THE OFFICIAL RULEBOOK

Pickup Chess

Basketball, played on a chess board. Your chess pieces are the players, and there is no capturing a king. Bring the ball up the court and score on the basket you are attacking.

11

First team to 11, win by 2.

This book runs on two tracks over one page. Read Track A top to bottom to learn the game step by step. Use Track B to look up any single ruling by number. Search from the box on the left, and hover any underlined term for its definition. Every idea has one diagram, and four of them are small playable exercises: tap a real choice and the game's own engine decides what happens, not a script.

Game and rules by Jamie Moshe Straz AIA, Studio 3.

The pitch, and how you win

Pickup Chess is basketball on an 8x8 board. Each team fields chess pieces as its players. There is no capturing and no king to checkmate; the only goal is to put the ball in the basket.

Whoever holds the ball is on offense and can score. The team without the ball plays defense. You attack the basket at the far end of the court and defend the one behind you.

To win a game: reach 11 points and lead by at least 2. If the score reaches 11 without a two-point margin (say 11-10), the game keeps going: each side gets one final possession, then it is sudden death, where the next go-ahead point wins.

Everything else in this track fills in how you make that happen. Next: what you bring to the court.

What you bring

Each team owns the full chess set: one King, one Queen, two Rooks, two Bishops, two Knights, and eight Pawns. That is your 16-piece roster for the whole series.

There is one ball in play at a time, and one ball handler holding it. The defense never holds the ball; it can only take it away by a steal or a block.

Every piece keeps its normal chess movement, with one change: the Pawn.

The court and its zones

The board is a full court with two baskets. You bring the ball across the middle and attack the far end. Four zones matter, shown together here, then one at a time below.

The baskets

The two gold squares on your attacking baseline are the rims. Get the ball onto a rim you are attacking and you score. You defend the two rims at your own end.

The paint (the key)

The paint is the purple zone under each basket. Any piece may cut through it, but none may camp there: once a piece is in the paint, it must step out by its next turn. Guarding your own paint pays off, as you will see on defense.

The three-point arc

The arc sits three ranks off each baseline. A shot taken from inside the arc scores 1. A shot from behind it scores 2. The two baseline corners count as behind the arc. The value comes from where the shot starts, not where the ball lands.

The half court

The dashed line splits the two halves. The four center squares straddling it are the half court. After a dead-ball turnover, the offense restarts by placing the ball on one of these four squares. Which one you pick is an advanced strategy, the Architect's Gambit (see §14).

Setup: draft, place, check the ball

Before anyone moves, you build your squad, put your five on the floor, and check the ball. These three steps happen in order.

1. Draft your squad

You draft from the full chess set, spread across all three games of the series. Name your 2 all-stars, the two pieces that play in two of the three games. Everyone else plays once, and every drafted piece plays. Each game dresses six: five starters and a 6th man.

2. Place your five

Each game, place your five starters anywhere on the board: any empty square, in either half, no two pieces sharing a square. Both teams place the same way, so there is no own-half restriction.

3. Check the ball

Then check the ball: pick the player that starts with the ball. That piece is your ball handler, marked by the pulsing gold ring. For the opening full-court possession it starts on one of your two basket squares and brings the ball up. Play begins once the ball is checked.

4. Who tips off first

One team starts with the ball. How that is decided depends on how you are playing:

• In person or a casual match: a random tip, like a coin flip.
• Online multiplayer: the tip goes to whoever lives closest to their team's home city, by geography.
• Against the computer: you go first, unless you choose to go second.

After game 1, the tip alternates each game of the series (§15).

How a turn works

Every possession runs the same three beats. First the offense moves its team, then the ball handler takes a ball action, then the defense moves to contest. After that the ball changes hands or a point is scored, and the next possession begins.

The ball handler moves last

On offense, your off-ball cutters move first, each once. The ball handler moves last. The moment the ball handler moves, the move phase ends and it acts on the ball. The ball handler is not forced to move; it can stand still and pass or shoot. Each cutter gets one move per possession, but the ball handler may move every turn, so bringing the ball up is never blocked.

