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Heuristic score · not affiliated with Apple or Google.
Promo video + screenshots from Google Play.
Chess reinvented! Roguelike strategy on a tiny board with wild Gambits.
Gambonanza is a turn-based chess roguelike set on a tiny board with huge stakes. Master tactical twists, invest your winnings, and discover rule-bending Gambits plus wild tile and piece combinations. Face off against challenging bosses and get lost in all the ways you can break traditional chess! But be careful, if you waste too many moves the board will crumble around you… FEATURES • Snackable, high-impact runs Play fast, punchy chess battles on smaller starting boards where every decision counts. • 150+ rule-bending Gambits Combine your chess pieces with Gambits to unlock devastating combos and strategic surprises. • Dynamic reserve system Store extra pieces off-board and deploy them at the perfect moment to swing the game. • Strategic board upgrades Enhance your chessboard with golden squares, blessing tiles, protective surfaces, and more! • Fight epic boss battles Take on big encounters that reward smart builds and punish strategic mistakes. • Retro aesthetic and quirky ambiance Immerse yourself in vibrant pixel art and the playful excitement of a fairground. • Mini-games for power boosts Test your luck and skill in challenges inspired by pachinko, slot machines, and Gachapon. WHY PLAY GAMBONANZA? Gambonanza takes the tactical clarity of chess and turns it into a roguelike playground: stack Gambits, sculpt the board, manage your reserves, and discover ridiculous combos that “shouldn’t work”… until they do. If you love smart strategy, replayable runs, and the thrill of breaking the rules (legally), this one’s for you. JOIN THE CHESS REVOLUTION! Download Gambonanza and start rewriting chess. ABOUT THE TEAM Gambonanza is developed by Blukulélé and published by Sidekick Publishing and Stray Fawn Publishing. Mobile Port by Ateo
Categories as listed by the developer on Google Play / the App Store.
vs 0 median in the prior 7 days
Last bump 4d ago.
Signals: version bump ≤ 7 days + review velocity ≥ 1.5× the 7-day median. Both ⇒ Active event; version only ⇒ Recent update; spike only ⇒ High engagement.
New:<br>- Custom Boards!<br><br>Fixes:<br>- Princess's Gambit: blessed pieces return correctly when captured<br>- Boss Tooth's Gambit triggers after boss fights<br>- No more getting stuck selling pieces vs M3CH4GNUS C4RLS3N<br>- Gamepad fixes on mobile (tile infos, settings, slot scheme)<br>- Many gambit & boss fixes (Makibishi, Chronobreak, Hikarul, Jawby Fisher...)<br>- Balance: Lich nerfed, many luck-based gambits buffed<br>- Clearer descriptions & localization fixes
New: - Custom Boards! Fixes: - Princess's Gambit: blessed pieces return correctly when captured - Boss Tooth's Gambit triggers after boss fights - No more getting stuck selling pieces vs M3CH4GNUS C4RLS3N - Gamepad fixes on mobile (tile infos, settings, slot scheme) - Many gambit & boss fixes (Makibishi, Chronobreak, Hikarul, Jawby Fisher...) - Balance: Lich nerfed, many luck-based gambits buffed - Clearer descriptions & localization fixes
Versions observed by AppWolf's hourly store pollers · newest first · up to 50 shown. History begins when an app enters our catalog - earlier versions aren't retroactively visible.
50 of 50 loaded reviews
Amazing
- Victor Markov · v1.2.7
PLEASE MAKE A NEW GAME BUTTON IN THE PAUSE MENU It's not as good as balatro (nothing is) but it's top-tier and scratches the itch if you've gold stickered every joker.
- Raymond Chaney · v1.2.7
game is awesome. experiencing a weird bug, though, hopefully the dev sees this! chronobreak gambit doesn't seem to do anything. it's supposed to bless the first piece played, and it *appears* to, as in, it it procs itself and gets a little checkmark, but the piece itself never gets blessed. very unfortunate for the run!
- Quindlyn · v1.2.7
Really amazing start, higher difficulties change the core of the game in a way I find to be unfun and too RNG heavy Edit: I don't feel the developer response addresses the concerns I laid out.
- Kory · v1.2.7
Chess 2
- Barga · v1.2.7
A solid experience. Definitely similar to Balatro for chess. I'm not a fan of the stalemate mechanic though. I'd rather just fail or succeed rather than have to replay a whole game again. Many of the gambits feel lackluster so far. One suggestion for others, don't worry too much about losing pieces as long as it's for a purpose like capturing a pivotal enemy. It can feel like you played wrong but many times it's necessary to progress given the board state.
- Craig Johnson · v1.2.7
Too many pointless, distracting, "fluff" animations that makes the game way slower than it needs to be. Seeing the same slow, artificially lengthening animations over and over again really gets old even with the first hour of playing. Add an option to disable most of the animations or speed them up (like in Balatro) and I'll be happy.
- Smith Smithony · v1.2.7
this is not chess it's a very hard and fun rogue like game
- mohmad brahim
Hard to believe this game can not be played without internet connection.
