Gambit vs Chain Reaction

One position. One winning move. Find the checkmate. Gambit is a daily chess puzzle built around a single, strict promise: every puzzle is a forced mate in two, three, or four, with exactly one first move that works. No "best try", no engine evaluation, no ambiguity. If you find the move, it mates, and the opponent will always play the most stubborn defense available. Tired of ads? App crashes? Dubious data collection and no offline play? So was I. That's how Gambit was born. A NEW PUZZLE EVERY DAY The daily puzzle gets harder as the week goes on: mate in two on Monday, climbing to mate in four by the weekend. Everyone playing on the same date gets the same puzzle, so you can compare notes with a friend. A FORTY-PUZZLE DROP EVERY WEEK Alongside the daily, each week brings a challenge of forty puzzles that ramps from mate in two through mate in four. Bonus hints at the halfway and the end, to stock up for when you need them. New drop every Monday. STORY MODE: THE QUEEN'S RANSOM A hooded figure called the Shade has taken the White Queen. Walk the checkered road across the kingdom as a pawn and win her back, one mate at a time: eight chapters of thirty puzzles, each ending in a mate-in-four boss, then the Long Game, which never ends. Earn up to three stars a puzzle, open chests of hints and pages of the Chronicle along the way, and take the Shade's gambits, such as Blindfold or Mirror, for bigger rewards. Free for every player. TRACK WHAT YOU EARN Hints for every solve, badges for volume, streaks and depth, and a daily check-in bonus. Integrated with Game Center so you can compete with friends. THE ARCHIVE Missed a day? Gambit Archive unlocks every past daily puzzle and every past weekly challenge since launch, growing by forty-seven puzzles a week. Gambit Archive is an auto-renewing subscription, available monthly or annually. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. It renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in-app or your Apple Account settings. No weird cancel hoops to jump through. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://johnpalmer.dev/gambit/privacy WORKS ANYWHERE No account, no sign-up, and no internet of any kind required (except for Apple's servers for in-app purchases). Gambit works the same in airplane mode as it does at home. I wanted this on long-haul flights where the wifi was spotty at best. I figure others might, too.

One clever move. One glorious machine. Chain Reaction is a hand-crafted physics puzzle game about building the missing piece of an elaborate chain-reaction machine — then pressing GO and watching everything you set in motion ripple across a miniature workshop. Drop a ramp in the right spot and a steel ball rolls, dominoes topple, a trapdoor swings, a catapult fires and a bell rings on the far side of the bench. Get it wrong and you'll see exactly where the chain broke — tweak, retry, and try again in seconds. EIGHT WORKSHOP WORLDS • The Workbench — ramps, planks, levers and domino runs • Clockwork House — pendulums, gears, pulleys and hammers • Toy Lab — springs, fans, balloons, catapults and explosive confetti poppers • Flowworks — tanks, valves, pipes, water wheels and floats • Magnetron — magnets, polarity and electromagnets • Spark City — batteries, wires, motors, relays and lights • Elemental Engine — flames, steam, wax, ice and melting • Quantum Workshop — portals, gravity fields and energy beams 256 HAND-BUILT PUZZLES Every level is designed by hand and verified solvable, with a real solution, a fair challenge and three stars to earn: finish the machine, use as few parts as possible, and master a bonus goal. A NEW MACHINE EVERY DAY Daily Machines and a Weekly Challenge are generated fresh and verified solvable — come back and beat your best score. YOUR OWN WORKSHOP Unlock over 100 parts, collect blueprints, decorate your workshop with trophies, finishes and ball trails, and build anything you like in the Sandbox. FAIR AND FRIENDLY • Play offline, any time • Hints when you want them — never required • No energy timers, no forced waits • Optional rewarded videos; a one-time purchase removes ads • Colour-blind assist, large-text UI, reduced motion and full haptics control Satisfying physics, beautiful miniature dioramas and that perfect moment when the last domino falls. Build your chain reaction.