Games in chat

You can start a quick board game in any text channel, announcement channel or direct message. The game is posted as a card in the conversation, someone takes the open seat, and you play right there in the chat while everyone else watches.

Game	Players	Can be rated
Chess: the classic. Checkmate your opponent’s king.	2	Yes
Connect Four: drop discs and line up four in a row.	2	Yes
Tic-Tac-Toe: three in a row. Quick and classic.	2	No, always for fun

Start a game

In the message box, select the game controller button (Start a game).
Pick Chess, Connect Four or Tic-Tac-Toe.
To play for rating points, turn on Rated. Chess and Connect Four can be rated; tic-tac-toe is always played for fun.
Select Start game.

Your game appears in the conversation as a card with an Open seat. The card shows Waiting until someone joins.

To start a game, you need the Use activities and Send messages permissions, which everyone has by default. In each channel, you can have up to three games that you started waiting or in progress at once. If you hit that limit, Rally asks you to finish one of your open games first.

Join a game

Find a game card that says “A seat is open — jump in!” and select Join game. The game starts as soon as the second player joins, and the card switches to Live.

If you started a game and nobody has joined yet, you can select Cancel game to close it. Games that nobody joins within about a day are canceled automatically.

Who goes first

The person who started the game always takes the first seat and moves first.

Game	First seat (moves first)	Second seat
Chess	White	Black
Connect Four	Red	Yellow
Tic-Tac-Toe	X	O

Play your turn

While a game is live, the card shows both players, with the player whose turn it is highlighted. Under the board, you’ll see Your move when it’s your turn, or “Waiting for” and your opponent’s name when it isn’t.

Chess

To move, select one of your pieces, then select the square to move it to. You can also drag the piece. Only legal moves are allowed.
To promote a pawn, move it to the last rank, then choose a queen, rook, bishop or knight.
The board is turned so your pieces are at the bottom.
When you’re in check, the card says “you’re in check!”.
The moves so far are listed under the board in standard chess notation.

A chess game ends in a win by checkmate or resignation, or in a draw by stalemate, insufficient material, threefold repetition or the fifty-move rule.

Connect Four

To move, select a column. Your disc drops to the lowest empty space in it.
The first player to line up four discs in a row (across, up and down, or diagonally) wins.
If the board fills up with no four in a row, it’s a draw.

Tic-Tac-Toe

To move, select an empty square.
The first player to get three in a row (across, down, or diagonally) wins.
If all nine squares fill up with no winner, it’s a draw.

Play with a keyboard

Each board is a single stop when you press Tab. Use the arrow keys to move between squares or columns, and press Enter or Space to select. In chess, press Esc to cancel a selected piece.

Resign

During a live game, select Resign under the board, then confirm. Your opponent is declared the winner. In a rated game, resigning counts as a loss.

To keep going instead, select Keep playing.

Watch a game

Anyone who can see the conversation can watch a live game. The card updates as each move is made and shows whose turn it is.

When a game ends

The card shows the result, such as “Sam wins by checkmate” or a draw and the reason for it. Players can select Play again to post a new game of the same kind, with the same rated setting, in the same conversation.

Ratings

Rated games use the Elo rating system, with a separate rating for chess and for Connect Four.

Everyone starts with a rating of 1200.
After a rated game, both players’ ratings go up or down. The card shows each player’s change, like +12 or −12.
Beating a higher-rated player earns more points than beating a lower-rated one.
Your rating moves faster during your first 20 rated games of each game, so it settles near your skill level quickly.
Casual games don’t change anyone’s rating.

Games in direct messages

Games work the same way in direct messages, including group conversations. Start one with the game controller button in the message box.

Looking for bigger multiplayer games? See Playing games for Rally Games, the 2D and 3D games built by the community.