PHANTOM GAMBIT｜CORE HEIST ARENA

From the Devs

—I've been waiting for that move.

『PHANTOM GAMBIT｜CORE HEIST ARENA』 is a simultaneous-planning online competitive board game where you predict your opponents’ moves, set traps, and use STEAL to fight for control of the Energy Core.

Each turn, every player plans their actions in advance.
Move, set a trap, or make a play for the Core—
Once everyone has locked in their choices, all planned actions are resolved.

But simply taking the Core isn’t enough to win.
Hold onto the Core for three turns without letting another player steal it, and you score 1 point. First to 3 points wins.

Which traps are worth spending your limited Gold on?
When should you attack, and when should you defend?
And where will your opponents move next?

Predict their next move.
Recognize the moment to strike.
Then play the move they never saw coming.

The board isn't ruled by the strongest player.
It's ruled by the one who reads their opponents best.

Actions Resolve Together. Think One Step Further.

Moves, traps, STEAL, and other actions are planned without knowing what your opponents have chosen.
Once every player has locked in their decisions, the turn is resolved.

Will your opponent head for the Core?
Will they try to cut off your escape route?
Or are they expecting you to think exactly that?

You can't afford to think only about where everyone is standing now.
You need to predict where they'll move—and what the board will look like afterward.

While you're trying to read your opponent, they're trying to read you.
Don't move first. Think first.

That's the heart of 『PHANTOM GAMBIT』.

Turn Your Read Into a Trap.

If you know where your opponent is going, make sure something is waiting for them.
Once a trap is placed, its location and owner are revealed—but its type and direction remain hidden.

What's waiting on that tile?
Where will it send you if you trigger it?
And what might be waiting at the end of that path?

A player can be pushed straight into another trap, triggering another effect—
and the right setup can create a chain reaction involving both your traps and your opponents'.

Placing traps is only the beginning.
Predict their route, close off their escape, and plan what happens after the first trap is triggered.

A trap you place now could decide the match several turns later.

STEAL the Core. Turn the Match Around.

If an opponent is closing in on a point, get within reach and take the Core for yourself.
STEAL lets you take the Energy Core directly from another player—a single action capable of turning the entire match around.

But STEAL isn't resolved when you choose it.
After movement and traps have finished resolving, the Core holder must still be within your STEAL range.

Don't aim for where they are.
Predict where they'll end up.

Succeed, and you'll take the Core and stop your opponent from scoring.
But whether STEAL succeeds or fails, you won't be able to use it again on the following turn.

And if multiple players successfully target the same Core at the same time, every competing STEAL may fail.

Do you go for it now?
Or save STEAL for the moment that truly matters?

A single STEAL can turn advantage into disaster—and defeat into victory.

Until the final point is scored, the match is never over.