Play Enochian Chess Online: Free, No Download

You can play complete games of Enochian chess online, for free, at this site. Everything runs in the browser, on desktop or on a phone, with nothing to download and nothing to install. Play solo against the computer without creating an account, or sign in and play live against other people. Every game follows the rules from the published Golden Dawn papers, from the doubled Kings on their opening thrones to the way this game is meant to finish: with a divination reading of the final position.

Why online play comes first for this game

Most chess variants can be tried with an ordinary set and a few agreed house rules. Enochian chess cannot. A proper table needs a board marked with its elemental attributions (there are four boards to choose from: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth) and thirty-six pieces in four armies of nine. Physical sets are rare and hard to find, and that scarcity is the plain reason nearly everyone who plays today met the game on a screen first. We wrote a separate piece on the physical set if you want to know what owning or building one involves, and the history page covers where the game and its four boards come from. If your goal is simply to play, the browser is the shortest path by a very wide margin.

Solo play: three strengths, autosave, no account

Solo mode asks nothing of you. Open the site, start a game, and play against the computer. There are three strengths to choose from: Novice, Adept, and Magus. Start at Novice while the piece moves are still new, and work upward when the computer stops surprising you. Your game saves itself automatically as you play, so you can close the tab in the middle of a position and find it waiting when you return. No account, no sign-up, no email.

Solo is also the best classroom this game has. The turn order rotates through all four armies, allied corners sit diagonally opposite each other, and the Queen leaps exactly two squares instead of sliding, so the flow takes a few games to feel natural. Playing against a patient computer at your own pace is how that happens fastest. There is a longer guide to playing solo if you want a plan for those first games.

Live games for two, three, or four players

Online multiplayer runs in real time for two, three, or four people, and it needs a sign-in. Once seated, every move you make is checked by a referee on the server before it stands. That matters more in this game than in most, because the rules have real teeth: a strict ladder for answering check, armies that freeze when an enemy takes their King, pawns that sometimes stand waiting at the far edge before they promote. The referee rules on all of it, and because it does, every player sees the same board at the same moment. Nobody has to trust anyone else's memory of whose turn the rotation has reached.

The seats divide however many hands you have. With two players, each person commands a whole alliance of two armies. With three, one player holds an allied pair while the other two take one element each. With four, every player answers for a single army and leans on a partner they cannot control. Any empty seat can be handed to the computer, so a game never stalls waiting for a fourth. There is also a fullscreen option that gives the board the entire screen, which is worth turning on when you play on a phone. If you are curious how the two-player version actually feels, we cover it in a separate guide.

Every game ends with a reading

Enochian chess was never only a contest. In the Golden Dawn it served as a study and divination instrument, and every square of its boards carries attributions used for that purpose: signs of the zodiac, tarot trumps, and other correspondences. The online game honors this. When a game finishes, you receive a divination reading of the final position, drawn from where the pieces came to rest. You can read about how the oracle side works on the divination page, and about the squares themselves on the boards page.

What you are getting into

A quick orientation before your first game. Enochian chess is a four-handed game played on one eight-by-eight board. The four armies (Earth, Air, Water, and Fire) begin at the corners, and they fight in two fixed alliances: Air and Fire together against Water and Earth, with each ally at the corner diagonally opposite its partner. There is no checkmate. Kings are captured outright like any other piece, an army freezes in place when an enemy takes its King, and an alliance wins the moment both enemy Kings are taken. Several pieces will surprise a chess player: the Queen leaps exactly two squares in any direction, jumping whatever stands between, and pawns take no double first step. Start with what Enochian chess is, meet the pieces, and keep the full rules open beside your first game.

Common questions

Is it free?

Yes. Everything described on this page is free: solo play, online multiplayer, all four elemental boards, and the reading at the end of each game.

Do I need an account?

Not for solo play. You can open the site and play against the computer with no account at all, and autosave keeps your game without one. Signing in is only needed for real-time games against other people.

Can I play on my phone?

Yes. The game runs in the mobile browser with no app to download, and the fullscreen board option helps on a small screen.

How many players can join?

One to four. Play solo against the computer, or open an online game for two, three, or four people; the computer can run any seat that stays empty.

Keep reading

If this is your first meeting with the game, begin with what Enochian chess is, keep the how to play guide nearby, or read the beginner's plan before you claim a throne.