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Official official rules probably exist only for official occasions. Our local house rules are: a) pawns are used b) no insert with check.

Rule question: Ka6 Rc8 - Ka8, Black has only knights to insert.

  • He is mated immediately
  • He is not mated, but has to "run time" and wait for another piece. (Of course, the enemy on the other board will do the same if possible! Also, it's possible that bQRRBB already stand on his board, useless to parry the check. Is that an immediate mate then?)
  • He may insert with crosscheck.

What are your house rules for this case, assuming you have them (and also play with "no insert with check)? I'd vote for 2nd bullet, and mate if and only if "run time" can't save, illegal move is illegal.

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  • I will point out that it would have to be bQQRRRRBBBB on the board for those pieces to be unavailable for a potential drop (two boards' worth, not just one), and I don't think I've seen that. Commented Jan 16 at 2:38
  • You are correct, of course. Commented Jan 16 at 11:32

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He is not mated, but has to "run time" and wait for another piece.

This is our go-to answer for all bughouse interactions where a king is in check (and may even be checkmated). In fact, we usually define the game as ending when one side captures the king, runs out of time, or resigns. That solves most of these potentially weird scenarios when it's unclear if a check is truly checkmate.

I do not personally use the "no check on drop" variation, but you can still run into this scenario if you have only pawns (which cannot be dropped on the 1st and 8th ranks) and you are attempting to block a check from a rook/queen along one of those ranks. The ruling we made is you cannot play a legal move (for now) because you cannot drop a piece onto an important square. So you are forced to wait until you can make a legal move (and drop a piece). As you note, the opponents could also wait it out if they have a large time bank, at which point one team usually resigns.

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