How to Play Ice Hockey Chess

Ice Hockey Chess is a free, turn-based hockey strategy game you play in your browser. There's no clock and no reflexes involved — you win by reading the ice, making the smart pass and picking the right moment to shoot. This guide walks through every move you'll use, in the same order as the game's built-in tutorial.

1. The basics: rink, teams and turns

The rink is a grid of 11 columns (A–K) by 19 rows, with a goal at each end. Each team has six players on the ice — a goalie, two defensemen, a center and two wingers — plus a full set of backups waiting on the bench.

Your goalie can skate out of the crease (the light-blue box in front of the net) — but it's a big gamble. While the goalie is outside the crease, every shot on your net goes in, and the goalie can be stick-checked like any other player. Inside the crease, nobody can stick-check them.

Teams take turns. On your turn, every one of your players can move once, and the player holding the puck can also pass or shoot. When you're done, tap End Turn and the other side plays.

Every player has an HP (energy) bar. Actions like checking and using skills cost HP, and a player who drops very low can barely move — that's when you send out a fresh one (see Change lines).

2. Select & move

Tapping a piece selects it and opens its action menu. Tap Move and every cell it can reach lights up green. Tap one and your player skates there.

3. Make a pass

You can pass to any teammate who is lined up with the carrier — in a straight line or on a diagonal. Each possible target shows a success percentage. Defenders near the passing lane make a pass riskier; if it fails, the pass can be picked off.

4. Take a shot

Any goal cell you're lined up with lights up red, with your chance of scoring next to it. That chance depends on distance, angle, and whether the goalie or other players are in the way. A goal sends both teams back to a face-off.

5. Pick up a loose puck

When nobody has the puck, it just sits on the ice. Move any player onto that cell and they pick it up automatically — no extra button needed. Loose pucks after a hit or a save are often the turning point of a game, so be first to them.

6. Steal the puck (Stick Check)

A stick check is about separating the opponent from the puck: you poke the puck off their stick, not the player. That's why it only works on the opponent who has the puck. The button doesn't appear for anyone else.

• Your stick has reach: you can check the carrier from up to 2 cells away in a straight line, or 1 cell diagonally.
• You can't stick-check a goalie who is inside their own crease.
• The base chance is 50/50, and nearby teammates add support and raise your odds.
• Missing costs you nothing extra, but in this game about 1 in 10 stick checks is called as a penalty at random (high-sticking or tripping). A penalized player sits out for 2 turns, giving the other team a power play.
• In a real game, penalties aren't luck. Keep your stick on the puck and below the waist, and don't hook or slash the player.

7. Body check

A body check is about separating the opponent from the puck, not about hurting anyone. You can only hit the opponent who is carrying the puck. In real hockey, hitting a player who doesn't have the puck is a penalty called interference.

• You must be next to the carrier: any of the 8 cells around them, diagonals included.
• Use it before that player moves this turn.
• It doesn't hand you the puck. It knocks the puck loose onto a nearby empty cell.
• It costs a little HP on both sides.
• In this game, hits carry a bigger random penalty risk than stick checks: about 1 in 5 is called as an illegal hit, and your player goes to the penalty box for 2 turns.
• In a real game, it's about technique, not luck. Hit with your shoulder and body, never to the head or from behind, and don't charge from far away.

Have a teammate nearby, ready to pick up the loose puck.

8. Change lines

• The tired player skates off to the bench, and their fresh partner comes on at your bench — the edge column on your side of the rink — not where the tired player was standing.
• In this game, the puck carrier can't change. Pass the puck to a teammate first, then change.
• The new player can't act until your next turn.

9. Change the goalie

Goalies change a little differently from skaters: the backup appears right in the crease, not at the bench.

• The backup goalie appears in the crease instantly, so your net is never empty.
• It's only allowed while your team has the puck outside your own defensive zone.

Your goalie has to be standing in the crease to change. Skating them out just leaves your net wide open.

10. Every player has a skill

Each position has its own special skill, available while the player is above half HP:

Activating a skill costs 10 HP, and afterwards every action costs double HP — the player is giving everything they've got. Save it for the moments that count: a breakaway, a big save, a must-win puck battle.

Each of the 15 countries also has its own team bonuses, so the same skill can be a little stronger depending on who you pick.

11. Offside and tagging up

Offside works like real hockey: the puck has to enter the attacking zone first, and teammates follow.

• If the puck leaves your attacking zone while your players are still inside, those players are offside (shown with a red pulsing outline).
• Until every offside player skates back over the blue line — called tagging up — nobody on your team can enter the zone, not even the puck carrier.
• Getting the puck back into the zone doesn't cancel it — you still have to tag up first. The only exception is when the other team carries or passes the puck back into its own zone: then the offside is waved off, with no tag-up needed, just like in real hockey.
• Once everyone is out, the normal rule applies again: puck in first, teammates follow.

12. Game modes

• 2 Players — play a friend on the same device, taking turns.
• vs Robot — play the computer at your chosen difficulty.
• Tournament — pick a country, play group games and playoffs, and win trophies for your Trophy Hall.
• Hockey IQ Class — guided levels that start with every move in this guide and build up to real hockey tactics: odd-man rushes, breakouts, zone entries and special teams.

A standard game is 3 periods. Score more goals than your opponent by the final whistle to win.

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