The board starts off empty. The first player puts a piece on any cell, with the exception of the 3x3 field in center of the board. Thereafter, players take turns placing pieces on empty cells (including the center), with the restriction that a piece may never be placed where it can be attacked by an opponent's piece. Each player has the following set of Chess pieces: 1 Queen, 2 Rooks, 4 Bishops, 8 Knights, and unlimited Kings.

The first player unable to set a piece on his turn loses the game.

The Trio variant is played the same as the regular game with the exception that the set of pieces each player has now consists of: 3 Rooks, 7 Bishops, and unlimited Knights.

In the Chivalry variant the players have 3 Queens apiece plus unlimited Knights.