bughouse.pro: a free bughouse server • page 1/3 • Lichess Bughouse • lichess.org

matveiakin edited

Hi,
My name is Andrei, and I would like to share an online bughouse server which my friends and I have built over the past two years. I started developing it as an exercise in Rust and WebAssembly. Then it reached the stage where it was actually playable. I wasn’t sure I’d get this far :) And then, with the support of my friends (especially @bkma6), it kept growing, so now there seems to be no reason not to share it with the rest of the world.

The server is called https://bughouse.pro (the name is, of course, a joke reflecting the fact that we keep blundering every game despite playing for years).

It’s free, adless and open source, like Lichess.

The server is devoted specifically to bughouse. It doesn't treat bughouse as “one of the chess variants”. For us, bughouse is the baseline.

It’s customizable. I’ve added support for all bughouse rule variations that I’m aware of: whether drop mates are allowed, whether pawns can be dropped on rank 7, whether a promoted pawn turns into a new piece or steals a piece from the other board — all of this and more is configurable.

Beyond that, it supports several other variants on top of bughouse, so you could play things like Bughouse960, Bughouse in Fog of War or Bughouse with a Duck, if you’d like :)

Please note that the site is still in beta. The core game experience is there, but some important auxiliary features are missing. For example, there is no mobile version for now. Also, we don’t yet support matchmaking, so you need to find play buddies yourself. I’ve created a bughouse.pro Discord; feel free to look for company there: https://discord.gg/HK57zMCHZw.

Please try it out and tell me what you think. Bug report, suggestions, questions, kudos — any input is valuable!

Hi, My name is Andrei, and I would like to share an online bughouse server which my friends and I have built over the past two years. I started developing it as an exercise in Rust and WebAssembly. Then it reached the stage where it was actually playable. I wasn’t sure I’d get this far :) And then, with the support of my friends (especially @bkma6), it kept growing, so now there seems to be no reason not to share it with the rest of the world. The server is called https://bughouse.pro (the name is, of course, a joke reflecting the fact that we keep blundering every game despite playing for years). It’s free, adless and open source, like Lichess. The server is devoted specifically to bughouse. It doesn't treat bughouse as “one of the chess variants”. For us, bughouse is the baseline. It’s customizable. I’ve added support for all bughouse rule variations that I’m aware of: whether drop mates are allowed, whether pawns can be dropped on rank 7, whether a promoted pawn turns into a new piece or steals a piece from the other board — all of this and more is configurable. Beyond that, it supports several other variants on top of bughouse, so you could play things like Bughouse960, Bughouse in Fog of War or Bughouse with a Duck, if you’d like :) Please note that the site is still in beta. The core game experience is there, but some important auxiliary features are missing. For example, there is no mobile version for now. Also, we don’t yet support matchmaking, so you need to find play buddies yourself. I’ve created a bughouse.pro Discord; feel free to look for company there: https://discord.gg/HK57zMCHZw. Please try it out and tell me what you think. Bug report, suggestions, questions, kudos — any input is valuable!

Rustan

Cool! I started to queue for a game as a guest, and see no indication of I am likely to get a game soon or not. Should I continue to wait or abort? No idea. Just the message not enough players. Some indication on number of players or estimated wait time might help.

MiniGreat

Thanks for making. Happy to try it out. No one is on right now but msg me and I’ll join in.

Would recommend you make default to standard bughouse as per FICS. 2 min 0 inc. normal upgrade rules and pawn drops 2-7 and allowed to mate. Those are the standards and should at least be selectable with a single click if not default!

Thanks for your work

Thanks for making. Happy to try it out. No one is on right now but msg me and I’ll join in. Would recommend you make default to standard bughouse as per FICS. 2 min 0 inc. normal upgrade rules and pawn drops 2-7 and allowed to mate. Those are the standards and should at least be selectable with a single click if not default! Thanks for your work

matveiakin

@Rustan said in #2:

Cool! I started to queue for a game as a guest, and see no indication of I am likely to get a game soon or not. Should I continue to wait or abort? No idea. Just the message not enough players. Some indication on number of players or estimated wait time might help.

Oh, yeah, there are no public lobbies at the moment, so you could play either by sending the join link to your friends, or by posting it in our Discord. Sorry for the confusing UI! This will be fixed eventually

@Rustan said in #2: > Cool! I started to queue for a game as a guest, and see no indication of I am likely to get a game soon or not. Should I continue to wait or abort? No idea. Just the message not enough players. Some indication on number of players or estimated wait time might help. Oh, yeah, there are no public lobbies at the moment, so you could play either by sending the join link to your friends, or by posting it in our Discord. Sorry for the confusing UI! This will be fixed eventually

matveiakin

@MiniGreat said in #3:

Thanks for making. Happy to try it out. No one is on right now but msg me and I’ll join in.

Would recommend you make default to standard bughouse as per FICS. 2 min 0 inc. normal upgrade rules and pawn drops 2-7 and allowed to mate. Those are the standards and should at least be selectable with a single click if not default!

Thanks for your work

It is selectable with a single click, as a matter of fact. That's the “International” preset button on the top. It uses the rules that you describe except time control (our default is 5 min + 0 inc). Isn't 2 min a bit too harsh?)
I'll think about making it the default.

@MiniGreat said in #3: > Thanks for making. Happy to try it out. No one is on right now but msg me and I’ll join in. > > Would recommend you make default to standard bughouse as per FICS. 2 min 0 inc. normal upgrade rules and pawn drops 2-7 and allowed to mate. Those are the standards and should at least be selectable with a single click if not default! > > Thanks for your work It is selectable with a single click, as a matter of fact. That's the “International” preset button on the top. It uses the rules that you describe except time control (our default is 5 min + 0 inc). Isn't 2 min a bit too harsh?) I'll think about making it the default.

matveiakin

BTW, @bkma6 and I are online right now. Game link is in Discord, feel free to join us!

itugvochess

Thx for all!

Babyskak

Id like to play more bughouse,but at the moment i culdnt ee any players

matveiakin

@Babyskak said in #8:

Id like to play more bughouse,but at the moment i culdnt ee any players

For now the two ways to play are to come with your friends or to look for players in our Discord. I plan to add public lobbies to the site itself soon. Will post an update when it's done.

@Babyskak said in #8: > Id like to play more bughouse,but at the moment i culdnt ee any players For now the two ways to play are to come with your friends or to look for players in our Discord. I plan to add public lobbies to the site itself soon. Will post an update when it's done.

matveiakin

OK, I've added a list of games that are currently waiting for players to the main page. So you can find a game right there.
(Personally I still believe it's fun to be in a voice channel together, but that's up to you)

OK, I've added a list of games that are currently waiting for players to the main page. So you can find a game right there. (Personally I still believe it's fun to be in a voice channel together, but that's up to you)