If you’re tired of the same old chess, try these great alternative games. They will challenge your strategic skills and strengthen your brain.

A few examples are Azul, 3D Chess, and Onitama. Another is Battle Chess, which turns the chess board into a medieval battlefield and adds troop animations to make the game more exciting.

1. Azul

Designer Michael Kiesling has given us one of the most elegantly layered and strategically engrossing games to hit the table in recent years. Azul, inspired by the azulejo tiles found in southern Spain palaces, is quick to learn but has a high level of strategy that makes it an impressively challenging game. It has earned a spot on the modern board gaming classics list along with such titles as Ticket to Ride, Catan, and Codenames.

In each round, players take turns choosing tiles from shared piles in the center of the table and filling rows on their player boards. When they have completed a row, they transfer it to their “wall,” which is located on the right side of their player board. They earn points for placing tiles and also for completing sets of colors, as well as rows and columns on their wall.

The game ends when a player has completed a horizontal line of 5 tiles in their wall. The player with the most points wins.

The only real snag with this gem is that it has a lot of math and can feel a bit repetitive over long play sessions. However, if you can get past that hurdle, you’ll find an amazing game that has made a splash at the top of the Spiel des Jahres list and is well worth adding to your collection.

2. 3D Chess

If you’re looking for a game to test your tactical finesse, look no further than 3D Chess. This strategy game features a classic chess board and moves, but with added dimensions that make it more fun for players of all ages. The game is designed to teach newcomers the basics of chess while offering a variety of challenging modes that will challenge even the most experienced player.

While it may seem like a sci-fi creation courtesy of the crew of the Starship Enterprise, 3D Chess is a real game that has been around for decades. It was first developed by Ferdinand Maack, who believed that chess should be played on multiple levels and that certain pieces should move differently depending on where they are on the board. For example, a rook on the lowest level can move up or down and diagonally.

The game has a modern aesthetic and features detailed graphics that will look great on any device. There are also a number of features that make the game easy to play for both beginners and experts, including highlighting which squares your pieces can move to. The game is free to download and offers a range of different options, including human vs. computer or even pitting different A.I. levels against each other. You can even practice with the practice levels before playing against other players.

3. Onitama

A paragon of abstract elegance, Onitama is one of the very best games that have been made for mobile devices. It takes parts from a bunch of other experiences and joins them together into a game that is at once simple to learn and challenging to master.

Players compete in a martial arts themed game of tactical maneuvers. The board is a five by five grid with each player having four student pieces and their own Master piece in the center space known as the temple. A deck of move cards is shuffled and each player draws two to begin a game, placing them face up in front of them. Each turn a player selects a card and moves their piece (student or master) in the manner shown on the card. If the selected piece moves into an opposing piece it is captured and that card shared to the left of the board for the opponent to use on their next turn.

It can be very easy to make a mistake in Onitama as there are lots of small opportunities for bad plays and it can be hard to keep track of all the possible moves a piece can make. But a well thought out plan can still lead to great rewards and this is a game that can be enjoyed by mismatched skill levels. The cycling of moves is a nice touch that creates many of those wonderful moments of play where you set up a win that your opponent didn’t see coming.

4. Battle Chess

The most famous board game in the world comes to life in Battle Chess. This video game reimagines the pieces and their attacks and makes it fun to play. It also allows you to see a chessboard from different angles and enables you to think two or three turns ahead, which can be difficult for beginners in chess.

This version of chess includes six different types of pieces for each color and the king cannot be captured by any piece. It offers 35 fight animations, where the players’ pieces violently attack one another. For example, the rook transforms into a monster of rock and kills a pawn by smashing it.

Battle Chess was developed and released by Interplay Entertainment in 1988 and later ported to many other systems. It was the first chess game to feature a 2.5D graphics system and fighting animations, which allowed the player to see the consequences of their moves.

Topware Interactive ACE developed a similar program called Battle vs Chess, but Interplay took them to court over copyright infringement and prevented the game from being released. This game combines an outstanding chess logic system with comical and dramatic fight animations that bring the board to life. It includes 10 AI levels and a ranking system. It also enables the players to challenge themselves by completing a variety of game play scenario challenges in a set time frame.