Zen Chess: Mate in One on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information

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

Zen Chess: Mate in One is a chess, minimalist and relaxing game developed and published by Minimol Games.
Released on April 10th 2018 is available on Windows and MacOS in 29 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese - Portugal, Portuguese - Brazil, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish - Latin America, Swedish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

It has received 403 reviews of which 352 were positive and 51 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.1 out of 10. 😎

The game is currently priced at 0.99€ on Steam.

The Steam community has classified Zen Chess: Mate in One into these genres:

Chess Minimalist Relaxing Puzzle Education Tabletop Strategy Casual Mouse only Logic Abstract Colorful Family Friendly Atmospheric Singleplayer 2D Indie Addictive Short

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at Zen Chess: Mate in One through various videos and screenshots.

System requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows

OS *: Windows XP/Vista/7/8
Processor: 2 Ghz Dual Core
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: Graphics card supporting DirectX 9.0c
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Storage: 100 MB available space
Sound Card: Any

MacOS

OS: Mac OS X 10.7+
Processor: 2 Ghz Dual Core
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: Graphics card supporting DirectX 9.0c
Storage: 100 MB available space
Sound Card: Any

User reviews & Ratings

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

Feb. 2025

✅✅This game is a chess game and you have to solve puzzles ✅The game has 300 levels ✅5 chessboard sets/color schemes ✅Cheap game ✅Simple, uncomplicated game so I have no reservations about this game

June 2024

Truly a zen experience. Had moments where I forgot to click on the right piece after a thought and stood there baffled to see the knight make a rook move, or the pawn just casually glide across the board to promote. The achievements per ten levels had me fly through this as the sight of progress was awesome, and the puzzles' difficulty levels? Excellent. Different concepts you have to be aware of to progress like pinning pieces and discovered checkmates. It as the name of the game implies, really is just a mental exercise of "how can I make sure there are no squares for the king to go to?" Which is invaluable when it comes to the broader game which accounts for more things to keep tabs on. A short game but a cool one. Recommended!

June 2024

Mate in One puzzles for a dollar. Can't argue with that value proposition.

April 2024

Zen Chess: Mate in One is a chess puzzle game. In this game you are shown a board and you have to find the correct move to checkmate the king. The game features an astonishing 300 boards, much more than I expected when buying this $1 game. The game doesn't do anything perfectly well, but it's still interesting due to it's insane amount of levels at such a low price point. The graphics are very basic, the one song that plays throughout the game is of low quality and you can't adjust any settings really. I doubt you can find a cheaper game with 300 levels on Steam however, so that is something to note! The game allows you to move pieces anywhere for some reason and there are some levels that I believe have multiple ways to checkmate the king, but only the move the developer has decided works to solve the level. Overall, recommended if you enjoy chess and you don't mind a slightly flawed game, this is $1 for 300 levels.

April 2024

- 300 levels -- apparently, 200 of these were added after release, which is great after-release support - 2 piece sets -- I didn't particularly like either of them, but the main one is fine - 5 chessboard sets/color schemes -- very bright colored backgrounds and no dark mode, I sticked with one of the green ones - Only 1 infinite-loop music -- but good and doesn't feel repetitive or annoying - The game doesn't prevent illegal moves -- you can move any piece to anywhere on the board, but there is only one correct answer for each level - No drag and drop -- you can only move pieces by clicking on the piece and then clicking where you want it to move - You can't deselect a piece -- after selecting a piece you have to click anywhere on the board (including over the same piece again) to make a wrong move and start over The game lacks a bit of polish, but regardless it delivers what it intended, a bunch of mate-in-one chess puzzles. The price is good and is a very chill and fun game to play for novice chess players and for anyone who likes chess puzzles. (Time to 100%: 4h12m)

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Data sources

The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.

Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.

Last Updates

Steam data	07 April 2025 05:19
SteamSpy data	08 April 2025 21:46
Steam price	13 April 2025 04:41
Steam reviews	11 April 2025 03:47

If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Zen Chess: Mate in One, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.

SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Zen Chess: Mate in One
SteamCharts - Analysis of Zen Chess: Mate in One concurrent players on Steam
ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Zen Chess: Mate in One compatibility

0.99€

8.1

352

Online players

Developer

Minimol Games

Publisher

Minimol Games

Release 10 Apr 2018

Platforms