Reconnaissance Blind Chess vs DigiChess
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Reconnaissance Blind Chess
This app offers a unique chess variant where players cannot see their opponent's pieces. Utilize private sensing actions to gather information and strategize your moves. Compete in ranked or unranked games against AI bots.
- Imperfect information gameplay
- Private sensing actions
- Ranked and unranked game modes
- AI bot opponents
- Capture-based win condition
- Time-based win condition
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The Reconnaissance Blind Chess (RBC) variant was invented in 2015 at JHU/APL as an experimentation platform to study artificial intelligence (AI). RBC includes imperfect information, long-term strategy, explicit observations, and very little common knowledge between opponents. In the RBC variant, the opponents cannot see each other’s pieces but can learn about them through private, explicit sensing actions. In unranked RBC games, the player plays with a guest account. They choose their opponent from a list of available bots and select their color (white or black). An unranked RBC game will not affect the player's rating. In ranked RBC games, the player logs in with their RBC account credentials, and their opponent and color are chosen at random. It may take a few seconds to be matched up against an opponent. A ranked RBC game will affect the player's rating. Game Rules: Reconnaissance Blind Chess (RBC) was intentionally designed to keep the game as close to traditional chess as possible while adding an appropriate amount of uncertainty and explicit sensing. RBC is like chess but includes the following core differences: A player cannot see their opponent's pieces. Prior to making each move, a player selects a 3×3 region of the chess board (via green outline on the relevant squares) to “sense” the pieces in that region. The player is informed of the true piece configuration within the sensed 3×3 region. The opponent is not informed about where the player sensed. When a player captures a piece, they are informed (via red outline on the relevant square) that they made a capture, but they are not informed about what piece they captured. When a player's piece is captured, they are informed (via red outline on the relevant square) that their piece was captured, but they are not informed about what piece captured it. There is no notion of check or mate because neither player can be definitively aware of any check relationship. A player wins by capturing the opponent's king or when the opponent runs out of time. Each player begins with a cumulative 15-minute clock to make all their moves. If a player tries to move a sliding piece through an opponent's piece, the opponent's piece is captured and the moved piece is stopped where the capture occurred. The moving player is notified of the square where the piece landed (via red outline on the relevant square), and both players are notified of the capture in the manner stated above. If a player attempts to make an illegal move, such as a pawn diagonally to an empty square, or a pawn forward to an occupied square, or a castle through an interposing piece, they are notified that the move did not succeed and their turn is over. However, castling through check is allowed because the notion of check is removed. There is a "pass" option that a player can select if they prefer to make no move during their turn. A player has access to reserve pieces that they can drag on and off the board to better visualize the state of the board, based on their belief of where their opponent's pieces are located. The turn tracker informs the player when it is their turn to sense and move, and when it is the opponent's turn.
DigiChess
Instantly convert chess board images into interactive digital representations. An AI recognizes pieces, eliminating manual setup and saving preparation time. Export positions to analysis engines or popular chess platforms.
- Image to digital board conversion
- AI piece recognition
- FEN description generation
- Save and edit positions
- Export to Lichess/Chess.com
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DigiChess will let you instantly transform a picture taken of a 2D position into a dynamic representation on the screen. The trained AI will recognize all the pieces for you and accurately place them on the board, eliminating the need for any manual setup. Cut out all the preparation time and get straight to the material that follows a diagram! - Take a picture of the board and the position comes to life instantly - Makes use of an AI to quickly and accurately recognize all the pieces - Easily export the positions into analysis engines and studies through the FEN description generated by the AI - Save the positions for future reference - Make changes and corrections to the positions - tweak the playing perspective and piece types - One button export to Lichess or Chess.com analysis.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Reconnaissance Blind Chess at none against DigiChess's 1. DigiChess's advantage is update cadence (every 8 months vs every 32 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. DigiChess sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Reconnaissance Blind Chess asks for nothing beyond the download.
Reconnaissance Blind Chess ships an update every 32 months, DigiChess every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on June 7, 2026 and July 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Reconnaissance Blind Chess | DigiChess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 32 months | Every 8 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory | Solnatrix Inc. |
Customer experience
Reconnaissance Blind Chess
DigiChess
In-app purchases
Reconnaissance Blind Chess
No in-app purchases
DigiChess
- DigiChess Premium No Advertisements$7.99
Questions
Is Reconnaissance Blind Chess free?
Is DigiChess free?
Do Reconnaissance Blind Chess or DigiChess have ads?
Which is updated more often, Reconnaissance Blind Chess or DigiChess?
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