Trapdoor Chess

1. Standard Chess: All FIDE chess rules apply — move, capture, castle, en passant, promote, check, checkmate.

2. Trapdoor Board: Every square has a time-delay trapdoor. When a piece lands on a square, a 5-move countdown begins.

3. Move It or Lose It: If a piece sits on the same square for 5 consecutive moves (by that piece's color), the trapdoor opens and the piece is removed from the game forever.

4. Safe at Start: Pieces in their original starting positions are safe. The countdown only begins once a piece moves for the first time.

5. Timer Reset: Moving a piece to a new square resets its countdown to 5. A new piece landing on a vacated trapdoor square also gets a fresh 5-move timer.

6. King Falls = Loss: If your King's trapdoor timer expires, you lose the game.

7. Checkmate Ends It: If checkmate is delivered, the game is over immediately — no more trapdoors trigger.

8. Fallen Pieces: Pieces that fall through are gone permanently. They appear in the "Fallen Pieces" panel.

Original concept by Ralph Betza

v1.0 — April 11, 2026 — Developed by Edwin of www.bishopsthegame.com