The idea of a print-and-play solo game where you navigate a dungeon using the movement rules of chess pieces immediately intrigued me.
I’ve played chess—poorly, in all honesty—for longer than almost any other game. Dungeon crawling of any sort scratches the itch of a longtime D&D RPGer. Add in a deck-building element (even as an optional system), and my interest only grew. Deck-building is another favorite mechanic of mine, so this one was off to a strong start.
The game is Rook & Ruin, designed by Florian Fiedler, who deserves immediate kudos for successfully blending such diverse mechanics into a cohesive whole.
Fiedler explained via email that the game began with a simple fascination with chess.
“Initially I wanted to create a game that uses chess-move-like movement,” he said.
“I also wanted to create something with a spacious and simple design.”
His first concept involved a square-grid dungeon navigated by chess pieces, with players collecting materials and bonuses to purchase movement.
“I mapped it out, and it was boring—some spice was missing—and I didn’t have a solution at hand at that point.”
That missing spice arrived in the form of cards.
“At some point I wanted to get back at it and find a way to make this interesting—that’s when I came up with the deck-building,” said Fiedler.
“As a fan of asymmetric designs, imagining how to break the core rule construct in all ways possible is one of the first things I do.
That’s when the idea of the different starting decks and grandmaster brilliancies came together.”
Those different roles you can play add a strong sense of replayability to Rook & Ruin.
Fiedler describes his game as:
“A super crunchy—stupid buzzword, but people use it—thinky and somewhat difficult puzzle that uses deck-building as its core mechanic, with chess moves and thematic abilities to make it a sound game.
The game should beat you around 50 percent of the time, so it’s not for the faint of heart. If you like your Sunday chess puzzle in the newspaper and/or Sudoku, then this is for you.”
Instead of cutting and sleeving the 55 cards used in the deck-building system, Fiedler also offers an alternative called the Flowing Arsenal.
“The Flowing Arsenal is a mathematically correct representation of playing with a deck of cards,” he explains.
“It works especially well because most people are used to chess notation—N for knight, B for bishop, K for king. They’re easy to remember, so when you read an ‘N’ in a table, you instantly know how the knight moves in the dungeon in front of you.
This means that while this is a deck-builder, you don’t have to cut a single card. I love this—that’s why it’s my favorite part of the game.”
I’ll admit that, as someone who enjoys deck-building and actually finds cutting and sleeving cards relaxing, I had zero interest in using the Flowing Arsenal. I did watch a video of it in action, and it felt a bit messy and easy to lose track of markings—something I felt would detract from the experience for me.
As for the game itself, Rook & Ruin is a lot of fun—though it definitely demands some thinking. With only three cards in hand at any time, planning ahead is crucial, very much in the spirit of chess. Deciding which move is optimal, and when to play it, is constantly engaging.
The ability to collect items that upgrade card effects—allowing rooks and bishops, for example, to move farther—is a great touch. Having actual chess pieces on the grid, complete with their fields of capture and “no-go” areas (which reward you if you capture them), is another excellent design element.
There’s also plenty of room for expansion. I was only sent two dungeons to explore, but the system clearly allows for many more. While the basic six chess pieces are represented, you could easily add elephants, camels, or other fairy chess pieces to mix things up even further.
Overall, Rook & Ruin has climbed quickly onto my list of favorite solo games, sitting comfortably alongside titles like For Northwood, Regicide, and A Nice Cuppa.
About Author
Calvin Daniels is a Saskatchewan-born, self-taught journalist. He is currently Editor of Yorkton This Week, with 35-years in the newspaper business.
Solitaire Dungeon Crawler Meets Chess in a Wonderful Marriage
I’ve played chess—poorly, in all honesty—for longer than almost any other game. Dungeon crawling of any sort scratches the itch of a longtime D&D RPGer. Add in a deck-building element (even as an optional system), and my interest only grew. Deck-building is another favorite mechanic of mine, so this one was off to a strong start.
The game is Rook & Ruin, designed by Florian Fiedler, who deserves immediate kudos for successfully blending such diverse mechanics into a cohesive whole.
Fiedler explained via email that the game began with a simple fascination with chess.
His first concept involved a square-grid dungeon navigated by chess pieces, with players collecting materials and bonuses to purchase movement.
That missing spice arrived in the form of cards.
Those different roles you can play add a strong sense of replayability to Rook & Ruin.
Fiedler describes his game as:
Instead of cutting and sleeving the 55 cards used in the deck-building system, Fiedler also offers an alternative called the Flowing Arsenal.
I’ll admit that, as someone who enjoys deck-building and actually finds cutting and sleeving cards relaxing, I had zero interest in using the Flowing Arsenal. I did watch a video of it in action, and it felt a bit messy and easy to lose track of markings—something I felt would detract from the experience for me.
As for the game itself, Rook & Ruin is a lot of fun—though it definitely demands some thinking. With only three cards in hand at any time, planning ahead is crucial, very much in the spirit of chess. Deciding which move is optimal, and when to play it, is constantly engaging.
The ability to collect items that upgrade card effects—allowing rooks and bishops, for example, to move farther—is a great touch. Having actual chess pieces on the grid, complete with their fields of capture and “no-go” areas (which reward you if you capture them), is another excellent design element.
There’s also plenty of room for expansion. I was only sent two dungeons to explore, but the system clearly allows for many more. While the basic six chess pieces are represented, you could easily add elephants, camels, or other fairy chess pieces to mix things up even further.
Overall, Rook & Ruin has climbed quickly onto my list of favorite solo games, sitting comfortably alongside titles like For Northwood, Regicide, and A Nice Cuppa.
About Author
Calvin Daniels
Calvin Daniels is a Saskatchewan-born, self-taught journalist. He is currently Editor of Yorkton This Week, with 35-years in the newspaper business.
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