Back to articles

By ilovetoeatspicy editorial team · Updated

How to Play Couples Flying Chess

Couples flying chess, known in Chinese as 情侶飛行棋, takes the race format of ludo and replaces the pieces you capture with things you do for each other. Two players, one board, one phone passed back and forth. You roll, you move, and wherever you land decides what happens next.

The rules below are the version we built and play. Start with the steps below. Play time depends on the cards you choose, the dice, and how long you spend on each task.

閱讀繁體中文版

What you need

Two people and one phone. There is no board to buy and nothing to print. Before the first roll you agree on two things: which deck of cards you are playing with, and one forfeit that applies whenever someone refuses a task.

The board

The board is forty nine squares laid out as a winding path. Square zero is the start, square forty eight is the finish, and the squares in between are dealt out fresh at the beginning of every game so no two games feel the same.

Twelve of those squares are lucky squares, twelve are trap squares, and the rest are ordinary squares. Lucky and trap squares are marked on the board from the start. There are 23 ordinary squares, plus start and finish.

Taking a turn

  1. The game randomly chooses who rolls first. Tap the die to roll a number from one to six.
  2. Truth or Dare shows your prompt immediately. Lucky and trap events wait for you to press SPIN; the three reels then show the action, place and duration. A short chime marks the end of a started timer when device audio is available. Exact prompts and full slot combinations do not repeat within the same game.
  3. Your piece walks that many squares along the path.
  4. Whatever the square you land on says, that happens now.
  5. Accept the task, or refuse it and take the forfeit you both agreed on.
  6. The turn passes to your partner.

What each square does

  1. Ordinary square: you choose truth or dare, and a card is drawn from your deck for you to answer or perform.
  2. Lucky square: the dice decide an action, a place, and a length of time, and your partner performs it on you. Being lucky means being on the receiving end.
  3. Trap square: the same dice roll, except you are the one performing it on your partner.
  4. Landing on your partner's square: this is a collision. Your partner chooses truth or dare, then answers or performs the drawn card. A collision takes precedence over a lucky or trap square.
  5. Square forty eight: you win.

Winning

You have to land on square forty eight exactly. Roll more than you need and your piece walks to the end and bounces back the remaining number of squares, then does whatever that square says. It is common to sit two squares from the finish for several turns.

The winner gets one wish, granted by the loser. Agree on the boundaries of that wish before the game starts, the same way you agreed on the forfeit.

Dice timers and saved settings

After accepting a dice task, you can start its countdown or skip the timer and pass the turn. Truth and dare cards do not have a built-in timer.

Names, language, deck choice, the agreed forfeit, and custom decks stay in this browser. An active game is not saved: reloading returns to setup. Create or edit your own cards for free in the deck library.

House rules worth adding

  1. Anyone may pass on anything without explaining why. The forfeit covers it and the game continues.
  2. Write your own cards. Any deck you can write beats any deck we can write, because you know each other.
  3. If a task has a time on it, actually time it. Thirty seconds is much longer than either of you thinks.
  4. Play the last stretch slowly. The squares near the finish get replayed the most because of the bounce back rule.

Turn these into a board game

Our free couples board game includes its own truth and dare decks. You can also add your favorites from this guide to a custom deck. Roll the dice, move around the board, and do whatever the square you land on says. Two people, one phone, no signup.

Play free

Common questions

How long does a game of couples flying chess take?

There is no fixed duration. Card choices, optional dice timers, and conversation all affect the length. The bounce back rule can extend the finish because you must land on the final square exactly.

Is couples flying chess the same as ludo?

It borrows the race format from ludo, but there are no pieces to capture and no home column. The interest comes from what each square makes you do, not from blocking your opponent.

Can you play couples flying chess online with two phones?

Our version is designed for two people in the same room sharing one phone, which is what makes the tasks work. Passing one phone back and forth is part of the game.