, Medium or Hard — or create an online board and set the clock. White moves first.
▶ How to play Crazyhouse
- Every piece moves as in chess; castling, en passant and promotion are unchanged.
- A piece you capture goes into your pocket as a piece of your color. A promoted piece that is captured goes back to being a pawn.
- On your turn you may drop a piece from your pocket onto any empty square instead of moving. A drop is a whole move.
- A pawn may never be dropped on the first or last rank. Anywhere else, a dropped pawn moves and promotes as any other pawn.
- A dropped piece may give check, or checkmate, at once — and a drop is also a way of blocking a check against you.
- To drop, tap a piece in your pocket to see every square it may land on, then tap the square.
- A king in check must get out of it at once — by moving, by capturing the attacker, by blocking the line with a move, or by blocking it with a drop.
🎬 Watch: How to Play Crazyhouse
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📖 Detailed guide
The pocket
- A capture does not remove a piece from the game. It changes its color and puts it in the captor’s pocket, ready to be dropped.
- A promoted piece reverts when taken: capture a queen that began life as a pawn, and you pocket a pawn.
- Both pockets are shown next to the board for everyone to see, grouped by piece.
- Threefold repetition counts the pockets, so the same board with a different pocket is a different position.
Drops
- Any empty square will do, with one exception: a pawn is never dropped on the first or the last rank.
- A drop may give check and may give mate. It may also be used to block a check on your own king.
- A dropped pawn is an ordinary pawn from then on: it may advance two squares only from its home rank, and it promotes on the last rank.
- There is no limit to how many pieces of one kind you may hold — three knights in the pocket is three knights to drop.
How a game ends
- Checkmate — the king is in check and nothing, no move and no drop, gets it out.
- Stalemate — no legal move and no legal drop while not in check — is a draw, as is the same position for a third time.
- Fifty moves by each side with no capture and no pawn move is a draw, though with drops in play the count rarely gets far.
- On a timed board, a clock that runs out loses.
Offline, online and the clock
- Offline, choose Crazyhouse on the chess page’s rules picker, then your color and the level. The game is kept in your browser until you end it, and Undo takes back your move and the engine’s reply.
- Online you create a Crazyhouse board, choose White, Black or a random draw, set a clock from one to sixty minutes — or none — and share the code or an invite link.
- Only the clock of the side to move runs. A clock that runs out loses the game.
- Crazyhouse is rated and recorded as its own game, apart from chess, on the same eight boards with the same piece sets and 2D/3D switch.
🏁 How Crazyhouse is won
Checkmate wins. It is a draw by stalemate, by the same position — board and pockets, same side to move — arising three times, or by fifty moves by each side with no capture and no pawn move. On a timed board, a player whose clock runs out loses — only the side to move has their clock running.
❓ Crazyhouse — frequently asked questions
How many players do you need for Crazyhouse?
Crazyhouse is played by 2. Seats you do not fill are taken by the computer, so a game always starts.
Where can I play Crazyhouse?
In your browser at play.vanikar.games, on a computer, a tablet or a phone. Sign in with the same Vanikar™ account you use for the card games.
Is Crazyhouse included in my subscription?
Yes. One Card Games by Vanikar™ subscription covers the card games, Chess & Checkers and the board games, and every game released after them.
Does Crazyhouse have ads?
No. No Vanikar™ game has ever carried advertising, and none ever will.
How is Crazyhouse different from chess?
One rule: a piece you capture becomes yours, and on a later turn you may drop it onto any empty square instead of moving — a pawn never on the first or last rank. Everything else, from castling to the fifty-move rule, is chess.
Can a dropped piece give checkmate?
Yes. A drop may give check or checkmate at once, and a drop may also block a check against your own king. Unlike shogi, Crazyhouse has no rule against a pawn drop that mates.
What happens to a promoted piece when it is captured?
It goes into the captor’s pocket as a pawn — the piece it was before it promoted. A queen that started the game as a queen is pocketed as a queen.
Is Crazyhouse included in my subscription?
Yes. Crazyhouse is part of Chess & Checkers by Vanikar™, which a Card Games by Vanikar™ subscription includes. Play it in your browser at play.vanikar.games with the same account.