holy cow, it's chess Balatro (Gambonanza)

Name: holy cow, it's chess Balatro (Gambonanza)
Uploaded: 2026-05-09
Channel: Northernlion
Description: Full searchable transcript of "holy cow, it's chess Balatro (Gambonanza)" (Gambonanza) — 57 lines, each linking straight to that moment on YouTube.

Northernlion2026-05-09Gambonanza

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0:00 chatters, we are here checking out gamba nanza. it's chess, uh, chess roguelike. chess roguelike, is it a deck builder? well, why don't i let, uh, the, the store do the talking? because i don't know, to be honest. it's a turn based chess roguelike set on a tiny board with higher stakes. holy cow, 535 reviews. congratulations. get lost in all the ways you can break traditional chess. all right, i'm all about it, man.
0:27 let's get it going here. i'll now on mobile as well. report a bug? yeah, i'll report a bug. when you start the game it says, cumbenanza. it goes, cumbenanza! play me. start a run. peace wheels. oh shit. nah, why would i ever click this button? three pawns. that can't be good. that can't be good. that's like the worst piece, man.
0:57 pieces 3 of 3. aloha, i'm bluku. i'm here to teach you how to play. in ganbananzo the goal is to capture every enemy piece. you'll lose if you have no pieces left on your board. to complete the game you have to win the 5th game of the 5th stage. but enough talking. hit that go button, let's dive in. let's try to win that first game. ok, well literally this captures a piece no matter what you do.
1:23 literally, he's trying to give me a chess tutorial and i'm saying that's not that won't be necessary all right first first round under control, you know, what's crazy is that i feel like a lot of you who have only read the
1:39 a light tiktok tutorial style endgame strategy, you're definitely moving a pawn on the back row too there. and then you're ending up in a position where you actually may lose a piece. obviously in that one you move your middle pawn forward one. like you, because you never learned mid game chess theory. you never learned strategy and tactics, you only memorized openings. okay? and that's why
2:01 that's why you get the yasser sirawan books. you start with the green endgame book because you need to know how to draw or win in games where you are equal in material after the pieces have been traded. and then you move on to the mid game book, which i think had a black spine. and then you go to the maroon openings book and you just learn a couple. just learn a couple.
2:25 you don't need to know, you need a couple for, you need a few as white, maybe an e4 and a d4 and then something to throw them off. and then you need to have a response to e4, d4 and c4, that's it. that's all you need. okay, sorry, i kind of got lost there for a second. awesome, now that you're rich, let's grab something cool from the shop. let's buy this little beauty. capturing a pawn skips the enemy's turn. this is a gambit. each gambit has a unique effect and there are tons to discover.
2:57 this one skips the enemy's turn with a pawn, if you capture with a pawn. pretty cool, right? you can mix gambits for powerful combos, but you can only hold five at a time. in the shop, you can also buy tokens for mini games with amazing rewards. you're broke. yeah, because you forced me to buy the greatest item that's ever existed. i don't want to move. i want them to go first. prepare your strategy. at the start of each game, you can set up your formation.
3:29 okay, place a pawn here then press go. do i get to go first? okay, well then you're you're in the world of hurt bro, because i'm just gonna capture your pawn which will skip your turn. i think you know everything you need to have fun now there's a lot of things i didn't explain though but i really want you to discover and experiment by yourself if something feels off just hover it to get quick info hope you'll have fun playing my game. you're on your own now.
3:54 capturing with a pawn skips the enemy's turns. okay, so in that case i will just do this forever. and then of course promote you to a queen and then capture this and then your life is over. okay, easiest turn of all time. bonus interest as well. let me, i think i'm just gonna lower the volume ever so slightly. it's got a certain auditory sauce to it. sell this gambit to get a gambit for pawn. change every game. king.
4:35 waiting promotes one of your pawns. skip your turn without playing to promote. i mean that seems obviously incredible. i have $11. earn a modified tile amongst two choices. well, obviously like some of these seem absolutely incredible. but let's see what the tiles do man. like earn one modified tile among two choices. oh shit. moving a piece on this tile
5:06 moving a piece on this tile blesses it during one turn. a blessed piece when captured reappears in your stock. moving a piece on this tile protects it during one turn. okay, moving a piece that when it does it start on the tile? well, let's not even worry about it. moving a piece on this tile. is it like when a piece lands on the tile or if it starts on the tile? i guess we'll find out. put that bad boy right there.
5:45 maybe. i don't know. choose between one of two random pieces. i'll take a queen over a bishop. my two cents, all other things being equal, i'll take a queen over a bishop. honestly, i have an interesting idea here. that's my formation. pieces four of three. incoming boss, hakarul the banished. you can't use your stock during the game. okay. get dumped. you get placed. i'm gonna slow play you. let's go. step one.
