Disaster: Through the Looking Glass is a 3-D board game about how disasters reveal
and deepen social inequality. Six chess pieces. Five card decks. One story you carry
to the end. Play solo against AI, or invite up to five friends online.
2–6players
8×8board
10envelopes
88cards
5decks
~30maverage game
The board has three zones, read from the colored left tabs. Row 1
is the Character zone — everyone places their
piece here; no draws. Rows 2–4 are the
Hazard zone; Rows 5–8 are the
DRM zone. Land on any zone cell and the
orange die decides which of the five decks
you draw from (see below). Land on a ⇄ Trade circle instead —
3 in the Hazard zone, 5 in the DRM zone — and you run your piece's Trade rule.
Reach Row 8 to finish. When everyone finishes, the game
switches to storytelling. There is no winner — there's only what each body
carried through.
From the welcome page, type your display name, then choose:
Play solo · with AI — instant solo room. Fill empty seats with up to 5 AI players.
Create multiplayer room — generates a shareable URL. Friends join with the room code.
Once in the lobby, set how many AI to add (so total players = 2–6), then click Start game. The host (you) can copy an invite link at any time.
tipAdd at least 1 AI to start — the engine needs ≥ 2 players.
determinism
The board layout, envelope order, and deck shuffles are all seeded by the room ID. Everyone in the same room sees the exact same Trade-circle layout and draws cards in the same order. Multiplayer stays in sync.
1
Title — game name lives top-left only.
2
Player roster — see everyone's piece, hand size, and finished status.
3
Card decks — see how many cards remain in each deck.
4
Lobby bar — set AI count, copy invite, start the game.
Lobby · hover the numbered dots to learn the panels
step 2
Roll for rank
Every player rolls two six-sided dice. Highest sum
picks an envelope first. Ties break by join order.
Click the dice below to feel the animation — it's the same physics you'll see in-game.
—
Order matters even though envelope contents are hidden — you still want first pick, because rolling high feels good and you get the freshest pool.
In-game rank-roll modal · every player rolls in turn
step 3
Open your envelope
Ten envelopes are shuffled. In rank order, each player picks one.
Contents stay hidden until you click — then your envelope reveals:
Your piece (King, Queen, Rook, Knight, or Pawn)
A starting hand of 6 Character cards (mix of good and bad fortune)
The envelope pool is fixed but shuffled: 1 King · 1 Queen · 2 Rooks · 2 Knights · 4 Pawns — 10 pieces.
With fewer players, some envelopes go untouched. There are five roles only — no Bishop.
How the starting hand is dealt: when you open your envelope, you are dealt 6 cards from the Character deck (positive = green back, negative = red back) at your piece's ratio: King & Queen get 4 positive · 2 negative, Rook & Knight get 3 · 3, Pawn gets 2 positive · 4 negative. Everyone holds six; only the mix differs. The five play decks (Policy, Structural, Socio-Cultural, Hazard, DRM) are not dealt here — you draw from them during play.
Why this matters: the piece you get determines how you move and what trade power you wield. The starting hand seeds your story — the King or Queen wakes up with 4 advantages and 2 disadvantages; the Pawn wakes up with 4 disadvantages and 2 advantages. Same disaster, different bodies.
Opened envelopes reveal the piece and add cards to your hand
step 4
Take your seat
Click any empty cell on Row 1 to place your piece. Choose your column carefully — pawns can only move forward, so they're committed to one file.
The board zones
Row 1
Character zone · place your piece here. No card draws.
Rows 2–4
Hazard zone · land on a cell and the orange die picks your deck. 3 ⇄ Trade circles here run your piece's Trade rule instead.
Rows 5–8
DRM zone · land on a cell and the orange die picks your deck. 5 ⇄ Trade circles here run your piece's Trade rule instead.
Row 8
Finish line · reach any column on row 8 to be marked finished.
Each turn the blue die sets how you move — and every role reads its own 1–6 table (the authoritative tables are below). Same number, different life: the renter inches while the resourced sweeps. A face with no reachable square means don't move — you stay put and draw nothing that turn.
