Pawnimals

Pawnimals brings classic chess to life with a royal cast of animated animal armies. Choose your champions, step onto a 3D board, and play at your pace—whether you are learning your first moves, sharpening tactics, or challenging a friend on the same PC.

Choose Your Army

Lead pigs, rhinos, bears, cats, dogs, elephants, frogs, penguins, dinosaurs, or unicorns. Each army brings its own character designs, animations, sounds, and reactions to the board.

Play Your Way

• Five computer difficulties — From Beginner to Expert.
  
• Danger Sense — Preview the first three different risky moves in Beginner and Easy computer matches. A ghost capture shows how your moved piece could be taken, then you can choose another move or move anyway. Repeating the same preview in the same position uses no extra warning.
  
• Local two-player matches — Share the board with a friend on the same PC.
  
• 100 mate-in-two puzzles — Find the forcing finish in themed tactical challenges.
  
• 100 guided lessons — Explore board basics, tactics, strategy, and endgames with Professor Hootington in the Royal Chess Academy.
  
• Gauntlet mode — Choose your champion and climb a nine-battle tower, with Easy, Medium, and Hard challenges.
  
• Flexible time controls — Play untimed or choose Classical, Rapid, Blitz, or custom clocks.
  
• Replay support — Review saved games and import PGN files.
  
• Make it yours — Adjust text size, animation speed, music and effects volume, reduced animation, and color-assist markers.

Chess With Character

Animal pieces hop across the board, react to captures, and celebrate or despair when the match is decided. Switch between perspective and top-down views, rotate the board, and adjust sound and camera settings to suit your game.

The Academy's short lessons and practice moves let you learn without a timer and try again as often as you like.

Pick your champions. Claim the crown.