Eastern Dark Chess
Eastern Chess Culture & Art
Free · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Experience traditional Eastern chess and an innovative Dark Chess mode, and enjoy a pure, relaxing casual break.
Chinese Chess Skirmish is a beautifully crafted, fully offline Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) and Dark Chess (Banqi) experience for iPhone and iPad. Whether you're a lifelong Xiangqi master or just curious about Asia's most beloved strategy game, you'll find a mode that fits.
TWO TIMELESS GAMES, ONE APP
• Classic Xiangqi — the 2,500-year-old game of generals, cannons, and palace strategy. Play standard Xiangqi or "Skirmish," a fast-paced variant where horses and elephants are replaced with extra chariots for a rapid, attack-heavy showdown.
• Dark Chess (Banqi) — the popular face-down variant where every piece is hidden until flipped. Mix bluffing with classical strategy across nine hand-painted board layouts: Classic 8×4, Cross-32, Cross-64, H-shape, Tian-shape, Double 8×8, Ri-shape, and more.
SMART AI, THREE DIFFICULTIES
Easy plays a polished, beginner-friendly game with built-in quiescence search to avoid blunders. Medium and Hard use deeper minimax with alpha-beta pruning — strong enough to challenge seasoned players. Every move is honest: the AI never peeks at hidden Dark Chess pieces.
TWO PLAYERS, ONE DEVICE
Pass-and-play mode lets two players share one screen. Perfect for couples, friends, or family game night — no internet, no accounts, no waiting for a match.
BEAUTIFUL HOME SCREEN WIDGET
Add a Chinese Chess widget to your home screen and choose from seven hand-crafted themes: Bronze Relief, Cyberpunk, Wasteland, Storybook, Ancient Scroll, Ink Wash, and Imperial Jade. Switch any time with iOS's Edit Widget UI. Supports Medium and Large sizes on iPhone, plus Extra Large on iPad.
NINE LANGUAGES
English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, Spanish, French, Italian.
OFFLINE • AD-FREE • PRIVACY-RESPECTING
No accounts. No ads. No tracking. No internet required. Just chess.
Designed for landscape on every device — iPhone (compact, dense layout) and iPad (spacious, room-to-breathe layout). Includes piece-display options (traditional characters or pictorial icons), background music with sequence/random/recycle playlist modes, and adjustable AI difficulty.
Whether you're learning your first Xiangqi moves or playing your thousandth Banqi game, Chinese Chess Skirmish is built to be the most thoughtful and beautiful Chinese chess app on iOS.
A Closer Look
Ratings & Reviews
- This app has not received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
NEW: Soldiers can enter water, but freeze for one turn. Rules available in all 9 languages.
Tunnels always connect opposite sides of the board.
Fairer piece shuffle—no same-side clusters.
No possible action means defeat.
Smarter Hard AI avoids bad trades.
Better iPhone full-screen fit and smoother victory animation.
The developer, 尚 王, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Provider
- 尚 王
- Size
- 428.3 MB
- Category
- Board
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.6 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 17.6 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 17.6 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 14.6 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.3 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- ©2026 Shang Wang