Moving the pieces

Pieces move by their chess moves. Only the Knight jumps; every other piece is stopped by any piece in its path (that piece becomes a screen). Press step on each diagram to play the move.

Rook

Bishop

Queen

Knight

King

Pawn

The Pawn moves like a King, one square any direction, plus a once-per-possession burst of two squares through open floor. The burst can even bend once, the Eurostep: two steps in different directions. The burst reaches any square within two of the start, as long as the floor along the way is clear.

The ball: pass, shoot, and the clock

Passing

A pass follows the passer's own geometry: a Rook, Bishop, or Queen throws along its rays, a Knight throws to an L square, and the King and Pawn throw along a King's lines. A pass must land on a teammate, and passing is legal everywhere, even across half court. Passes are drawn as dashed blue lines.

A Rook, Bishop, Queen, or Knight can lob the ball over a piece sitting in the lane. The King and Pawn cannot lob; they need a fully clear lane, and a defender in the lane steals it.

Shooting and driving

A shot uses the same geometry as a pass: the ball handler shoots toward a rim square along its lines, and it must be holding the ball. The ball handler can also drive, moving right onto the rim. An open shot always goes in (Step 9).

The clocks

Two clocks keep the offense moving, and both count your turns, not real seconds. Each ball action you take (a pass, a shot, or a hold) ticks the live clock down by one.

• The bring-up clock runs while the ball is still in your backcourt. You get a set number of turns (5 in the app) to dribble the ball handler across half court. Cross the line and this clock is done.
• The shot clock starts fresh the moment you cross half court. You get a set number of turns (6 in the app) to put up a shot or a drive.

Let either clock hit zero and it is a turnover: the defense gets a free point and the ball at half court.

Defense

The defense scores no baskets; it wins the ball by standing in lanes. Any piece can defend by its own reach.

Steal a pass

A defender sitting on a pass line steals it. Reach is one legal move for every piece: a defender within a single legal move of the pass line can intercept it. A steal is live, so the defender plays on from that exact spot.

Block a shot

A defender who can reach the shot's line blocks it, but only from in front: the blocker must stand on the shooter's basket side, between the shooter and the rim. A block is a turnover, and the blocking defender takes the ball live at its own spot. A defender behind the shooter cannot block that shot.

The two specialists

Two pieces own their zones. A King inside the paint guards the rim: it can steal or block a pass or shot within one square of the line near the basket. A Pawn out on the perimeter pesters passes: it steals a pass (not a shot) within one square. Within its zone, standing right on the lane is the strongest steal of all.

Scoring

Scoring is deterministic: an open shot always makes. There is no make percentage and no rebound. A shot that is contested becomes a block for the defense, live at its spot. So every shot is either a make or a block.

Value comes from where the shot starts: 1 from inside the arc, 2 from behind it and the corners.

Specials

The burst and the Eurostep (advanced)

The Pawn's burst of two, and its one-time bend (the Eurostep), are advanced tools, the game's quickest way to break pressure or slip a defender. Replay the Pawn diagram in Step 6 to see the full reach.

The 6th-man sub

Your six is five starters plus a 6th man. Subbing the 6th man in is a dead-ball action only, once per game, checking in at the same square; the player who came off cannot return. When to sub is a strategy you learn. Everyone dressed must play at least one possession, so the 6th man always gets on the floor.

Advanced strategy: the Architect's Gambit

The best-of-three series

A match is a best-of-three. Your 16 pieces spread across the three games, six per game, and only your two all-stars play twice. You cannot field your best five every game, so spend your talent wisely. At least one of each piece type must start in some game, so no whole type sits out.

When you lock your lineups

Name your two all-stars and set game 1's six before game 1. After game 1, having seen it, you commit the personnel for both game 2 and game 3. Before game 3, the only choice left is which of game 3's six start and which one sits as the 6th man. Who tips off game 1 is decided as in setup (a random tip in casual play, geography online, the human first against the computer, Step 4); after that the tip alternates each game.

§1The game in one line

Pickup Chess is basketball played on a chess board. You bring a ball up the court and score on the basket you are attacking; first team to 11, win by 2. Pieces are basketball players; the chess idea of capturing a king does not exist. See §13 for winning and §7 for scoring.

