About FreePlayBase
Last updated August 5, 2026
FreePlayBase is a free browser collection of classic board and puzzle games. Open a title and the board is already there — chess, go, shogi, checkers, reversi, gomoku, xiangqi, and more, plus a puzzle shelf that starts with 2048. There is no account wall, no app download, and no lobby nickname before the first move.
Each live board game ships with a computer opponent that runs on your device, a same-screen two-player mode when you want to pass the phone or sit at one keyboard, and — for titles that support it — an online friend room you open with a shareable link. Moves sync while both of you stay in the room. Preferences, difficulty, and local scores stay in this browser on purpose.
Who this is for
People who searched for a playable board, not a download page. Learners meeting drops in shogi, ko in go, or multi-jumps in checkers for the first time. Friends who want a quick live game without creating two accounts. Anyone who wants a quiet practice opponent that does not require a ranked ladder.
How you can play
- Vs AI — adjustable difficulty, undo and hints where the game supports them, all running locally in the page
- Same screen — two players take turns on one device
- Online friend room — create a room, share the link, play the same live board from two browsers; no signup on either side
- Puzzles — single-player titles such as 2048, with best scores kept in local storage
What we keep honest
Board games aim for full rules: castling, promotion, and draws in chess; captures and ko in go; drops and promotion in shogi; forced captures where the draughts rules require them. AI levels are practice tools, not tournament ratings. If a rule looks wrong, tell us through the contact page — we would rather fix it than argue with the board.
There is no paywall on the catalog. If display advertising is added later, it will stay beside the board — not on top of a move in progress. See privacy and terms for the boring but useful details.
Open artwork we use
Western chess piece SVGs are by Colin M.L. Burnett (Cburnett) on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Xiangqi piece SVGs come from the open-source pychess-variants project (GNU AGPL-3.0) and are used unmodified. The Xiangqi board grid is drawn in our interface code. Full license notes also live under terms.