How to play Park Legend
It is chess, played under the normal rules. This page covers the parts that are not: the controls, the clock, the opponents and the money. New to chess? Start with the rules of chess.
Starting a game
- Open theparklegend.com. The front page shows the men you can play.
- Pick an opponent, then choose how you come in: as a guest, or signed in with Google.
- You sit down at the table. If you are signed in you can put some of your play money on the game before it starts.
Moving a piece
Drag a piece to its square, or tap the piece and then tap the square. Both work all the time and you can switch between them in the middle of a game. When a pawn reaches the last rank, a small menu opens on that file to choose the new piece.
Premoves
You can play your reply while he is still thinking. The move is queued and played the instant his move lands, which saves clock time when the reply is obvious. You can queue several moves in a row. A premove onto a square your own piece is standing on is allowed on purpose: that is how you set up a recapture before the capture happens.
The clock
Both players have a clock, and it only runs on your own turn. If your time runs out you lose, unless your opponent has nothing left that could ever checkmate you, in which case it is a draw. In the park the clock counts: he plays quickly and will happily let you think yourself out of time.
Looking around
Look around lifts you up from the flat board and puts you back in your seat at the stone table, with him across from you and the park around you. The game and the clock keep going. Back to the game returns you to the board. You can do this as often as you like, even halfway through a move.
Walking back through the game
The arrows under the board step through every move played so far. This is for looking, not for taking moves back: his clock keeps running and nothing can be un-played. Jump to the end to return to the live position.
Who you are playing
Each opponent plays at his own strength, shown on his card: from a rookie around 400 who hands pieces away, through casual and club-level players, up to a shark around 2200. One man plays the best this engine can and does not put a number on it. Another hides his card altogether. Some of them play a little differently once there is money on the table; that is what a hustler is.
Talk
He talks during the game: when you blunder, when he blunders, when you take too long. You can talk back in the chat box. None of it changes the chess; it is part of the table.
Play money, results and the leaderboard
- Signed-in players start with $100 of play money, get a small top-up each day, and can stake an amount on each game. Win and you take the stake; lose and he does.
- Play money is not real money. It cannot be bought, cashed out or traded.
- Every signed-in game is replayed on the server before the result counts. Only results the server has checked reach your balance, your rating and the leaderboard.
- Guests can play every game but have no balance and are never ranked.
Settings
Settings has four board themes, and in the park you can choose the time of day and the season. The lamps in the park, on the rooftop and in the basement can be switched on and off from Settings or by clicking them in the scene.