§2The court

• Board: 8x8, full court, two baskets. Each team attacks the basket at the far end from where it starts, bringing the ball across half court.
• Paint (the key): files c through f, the two ranks nearest each baseline (8 squares per end).
• Basket / rim: files d and e on the very back rank. The ball scores by reaching a rim square.
• Three-point line: three ranks off the baseline. A shot is worth 1 from inside it, 2 from behind it, and the two baseline corners count as behind. Value is set by where the shot starts.
• Half-court line splits the two halves.
• Half court: the 2x2 of center squares straddling the half-court line (files d and e on the two center ranks). A team restarts a dead-ball turnover by placing the ball on one of these four. See §10 and §14.

§3The pieces and how they move

The full chess set per team: K, Q, 2R, 2B, 2N, 8P. Pieces move by their normal chess movement, with one break from chess.

• The Pawn moves like a King (one square in any direction), plus a once-per-possession burst of two squares. The King cannot burst.
• The burst goes in any of the 8 straight directions, two squares through an empty intervening square.
• The burst may also bend once, the Eurostep: one king-step one way, then a second king-step in a different direction. It stays local, ending within two of the start.
• No jump either way: both squares of the two-step path must be empty floor. Net effect: the burst can end on any square within two of the start, through open floor.
• The bend is offense-move only. A defending Pawn does not contest a shot, intercept a pass, or clear the paint on a bent-only square; those use base geometry (king-step plus straight burst). The straight burst is available to both sides.
• Only the Knight jumps. Every other piece is stopped by any piece in its path (a screen, see §8). The Knight jumps screens to a legal L square.
• One move per piece per possession (its energy is spent). The ball handler is the exception: it may move every turn, so the bring-up is never blocked.

§4The ball, the ball handler, and the bring-up

• One ball, one ball handler. The defense never holds the ball.
• You pick a piece to be the ball handler and bring the ball in.
• Bring-up: the ball handler dribbles the ball across half court under the bring-up clock (§11); once across, the shot clock applies. On a dead-ball restart, which center square you start on is an advanced strategy, the Architect's Gambit (§14).
• Where the ball handler starts. The five players place anywhere, but the ball handler starts each possession on a defined square. A full-court start (tip-off or after a made basket) puts it on one of your two basket squares; a half-court start (after a turnover) puts it on one of the four center squares, either side of the line. A block or steal is live at the spot (§10). You must have a player on the start square, or it is an illegal start (§15).
• In notation the ball handler is written with an asterisk, e.g. Q* holds the ball (§16).

§5The turn: a whole team moves, then the ball acts

• On its turn a side may move each of its pieces up to once (each within its legal moves). You are not forced to move every piece; a piece may stand still, unless it is stuck in the paint and owes an exit (§9).
• Offense: the ball handler then passes, shoots, or holds. Defense: it makes its team move and is otherwise reactive, with no ball action.
• The ball handler moves last. On offense the off-ball cutters move first (each once); the ball handler's own move, a dribble or a drive onto the rim, is the final move of the phase and ends it. The ball handler may also stand still and then pass or shoot.
• One turn is written as the moves comma-separated, ending in the ball outcome (§16).

§6Passing

• Passing rules apply everywhere: frontcourt, backcourt, and across half court.
• A pass follows the passer's own movement geometry: R, B, and Q throw along their rays, the Knight throws to an L square, the King and Pawn throw along a King's lines.
• Lob vs clear lane: any ray passer (R, B, Q) and the Knight can lob the ball over a piece sitting in the line. The King and Pawn cannot lob; they need a fully clear lane, and a piece in the lane is a steal (§8).
• A pass must land on a teammate. Passes are drawn as dashed lines (§16).

§7Shooting, drives, and scoring

• A shot uses the same geometry and rules as a pass (§6): the ball handler shoots toward a rim square from where it stands, along its movement lines, and must hold the ball to shoot. A ball handler may also drive, moving onto the rim itself.
• Value by origin: 1 from inside the arc, 2 from behind it and the corners. Set by the square the shot is taken from.
• Scoring is deterministic: an open shot always makes. A contested shot is a block, not a rebound: the ball goes to the contesting defender live at its spot (§8, §10). A shot is either a make or a block, never a rebound.

