The Game Census
Gambonanza cover art

Gambonanza

Blukulélé · Sidekick Publishing · 2026-05-01

Steam

CasualSimulationStrategy

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: Bird view / Isometric

Releases: May 01, 2026 (Linux), May 01, 2026 (Mac), May 01, 2026 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Gambonanza is a tactical roguelike that sets chess pieces on a tiny board. Forget traditional chess and embrace the chaos of breaking the balance! Spend your money on rule-bending upgrades, board tiles and pieces. Experiment with illegal combinations and face off against iconic bosses!

Gambonanza is a Casual, Simulation, and Strategy game released in 2026, priced at $14.99, with a Mostly Positive review sentiment (76% of 1620 reviews).— census verdict as of 2026-09-20

76%
positive of 1.7k reviews
Mostly Positive
steam's rating (official)
1
Nexus mods (11 downloads)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Verified
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$14.99
steam price (US)
Gambonanza is a 2026 turn-based chess roguelike video game developed by Blukulélé and copublished with Sidekick Publishing and Stray Fawn Publishing. The game's goal is to capture every single rival piece instead of just putting the king in checkmate. The game was chosen as part of the SXSW Sydney 2025 Game Festival official selection and was shortlisted for the festival's Game of the Year.

Health check

Cooling
  • · 214 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~27/week).
  • · Review velocity down 84% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Current weekly pace is under 5% of the all-time peak week (623 reviews).
  • · Top 6% of 29,056 Casual games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 34k–77k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 1,717 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $7.67 at GameBillet (2026-08-25)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $14.99 · on sale 8 of 18 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
50250220262026Week of 2026-05-01: 502 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 121 negativeWeek of 2026-05-08: 271 positiveWeek of 2026-05-08: 118 negativeWeek of 2026-05-15: 96 positiveWeek of 2026-05-15: 34 negativeWeek of 2026-05-22: 41 positiveWeek of 2026-05-22: 19 negativeWeek of 2026-05-29: 41 positiveWeek of 2026-05-29: 14 negativeWeek of 2026-06-05: 22 positiveWeek of 2026-06-05: 7 negativeWeek of 2026-06-12: 10 positiveWeek of 2026-06-12: 6 negativeWeek of 2026-06-19: 21 positiveWeek of 2026-06-19: 8 negativeWeek of 2026-06-26: 33 positiveWeek of 2026-06-26: 12 negativeWeek of 2026-07-03: 23 positiveWeek of 2026-07-03: 13 negativeWeek of 2026-07-10: 29 positiveWeek of 2026-07-10: 11 negativeWeek of 2026-07-17: 21 positiveWeek of 2026-07-17: 6 negativeWeek of 2026-07-24: 19 positiveWeek of 2026-07-24: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-07-31: 9 positiveWeek of 2026-07-31: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-08-07: 12 positiveWeek of 2026-08-07: 7 negativeWeek of 2026-08-14: 10 positiveWeek of 2026-08-14: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-08-21: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-08-21: 2 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$14.99$8.682026-05-012026-08-222026-05-01 — best price $9.742026-05-15 — best price $14.992026-06-25 — best price $9.742026-06-26 — best price $9.732026-06-29 — best price $14.992026-06-30 — best price $9.732026-07-06 — best price $8.682026-07-09 — best price $11.692026-07-11 — best price $14.992026-07-12 — best price $14.992026-07-13 — best price $9.732026-07-14 — best price $12.972026-07-23 — best price $14.992026-08-03 — best price $13.892026-08-07 — best price $13.482026-08-08 — best price $14.992026-08-13 — best price $13.442026-08-22 — best price $8.69
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

77102026-05-24 — 77 pageviews2026-05-28 — 37 pageviews2026-06-01 — 39 pageviews2026-06-05 — 41 pageviews2026-06-09 — 63 pageviews2026-06-13 — 31 pageviews2026-06-17 — 38 pageviews2026-06-21 — 41 pageviews2026-06-25 — 31 pageviews2026-06-29 — 40 pageviews2026-07-03 — 36 pageviews2026-07-07 — 33 pageviews2026-07-11 — 38 pageviews2026-07-15 — 33 pageviews2026-07-19 — 21 pageviews2026-07-23 — 26 pageviews2026-07-27 — 23 pageviews2026-07-31 — 14 pageviews2026-08-04 — 26 pageviews2026-08-08 — 21 pageviews2026-08-12 — 23 pageviews2026-08-16 — 25 pageviews2026-08-20 — 42 pageviews2026-08-24 — 35 pageviews2026-08-28 — 25 pageviews2026-09-01 — 30 pageviews2026-09-05 — 31 pageviews2026-09-09 — 26 pageviews2026-09-13 — 72 pageviews2026-09-17 — 39 pageviews2026-09-21 — 42 pageviews2026-09-25 — 23 pageviews2026-09-29 — 21 pageviews2026-10-03 — 20 pageviews2026-10-07 — 21 pageviews2026-10-11 — 29 pageviews2026-10-12 — 14 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

53
achievements tracked
98.3%
earned "Let the party begin!"
4.7%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxFull controller supportSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFull controller supportCustom Volume ControlsMouse Only OptionPlayable without Timed InputDualShock Controller SupportDualShock Controller SupportDualSense Controller SupportDualSense Controller Support

10 supported languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)2,2420%53

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Recent updates

Players also track

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Similarity via IGDB.

Wikipedia ↗Official site ↗Discord ↗