Bughouse
Bughouse is a four-player chess variant on two linked boards, where each capture hands the taken piece to your partner, who may later place it on their own board instead of making a move.
Four players sit at two boards, and each partnership has White on one board and Black on the other, so partners always hold opposite colors. Both games run together on separate clocks. Every piece you capture goes to your partner, who may spend a later turn placing it on any empty square of their own board rather than moving a piece already there.
The result is fast, tactical and very social. You might ask your partner for a knight, or tell them to delay a trade so that you do not feed the opposing team. A checkmate or a flag fall on either board ends the whole game, and the team whose player was mated or flagged loses, so communication and clock awareness matter as much as calculation.
Bughouse is popular at summer camps, school clubs and online, and many strong players enjoy it as a break from serious games. It builds quick tactical vision and teamwork, but it is not a replacement for standard training. Whether a pawn may be dropped on the first or last rank varies between groups, so agree the house rules before you play.
It sits close to Chess variant. A chess variant is a game played on a chessboard with pieces that move as in chess but with at least one changed rule, setup or goal, such as Chess960, Crazyhouse or Three-check.
A neighboring idea is Crazyhouse. Crazyhouse is a chess variant in which a captured piece changes sides and joins your reserve, and on any later turn you may drop it onto an empty square instead of moving.
If "Bughouse" is the format you play most, the improvement plans by rating band give a weekly routine for your rating range.
Related terms
Crazyhouse is a chess variant in which a captured piece changes sides and joins your reserve, and on any later turn you may drop it onto an empty square instead of moving.
A chess variant is a game played on a chessboard with pieces that move as in chess but with at least one changed rule, setup or goal, such as Chess960, Crazyhouse or Three-check.
Blitz chess is a fast format where each player has about three to ten minutes for the whole game, so decisions rely heavily on pattern recognition and quick tactics.
A chess clock is a pair of linked timers of which only one runs at a time; after each move a player presses their side to stop their own time and start the opponent's.
A team event is a competition in which players represent a side, individual games on several boards add up to a match result, and the team is ranked by the totals.
Bullet chess is the fastest common format, with each player having under three minutes, usually one minute, so success depends on speed, mouse control and instant tactical vision.
Guides that go further
See whether a base time and increment counts as bullet, blitz, rapid or classical.
Average chess rating and a good chess rating
What share of active Lichess players are rated above 800, 1200, 1500, 1800 or 2000, by time control.
What a rating measures, how FIDE, Lichess, US Chess and chess.com compute theirs, and why the numbers differ.
Want to spot this in your own games?
A first lesson starts with your games: George reviews them and builds a study plan around what he finds.