§8Steals and blocks

• Any piece blocks by standing in a path. A piece in the line of a move, pass, or shot screens it, exactly like a chess piece blocking a line. This is not King-only.
• Steal: a defender directly on a grounded pass or shot line intercepts it (a lobber throws over an on-line piece; a King or Pawn passer who is blocked is stolen, §6).
• Block: a defender who, within one of its legal moves, could reach the shot's line blocks the shot. A block is a turnover: the blocking defender takes the ball live at its own spot. If more than one defender is in reach it is still just a block, with no special tiebreak.
• A block must happen in front of the shooter: the blocker must reach a square on the shooter's basket side, between the shooter and the target rim. A defender behind the shooter, or off to a non-forward side, cannot block that shot. This constrains only where the blocker stands, not steals of a pass.
• Interception reach is one move for every piece. A defender must be within a single legal move of the pass line to intercept it, with no sliding through a piece and no jumping except the Knight's L.
• Two specialist powers:
  • A King inside the paint may steal or block a pass or shot within one square of the line near the rim.
  • A Pawn out on the perimeter (mid-range, arc, or backcourt) steals a pass (not a shot) within one square.
  • Within one square includes standing on the line, within the specialist's zone. Distance zero counts, so a rim-protecting King on the lane is the strongest steal. Step out of the zone and the power is forfeited.
• Drives are contested by any piece in reach, not only the King. The King is the strongest contester; Pawns contest too.

§9The paint (three-second rule)

• A piece may move into the paint and be there for that turn; by its next turn it must move out, meaning either fully outside the paint or onto a rim square.
• The plain three-second rule is enough on its own: a piece can transit the paint but can never camp.
• Offensive three-second violation = turnover, and the defense scores 1. The offense loses the ball at the half-court spot (§10) and the defense is awarded +1.
• Defensive three-second violation = the offense scores 1 and keeps possession (an automatic free throw). This is not a turnover; the offense keeps the ball.
• This rewards a King guarding the paint and Pawns pestering the perimeter, without letting either camp.

§10Possession changes: dead balls vs live balls

• Made basket: dead ball, full-court inbound. The scored-upon team inbounds from its own basket and brings it up the full court. It chooses the inbounder (any of its pieces) and the inbound square, one of the two basket squares on its own back rank.
• Contested shot: block, live. A shot that is not open is a block: the contesting defender gets the ball where it stands. There is no rebound. An open shot makes (§7).
• Steal: live. The defender who stole it is the ball handler at the square where the steal happened.
• Block: live. The defender who blocked it gets the ball at its square.
• Clock turnover: dead, half-court inbound, +1 to the defense. A shot-clock or bring-up violation is a dead-ball turnover: the defense is awarded +1 and gets the ball at half court, choosing the inbounder and one of the four center squares. An offensive three-second turnover uses the same half-court inbound and also scores +1 for the defense (§9).
• Inbounder choice applies to dead-ball inbounds only. On a live change (steal, block) the ball is the specific defender's at the exact spot.
• A dead ball happens only on a made basket or a clock/paint turnover. Steals and blocks are live; play continues.

Any turnover is a point for the other team, except a block or a steal, which stay live at the spot with no point.

§11The clocks: bring-up and shot

• What they count. Both clocks count the offense's turns, not real-time seconds. Every ball action the offense takes (a pass, a shot, or a hold) ticks the live clock down by one.
• The bring-up clock runs while the ball is in the offense's backcourt. The offense has a set number of turns (5 in the app) to carry the ball across half court. Crossing the line ends it and starts the shot clock fresh.
• The shot clock runs once the ball is across in the frontcourt. The offense has a set number of turns (6 in the app) to attempt a shot or a drive. A make or a block both count as an attempt.
• A violation is a turnover. If either clock hits zero it is a dead-ball turnover that scores +1 for the defense and hands it the ball at the half-court line (§10). The offensive three-second violation (§9) is the same +1 half-court turnover.
• For contrast, a block or a steal scores nothing and stays live; the defensive three-second free point (§9) gives the offense +1 and keeps the ball.

