Chaos Chess Lexicon
Lexicon of Chaos
Here's where you'll find critical terms for understanding Chaos Chess Cards. Use this as a quick reference guide.
| Countering Flux Cards | The act of denying your opponent the right to play a flux card. You can counter a flux card using the pitch method, or by playing a UA flux card that specifically counters flux cards. |
| Dead Pile | The area in which you place all pieces you have captured during the game. Your dead pile will typically contain your opponent’s pieces and hers will contain yours. |
| Declare | To announce that you are going to play a flux card. Declaring a card typically involves paying for it and choosing it’s target(s). |
| Destroy | When a piece is removed from play by means of a flux card rather than by a normal capture. Kings can never be destroyed, and cannot be the target of a flux card that destroys pieces. |
| Dispel, Dispelled, Dispelling | When a card leaves play, it is said to dispel. Cards are dispelled according to their duration. They may also dispel if their target leaves the game (is captured, destroyed, or retired). Some flux cards dispel other flux cards in play. |
| Duration | Each flux card has a duration. At the end of the card’s duration it is dispelled. A card can last virtually any amount of turns, or it may be Instant (*), Permanent (P), or last until the end of the current turn (T). |
| Flux Card | The cards you play to win Chaos Chess! |
| Home Space | Any space that a piece could legally occupy at the beginning of the game. |
| Limbo | An area of the game space where pieces might be placed temporarily. Pieces in limbo are considered out of play and cannot be targeted by flux cards and their effects. However, cards that enter and exit limbo do not dispel flux cards that already target them. |
| Pawn Check | The act of hiding one of each color pawn in each hand and having your opponent “pick a hand” in order to choose the white pawn. Typically used at the start of each game to determine who will play white and to resolve certain cards. This results in a random 50/50 chance. |
| Permanent | Permanent cards remain in play until dispelled. |
| Phase Timing | Flux cards can only be played during particular phases of a game of chaos chess. See Reading and Understanding Flux Cards in the game rules for more info. |
| Piece | A True Piece is an unchanged chess piece. A Chaos Piece is any piece that has been transformed, and is NOT considered a True Piece. |
| Pitch | To discard a card from hand and place it face up in the discard pile. |
| Pitch Method | The act of pitching three cards from your hand in order to counter a card your opponent plays. |
| Retire | To remove a piece from the game permanently. |
| Time Counters | Beads or tokens that are used to track the duration of flux cards. During the maintenance phase of each player’s turn, a Time Counter is removed from each flux card they have in play. |
| Trigger | Flux cards and their effects may be triggered by certain conditions in a game of Chaos Chess. They are often phase driven, having an AM or BM “trigger.” When the proper phase is entered, the card or it’s effects are triggered, often automatically. |