The Game Census
Zen Chess: Mate in One cover art

Zen Chess: Mate in One

Minimol Games · 2018-04-10

SteamEpic Games Store

Casual

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: Bird view / Isometric

Releases: Apr 10, 2018 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Apr 10, 2018 (Mac)

Zen Chess: Mate in One is a minimalist chess puzzle game. Solve mate-in-one problems in a beautifully designed chess board.

88%
positive of 464 reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
0–20,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
70/100
IGDB user rating (3 ratings)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Verified
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$0.99
steam price (US)

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 40 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~5/week).
  • · Review velocity up 122% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 13% of 27,792 Casual games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 12k–28k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 464 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

lowest across shops (ITAD)$0.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $0.39 at Epic Game Store (2025-08-07) · bundled 5×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $0.99 · on sale 8 of 16 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
141420182026Week of 2018-04-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-09-01: 1 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$0.99$0.392018-04-112026-10-082018-04-11 — best price $0.792019-04-08 — best price $0.992019-10-07 — best price $0.592019-12-03 — best price $0.992020-01-23 — best price $0.592020-03-30 — best price $0.992020-07-13 — best price $0.592020-10-26 — best price $0.992020-12-07 — best price $0.592021-02-01 — best price $0.992021-04-29 — best price $0.992021-07-12 — best price $0.592021-10-25 — best price $0.992021-12-06 — best price $0.592022-02-03 — best price $0.992022-07-10 — best price $0.992022-11-22 — best price $0.542023-01-05 — best price $0.992023-04-03 — best price $0.492023-07-13 — best price $0.992023-10-30 — best price $0.492024-01-04 — best price $0.992024-04-29 — best price $0.492024-06-27 — best price $0.792024-08-01 — best price $0.992024-10-14 — best price $0.542024-12-04 — best price $0.992025-01-13 — best price $0.492025-03-04 — best price $0.992025-08-21 — best price $0.992025-12-11 — best price $0.492026-02-06 — best price $0.592026-05-31 — best price $0.992026-10-08 — best price $0.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Completion

30
achievements tracked
74.2%
earned "The Italian Stallion"
27.8%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFamily Sharing

28 supported languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek…

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)1,22453%30

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

Player tags

ChessLogicCasualPuzzleAbstractColorfulRelaxingStrategyTabletopEducation

Census log

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

Players also track

Crazy MachinesUnlock The King 2Pipe Mania

Similarity via IGDB.

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