The board below is a reach explorer — drag the range to feel how far each role can stretch. Five roles only: Queen, King, Rook, Knight, Pawn.
Queen · face 1 · survey · 1 any dir · 8 legal moves
This is the authoritative movement — your blue die (1–6) reads down your role's column. Tap ❖ Rules in-game to see the same tables any time.
♟ Pawn
Easily stranded; slow, hard-won progress.
Stranded — can't move
Displaced — 1 backward
Pushed aside — 1 left or right
Inch forward — 1 forward
Inch forward — 1 forward
Lucky break — up to 2 forward
♞ Knight
Always the L-jump, leaping over anything.
Leap ahead — forward L-jump
Leap ahead — forward L-jump
Hold position — don't move
Fall back — backward L-jump
Cut wide — L-jump 2 columns aside
Free leap — any L-jump
♜ Rook
Straight lines; stopped by anything in the way.
Survey — 1 up/down/left/right
Lay foundation — up to 2 forward
Pull back — up to 2 backward
Hold the site — don't move
Raise the frame — up to 3 forward
Open road — up to 3 one straight way
♚ King
One careful square at a time, any direction.
Step forward — 1 forward
Walk the block — 1 diagonally forward
Survey — 1 any direction
Double back — 1 backward or sideways
Hold the line — don't move
Decisive step — 1 any direction
♛ Queen
Reaches far in any direction; rarely stops.
Survey the estate — 1 any direction
Mobilize — up to 2 any direction
Portfolio setback — up to 2 backward
Call in favors — up to 2 any direction
Private route — up to 3 any direction
Sweep — up to 3 any direction
Movement rules in a nutshell
🚫
No captures
Pieces cannot land on an occupied square. Sliding pieces stop one cell before a block.
🐎
Knight leaps
Knights ignore blockers and may jump over occupied squares. Their landing must still be empty.
⬆️
Pawn struggles
The Pawn often can't move at all, gets pushed back or sideways, and only sometimes inches forward — its blue-die table is the harshest. On a "don't move" the Pawn stays put and draws nothing that turn.
🏁
Finished is gone
Once a piece reaches Row 8, it no longer blocks others — the cell becomes pass-through.
step 6
Anatomy of a turn
01
Your turn opens
A "Roll for movement" modal pops up with your piece's movement rules.
02
Roll the dice
Two dice tumble: the blue die sets how you move (your role's table), the orange die which deck you'll draw on landing.
03
See legal cells
The board highlights every cell you can legally reach. Click one to commit.
04
Land & resolve
Zone cell → the orange die picks which deck you draw · ⇄ Trade circle → run your piece's Trade rule · Row 1 → no draw.
05
Add to hand
Your hand grows. Cards stay with you for the storytelling phase.
06
Next player
Turn passes in rank order, skipping anyone who's already finished.
Step 2 · the turn-roll modal
Step 3 · legal cells glow gold
step 7
The five decks
Click any card below to flip it. You draw from all five decks during play — when you land on a zone cell, the orange die decides which deck (see the next section). Your starting hand isn't from these — it's dealt from the separate Character deck when you open your envelope.
P
Policy
Policy · 01
Neighborhood policy
Redlining, zoning, insurance, assistance. 12 cards · 3 good · 9 bad. Drawn on orange 1 (either zone).
S
Structural
Structural · 02
Home & infrastructure
Building conditions, flood risk, lifelines, shade. 31 cards · 15 good · 16 bad. Drawn on orange 2 (either zone).
H
Hazard
Hazard · 03
Hazard draw
Hurricane, heat, flooding, surge, outage. 13 cards · all hardship. Drawn on orange 4–6 in the Hazard zone.
C
Socio-Cultural
Socio · 04
Lived conditions
Income, language, caregiving, age, mobility, housing. 20 cards · 7 good · 13 bad. Drawn on orange 3 (either zone).
D
DRM
DRM · 05
Disaster Risk Management
Warnings, shelters, aid, planning. 12 cards · 6 good · 6 bad. Drawn on orange 4–6 in the DRM zone.
