Player FAQ
Quick answers to the questions new and returning players ask most.
Getting started
Do I need to buy anything to play? No. Free players can play matches, earn FOCUS, open card packs, solve puzzles, join community events, and enter weekly tournaments. Weekly events charge a small entry fee in FOCUS, which you earn by playing and cannot buy, so nothing costs money. A club board unlocks the ranked seasonal ladder, but you can play and improve for free indefinitely.
Do I need any special technical knowledge? No. Sign up with email or Google/Apple and your account is created for you automatically. Everything technical is handled behind the scenes.
What is a club board? Your club board is your key to ranked seasonal play. It permanently records your wins, rank tier, and club.
Bring a friend
How do I get a friend in during the alpha? Share your referral link. From the lobby, open Rally, then Referrals, and copy your link. A friend who signs up with it is admitted right away, no waitlist: they get an invite link on screen and by email, good for 7 days. Someone already on the waitlist can use your link too. Each link admits a limited number of people per week, and you need one real match played (or an account a few days old) before your link works. See Bring a Friend.
What do I get for a referral? Once your friend has played 3 matches against 3 different real opponents (you don't count, and neither do very short games), the referral qualifies. You get 250 FOCUS and your friend gets 100 FOCUS plus one Common Battle Card. Up to 10 referrals pay out per season. Referral FOCUS spends normally but does not count toward tier or rank progress, and it doesn't use your daily earning cap.
What is a Herald? A Herald is a player who has brought in enough friends. Herald is 5 qualified referrals lifetime, Herald Prime is 10 in a single season, and Herald Eternal is 20 across the two seasons of an arc. The badge shows on your Referrals page and comes with a Discord role. Heralds keep counting past the 10-per-season reward cap.
Do badges like Herald come with anything else? Permanent badges do more than sit on a profile. From time to time, badge holders are rewarded with in-game cosmetics, invitations to tournaments, and Battle Card airdrops. Herald is one of those badges.
Gameplay
Can I use cards from any club on any board? Yes. Cross-club loadouts are fully legal. You can run another club's card on a Bitcoinia board and still get the Bitcoinia board passive. Matching is a bonus, not a rule.
What happens to my card when my piece is captured? The card returns to your collection afterward, with one durability used. It is not destroyed. Only its charges for that match are lost.
Can I activate two abilities in one turn? Not yet — every player in both clubs is limited to one ability per turn. A second activation is Etheryst's club identity, and it arrives with the Etheryst passive in a later season.
What happens to a Pawn's card when the Pawn promotes? The Pawn card's remaining charges transfer to the promoted piece. The promoted piece keeps using the Pawn card's abilities — it does not gain a Queen card.
Can I use a Gambit Card and a Battle Card on the same turn? Gambit Cards are arriving in a later season. Full rules will be published when they launch.
FOCUS and currency
Can I buy FOCUS? No. FOCUS is earned only through play — matches, quests, puzzles. It cannot be purchased anywhere. That's deliberate: progression is earned, not bought.
Is there a daily FOCUS limit? Yes, there's a daily cap on FOCUS from ranked matches, plus smaller amounts from puzzles, logging in, and spectating. Tournament earnings are not capped.
Can I win money? No. Everything you earn is in-game: cards, rank badges, a permanent record on your board, and FOCUS, which you earn by playing and cannot buy. There is no cash prize and nothing to cash out. Prized tournaments are on the roadmap, and a prize pool is only announced once it is funded.
Seasons and cards
What happens to my cards at season end? Some of a card's remaining uses carry into the next season; details are announced before each season ends.
What resets at season end? Your XP never resets — it is a career total, and a rank you reach is permanent. Your Gauge Start drops one level (Finale to Midgame, Midgame to Debut). Rank tier rewards are claimed per season. Your ELO, all cards and boards, cohort, and badges stay forever.
Are there permanent badges for competitive play? Yes. Some badges are earned only through ranked wins and are permanent. They can't be bought — they're pure proof of competitive history. Permanent badges do more than sit on a profile. From time to time, badge holders are rewarded with in-game cosmetics, invitations to tournaments, and Battle Card airdrops.
Can I buy cards? Soon. A card shop is built and opens once the card catalogue is large enough; until then the Cards screen shows no shop button. When it opens, a new shelf of packs goes up every Monday, priced in FOCUS, and every pack shows its exact contents before you buy. Nothing is random, Omega cards are never sold, and FOCUS itself can never be bought. See The Card Shop.
Physical hardware
Will there be a physical chess board? A physical board is planned. Details are announced through the official channels.
Still stuck?
→ Card Interaction Rules — official edge-case rules → Ask in the official ChessVS Discord