Gambonanza is a turn-based chess roguelike set on a tiny board with huge stakes. Master tactical twists, invest your winnings, and discover rule-bending Gambits plus wild tile and piece combinations. Face off against challenging bosses and get lost in all the ways you can break traditional chess!
But be careful, if you waste too many moves the board will crumble around you…
FEATURES
• Snackable, high-impact runs
Play fast, punchy chess battles on smaller starting boards where every decision counts.
• 150+ rule-bending Gambits
Combine your chess pieces with Gambits to unlock devastating combos and strategic surprises.
• Dynamic reserve system
Store extra pieces off-board and deploy them at the perfect moment to swing the game.
• Strategic board upgrades
Enhance your chessboard with golden squares, blessing tiles, protective surfaces, and more!
• Fight epic boss battles
Take on big encounters that reward smart builds and punish strategic mistakes.
• Retro aesthetic and quirky ambiance
Immerse yourself in vibrant pixel art and the playful excitement of a fairground.
• Mini-games for power boosts
Test your luck and skill in challenges inspired by pachinko, slot machines, and Gachapon.
WHY PLAY GAMBONANZA?
Gambonanza takes the tactical clarity of chess and turns it into a roguelike playground: stack Gambits, sculpt the board, manage your reserves, and discover ridiculous combos that “shouldn’t work”… until they do. If you love smart strategy, replayable runs, and the thrill of breaking the rules (legally), this one’s for you.
JOIN THE CHESS REVOLUTION!
Download Gambonanza and start rewriting chess.
ABOUT THE TEAM
Gambonanza is developed by Blukulélé and published by Sidekick Publishing and Stray Fawn Publishing.
Mobile Port by Ateo
★★★★★
28 Aug 2026
MULTIPLAYER
I love this game because I play chess and love this idea of a new concept and I want multiplayer
Please.
Computer evaluation · v1.3.8
★★★★★
23 Aug 2026
Definitely a Balatro like.
I’m having a great time so far. Fun gameplay, cool bosses and the rules are fairly straightforward. Big Balatro vibes but I’m loving it!
rjm300 · v1.3.8
★★★★☆
18 Aug 2026
Fun game
It’s fun but it’s trying too hard to be Balatro. The background, music, graphics, everything is so Balatro coded that I thought they were the same developers. I’ll update my review if they update their style but it’s just lazy and annoying. It’s a good game, you don’t have to copy balatro
Brown_Note · v1.3.8
★★★★★
31 Jul 2026
One of the BEST roguelikes ever
Better than I thought it was going to be, lots of fun. If you like chess or want to make chess fun..l just buy it. What a steal! Worth 3 times the asking price!
Stupid Talker · v1.3.8
★★★★★
25 Jul 2026
Wonderful Game
I just love Roguelikes like these
ZenoForXeno · v1.2.0
★☆☆☆☆
18 Jul 2026
Refund
Force close every time I open the app a waste of my time and money
Cindy ggg G hf · v1.2.0
★★★★★
18 Jul 2026
fun game
fun game
Firebolt919 · v1.2.0
★★★☆☆
12 Jul 2026
Good
It’s was very enjoyable I loved it reminded me of balatro
Megamd500 · v1.2.0
★★★★★
10 Jul 2026
Horsey
I love my horsey and my horsey love me
brodyhanson5 · v1.2.0
★☆☆☆☆
5 Jul 2026
Can’t launch game
Game crashes on initial loading screen with a frozen cloud spinning icon on iPhone 15
Bunz217 · v1.2.0
★★★★★
4 Jul 2026
Best game ever
It’s super fun for long car rides and long plane flights with 0 adds
Jhon 67 · v1.2.0
★★★★★
17 Jun 2026
It’s Balatro but with chess
Now I can gamble with fake money on a game I’m even worse at than poker!
Dr. Alan Cula · v1.2.0
★★★★★
14 Jun 2026
PEAK
here’s two suggestions. to make the game endless, you should add a custom gambits feature. also please make it so that you can enable both drag and tap to move with pieces. game’s doing good so far, keep it up!
app store critic #14576 · v1.2.0
★★★★★
13 Jun 2026
So unique I love it
A amazing project and game
Rob tita · v1.2.0
★★★☆☆
12 Jun 2026
It was at most mid tier the gambits are so generic and you can’t get combos like balatro
Don’t buy this if you loved balatro instead I recommend slay the spire
Slug cat15 · v1.2.0
★★☆☆☆
12 Jun 2026
Great concept, way too buggy
I was looking for an experience similar to Balatro (I have 600 hours on that game, and this seemed like a cool new take on the roguelite idea). However, it’s obvious how poor quality control was before this game was released. So many bugs that lead to you losing runs even if you did everything right - gambits not working properly, enemy being able to capture pieces it’s not supposed to be able to etc. I was enjoying playing this game so much until I experienced these, such a shame.
Theion666 · v1.1.0
★☆☆☆☆
10 Jun 2026
Broken Settings
there’s a setting to switch touch controls from “On Drag” to “On Touch”, so you just have to tap pieces and their destinations to play. This option doesn’t work, which sucks because I can’t drag my finger on my phone very well due to a disability. I can’t play this game even though I bought it because of this bug. I will change my review if it’s fixed
PhoneyBalonee · v1.1.0
★★★★☆
10 Jun 2026
Great game, some ideas however
I love the game, it’s fun and definitely helps you think outside the box. I can see how someone who is into chess can love this game and I as someone who isn’t that into chess does love it too! My biggest issues are the following however, minor but stand out to me.
- No speed multiplier; I think if there was a multiplier it could help with games going quicker especially at work! (Sorry boss)
- Pauses outside audio/plays over outside audio; I like to listen to music or podcasts and play games, it’s kind of a bother when these things get paused due to how the game runs
- optimization; my phone gets very hot when playing this game, never an issue either other games other than cloverpit which I can pass off as graphically more complex, but I don’t know why that is the case with this game.
- the game restarts when out of it for five seconds (exaggeration). I don’t like that if I’m out of the game for a bit too long the app force restarts itself
Other than that, solid game but a 4/5 until these are addressed or fixed!
Lil_Lemon_ · v1.1.0
★★★★★
5 Jun 2026
Good game
Wahoo!
Stephen Van Gorden · v1.1.0
★★★★★
3 Jun 2026
Cool
Cool
mosesesesess · v1.1.0
No reviews at this rating.
App Store data shown here is sourced from Apple's public iTunes RSS chart feeds and the iTunes Lookup API, collected by Zing at regular intervals. Figures may differ from Apple's internal App Store Connect analytics. Reviews are sourced from Apple's public customer-reviews feed (US storefront, most recent first).