- Kevin Chiang · v1.2.7
Balastro but chess
- Chun Kit Wong · v1.2.7
Really enjoying this it's a fun side quest for chess players
- John Church · v1.2.7
The design and quality are good, but if you're not good at chess you might have less fun with it like me. The rogue-like elements don't close the skill gap enough for me.
- Daniel Beaulieu · v1.2.7
amazing. would be even better if bots were smarter btw
- Rep
Great game!!
- Jon D · v1.2.7
chess finally got an update yall
- Anthony Rodriguez · v1.2.7
Devs got not clue what theyre doing with this. 1. Prices are steep leaves players with little leg room to build. 2. The gambits aren't fun, they are just hard to mix and match to make it work on top of that the rng is unforgiving 70% of the game you're vanilla. 3. Skip turns is the only meta. Game has a long way to go devs need to go back to the drawing board on this one. It's fairly disappointing.
- Will · v1.2.7
love the game just fix the main menu button so it's easier to remember you may have a saved game to resume. not a huge fan of it being a small side button. couple games lost 😭
- Robert Leggio III · v1.2.7
great game!
- Hannah El-khamlichi
This game is very fun! It's the Balatro of Chess.
- Adam R Fisher · v1.2.7
fun game with good boosters but no way to have quick moves and skip slow boss cutscenes and other repetitive elements make the game too slow. enjoyable nonetheless
- Yune Leou-On · v1.2.7
Great chess rogue like game for a reasonable price. I am really enjoying all the great ports that have been hitting the playstore recently.
- Chris Mirador · v1.2.7
shameless homage
- cam · v1.2.7
Its similar to balatro, but chess!
- Matthew Tran · v1.2.7
doesn't load progress from pc
- Leon Szulc
holyyyy, I've never felt an intense game of chess like this
- Spundle · v1.2.7
amazinf fun way to play chess with a twist on ur own bringing an amazing tactical classic game back to life
- alicia c · v1.2.7
Dmn good game
- BarkFish · v1.2.7
weird that some of the gambits don't seem to trigger. great game all in all.
- Daniel McPherson · v1.2.7
not fun, glad I only payed $2. I love Balatro, this feels like when your Grandma buys you "Transmorfers" DVD from the dollar store instead of "Transformers". The moves the AI makes are mind boggling. There is a core game here that could be good but this feels more like a early build than a play tested game. Maybe Gambonanza 2 will be good.
- The Atomic Dinosaurs
Really great game for someone who loves chess and enjoys roguelikes. I think someone who hasn't played chess before would really enjoy this game and help introduce them to standard chess. I really appreciate the options to change how to move the pieces
- Deiniol Morgan · v1.2.7
Cool game which is similar to Balatro just as Chess
- Jonas Kaminski · v1.2.7
Balatro with chess. Awsome!
- Tamás Bognár · v1.2.7
it's enjoyable. I hope for more content to be added.
- T Fines · v1.2.7
The idea is good, but fundamentally the chess AI is all over the place, making games ping pong past stage 2. Biggest issue for me though is the seemingly heavy weighed RNG against the player. Too often does a "Random" tile transformation take away one of my already invested tiles. In 4 separate games where an enemy piece has the crumble mod did the game "Randomly" crumble my tile with a piece on it, but 3 pieces in a row? Honestly, you need to check if there is bias somewhere in the code.
- Timothy Alder · v1.2.7
Fun replay able, cool idea, always new challenge, not repetitive, love it
- Marlon Haddon
Its okay. Feels a little imbalanced and incomplete.
- Paul H · v1.2.7
Fun, quick chess games. I generally am bad and haven't won an entire series, but come close and love the variety of each play through.
- Tom Leary · v1.2.7
Balatro but chess
- Reese Blick · v1.2.7
Awesome game..... Highly recommended.
- Ket Dev · v1.2.7
great spin on a classic game!
- John Bumphrey · v1.2.7
Amazing Game. It is so good, even if you don't like chess, this game will make you like chess. Its great. I like it.
- Corrupt Ranger · v1.2.7
good
- Ifwad Zulkarnain · v1.2.7
Decent enough, but way too much rng baked into it. Most of the gambits are coinflips or worse if they do anything, so it feels way more luck based than other similar games. If they can somehow make it more chess skill based instead of a slot machine, that would help drastically.
- Logan Berkheimer · v1.2.7
awesome! 👍💯
- Amid Eftekhari · v1.2.7
Chess Balatro
- Liam · v1.2.7
Very fun game reminds me of inscryption another great game you may even become addicted!
- Efigenio Sanchez · v1.2.7
epic game REAL REVIEW btw hahaha
- Joe Borchardt · v1.2.7
One of my new favorites, looking forward to seeing future updates
- Carver Leinau · v1.2.7
It's absolutely worth it's near 5 star rating, it's like balatro if it met chess.
- Harmon Ludwig · v1.2.7
this game got me hooked, seriously! I'm not really into chess, but let me tell you, this game isn't "chess", at least in my book. it's got great mechanics, replayability and the devs/team are incredibly helpful and active in the community. 11/10 would recommend you give it a try!!
- sebastien labbe · v1.2.7
Player Voice for this app
Complaint themes, feature requests, churn signals, and CSV export - on the Pro and Agency plans.
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