§12Substitutions

• Each game's six is 5 starters plus a 6th man. Subbing the 6th man in is a dead-ball action only (after a made basket or a shot-clock turnover, §10), once per game, checking in at the same square; the player who came off cannot return. When to sub is a learned strategy.
• Everyone dressed must play. Every one of the six, including the 6th man, must take the floor for at least one possession each game. Failing to play a dressed piece is a coaching error: on audit the game is a forfeit, even if that team won.

§13Winning: to 11, win by 2, then final possessions, then sudden death

• First to 11 and up by 2 wins outright.
• If a team reaches 11 without a two-point margin (e.g. 11-10), the game does not end. Each side gets one full final possession, a fair equal last chance to win by two.
• If, after both final possessions, no one has won by two, it goes to sudden death: the next point that takes the lead wins. That point can be a made basket, a defensive three-second free point, or a turnover point on a shot-clock, backcourt, or offensive three-second violation. A point that only ties does not end it.
• A hard ply cap is the ultimate backstop, so no game can draw or hang. In person, a chess timer keeps pace.

§14The Architect's Gambit (advanced strategy)

• This is not a special action; it is a strategic choice the rules already give you, named like a chess gambit. On a dead-ball restart at half court (a shot-clock, backcourt, or offensive three-second turnover, §10) the restarting offense places the ball on one of the four center squares. Which one you pick is the gambit: a trade of position for time.
• Pick your own side of the line (your backcourt): the gate stays shut, so you bring the ball up under the backcourt clock, with time to read the set defense.
• Pick across the line (your frontcourt): the gate opens at once, so you start already attacking with the shot clock running, nearer the basket but on the clock immediately.
• There is no special drop-back action. The gambit is only this choice of restart square.

§15The teams: the draft and the best-of-three series

• A match is a best-of-three series. The full 16-piece chess set is drafted across the three games, six per game (5 starters + a 6th man = 18 slots), exactly two all-stars playing twice, all 16 used.
• At least one of each of the six piece types (K, Q, R, B, N, P) must start in at least one game. Every piece plays at least one game, and every dressed piece plays at least one possession per game (§12).
• The all-stars are named before the series: up front, before game 1, you designate the two pieces that play twice.
• Lineup commitment, the strategic core:
  • Set the game-1 six (5 starters + a 6th man) before game 1.
  • After game 1, having seen it, you commit the personnel for both game 2 and game 3. This locks: no swapping pieces in or out of games 2 or 3 after this point.
  • Before game 3, the only remaining choice is which of game 3's already-locked six start and which one sits as the 6th man: roles only, not personnel.
• Who tips off game 1 depends on the mode: a random tip in an in-person or casual match, the player who lives closest to their team's home city online, or the human (unless they choose to go second) against the computer. After game 1 the tip alternates each game. See Step 4.
• Illegal start: tipping off wrong (for example without checking the ball, or from an illegal setup) is simply corrected in normal play, with no penalty. In tournament play it is a turnover.
• The series winner is the first side to two game wins; a 2-0 skips game 3. The stage order is: name all-stars, draft game 1, play game 1, commit games 2 and 3, play game 2, and only at 1-1 confirm game-3 roles and play game 3. Online the draft is blind: you never see the opponent's unrevealed picks.

§16Notation

• Chess algebraic notation blended with basketball play-diagram notation.
• The ball handler is written with an asterisk: Q* is the queen holding the ball.
• A turn is the pieces' moves comma-separated, then the ball outcome, e.g. R c3-c6, N* g1-f3, pass f3-h5. Distinct symbols mark move, pass, shot, steal, and block.
• Diagrams: movement as solid lines, passes as dashed lines, the ball handler ringed.

§17Stats

A per-player box score tracks points, 2s and 1s, assists (a pass leading directly to a score), steals, blocks, turnovers, and subs. There are no rebounds: a contested shot is a block (§8).