Sentiment
Every card has a sentiment: ● good fortune or ● hardship. Your starting Character-card mix depends on the piece you drew — the King or Queen gets 4 good + 2 bad, the Pawn gets 2 good + 4 bad. That asymmetry is the point: not all disasters land the same way on all bodies.
Drawing a hazard card · everyone sees the moment
Your hand stays pinned at the bottom · hover to lift a card
step 8 · the second die
The orange die · decks & trade
The blue die moves your piece. When you land on a zone cell, the orange die decides which deck you draw from — and that depends on your zone. Low faces pull the everyday decks (Policy, Structural, Socio-Cultural); high faces pull the zone's own deck.
In the Hazard zone
Orange 1
Policy card
Orange 2
Structural card
Orange 3
Socio-Cultural card
Orange 4 · 5 · 6
Hazard card
In the DRM zone
Orange 1
Policy card
Orange 2
Structural card
Orange 3
Socio-Cultural card
Orange 4 · 5 · 6
DRM card
Trade circles · ⇄ your piece decides
Land on a ⇄ Trade circle — 3 in the Hazard zone, 5 in the DRM zone — and instead of drawing a card you run your piece's Trade rule. Pieces come from the opening envelope pool: 1 King · 1 Queen · 2 Rooks · 2 Knights · 4 Pawns.
♚
King's gift
1 · King
Give one card to whoever you want and draw a bonus card from any deck.
♛
Queen's decree
1 · Queen
Force any two players to exchange one card each with each other.
♜
Rook's raid
2 · Rooks
Steal one card from any one player. They cannot refuse.
♞
Knight's coalition
2 · Knights
Team up with one Pawn and one Rook. For one round the coalition moves together and shares the benefit of all positive cards held by any member.
♟
Pawns' coalition
4 · Pawns
Pawns may form a coalition of three or more. Share all positive Structural cards across the coalition for one round.
act iii
The story you carry
When every player reaches Row 8, the board fades and a storytelling page opens. Every player's full hand is laid out as a grid of cards. You can type a written story in the textarea, or simply tell it out loud while everyone reads the cards together.
There's no scoring. There's no "winner". The cards are evidence; the story is the point. Each piece reached the finish — but they reached it carrying different weight.
What you'll see: tags by deck, sentiment colors (good fortune in moss, hardship in rust), and the full card text on each tile.
Storytelling · all 6 hands laid out side by side
closing notes
Tips & strategy
🎯
Aim for ⇄ Trade circles
Landing on a Trade circle runs your piece's Trade rule instead of a draw — the DRM zone has 5 of them, the Hazard zone 3.
📐
Mind your piece
A Pawn can't pass anyone in its file. A Knight can leap clutter. Choose your starting column accordingly.
⏳
Pick your moment
Trade rules fire when you land on a ⇄ Trade circle. You can decline and wait for a juicier target or a better position.
📷
Pan the camera
Four presets in the top nav: Study (close, intimate), Hero (default), Plan (top-down), Cinema (sweeping). The ↻ button toggles slow auto-rotation.
↔️
Collapse the side panels
Hit ◀ players or decks ▶ in the top nav to hide either panel. A thin tab on the edge brings it back. Use this for a maximum-board view.
🎒
Watch your hand
Your hand sits pinned to the bottom and shows good / bad totals. Hover any card to lift it. Click the chip to collapse / expand the fan.
🏁
Game ends together
The game switches to storytelling only when every player has reached Row 8. Finished pieces stop blocking — so you can't get permanently stuck behind one.
🤝
Multiplayer flow
Online games auto-sync via PartyKit. Solo + AI runs entirely in your browser — no setup. AI cards auto-progress after a brief reveal so you never have to babysit them.
📖
The "? guide" button
Need a refresher mid-game? Hit the ? guide chip in the top nav (this page opens in a new tab so your game state isn't lost).
ready
Step into the looking glass
Start a solo game with AI, or invite up to 5 friends online. Your story begins on Row 1.