6:39 my queen is now blessed. when captured, it reappears in the stock. are you even trying, bro? i mean, this is a comical world we find ourselves in. we live in a twilight world, people. oh, which you can't... well, i can't use it against the boss, but this ain't the damn boss fight. buying the token has a 1 in 3 chance to grant a knight. if a queen is threatened, earn a pawn once per game. it could be swag.
7:13 okay, and then just another pawn. honestly, i do feel like having more pawns is good, but we don't have the space on the board. honestly, i think i love my board right now. let's save some money and start to work on some bonus interest. game four of five, prepare your strategy. i'd consider my strategy prepared.
7:42 but honestly, probably not what i would have done. hey, it's me again. got a cool tip for you. if there's room on your board, you can place a piece from your stock during your turn. doing this skips your turn, but it can really catch your opponent off guard. use it whenever you need, catch you later. i have a beautiful idea. watch this. i don't really know where i want to put this, to be honest with you. just put it here. so if they move this one forward, we get a free turn. easiest game of my life. actually easiest game of my life.
8:24 get my $10. tiles? oh, upgrade. that's exactly what we want to see. you just give me another piece on the board for the moment. wait, do i even have enough? i don't have enough pieces. when a piece gets captured otherwise, it doesn't go to your stock. that makes perfect sense. whatever. give me one amongst two, man. it's permadeath pieces. i'll take honestly, the pawns are kind of op because if we get a capture with them, it skips the turn. we go next.
9:06 spectre of the lost game. okay. now if a piece gets captured it's gone because we can't get it out of the stock this piece can only be captured last understood. i still think the queen going to the stock makes a lot of sense in case it gets captured we still have it. i mean you you didn't stand a chance we lost a little bit of money. don't get me wrong. we did beat the boss though it's not like i can really stop a rook from taking a pawn at the end of the day. i
9:42 if it wants to take it, i guess i could have moved them out of the way. that makes a lot of sense now that i think about it. i would like a random chess piece, please. i think we need to up our game a little bit. a pawn. seven dollars. i'll purchase a pawn. five dollars. i'll choose among three gambits. choose a gambit. capturing with a pawn gets you two dollars. the start of the game
10:31 get some free money, maybe? capturing the piece on your first turn grants plus four dollars. we're not really built for that. give me the bug catcher's gambit. sounds like a song by bus driver. okay, stage two of five. when this piece is on the board, capturing the piece makes a random tile crumble. okay, what is their first move gonna be? if i were them, i wonder if you could draw on the board. if i were them, rook to here is the first move.
11:15 we want to make this pawn go back to the stock so we're not just losing out on it. how are we going to stop rook to here? queen here. rook goes here, pawn moves up. if you capture this, the pawn goes back to the stock. we capture you, you capture our queen, we lose the game. sounds good. you move first. that's a good point. that's a damn good point. what is... i guess in that case i'll just wait. wait, but if i do this, this is horrible. no, no, no, it's fine. maybe. i don't know. it's not good.
11:56 capturing a piece with a pawn skips the turn. huge. n gives us $2. honestly, i would accept that. that doesn't bother me. we'll place a pawn. capture the rook. literally your life is over. if i promote, do i get to keep the pawn? or do i get to keep the piece, i should say? no. bummer. we need pieces, bro. 9 bucks? 9 bucks? give me... give me... give me... give me one knight. place him on the board.
12:49 you know what? actually, you moving to there early on could be huge. we go next. you've got knights too. that's a little spooky. i think capturing a piece makes a random tile crumble. okay. i accept our first turn. start here. put some pressure on him. you place some pressure on me. i've increased the pressure drastically in this business we trade. could i capture the rook? yes. am i going to? yes.
13:44 is it going to cost me some money in the future? yes. i need to rebuild my board. so i run these streets. that's the only thing you need to know. we're at $10. i keep spending all my money though. one of your pieces is captured on a black tile. skip the enemy's turn. is captured. waiting is a chance to grant a random gambit. fuck it bro. two queens? i would like to purchase you. we go next. prepare your strategy.
14:33 mecha chungus carlson shuffle your pieces and make them unreadable during the formation phase. okay, beyonce let's go i'd like you to come back into my stock if you capture me it's not the end of the world but i prefer if you didn't you will make a mistake you will make a mistake. oh, whoa undo undo you fucked up bro. oh you fucked up big this time. oh
15:28 we still run this town. get my $10. pawns give us $2. i need a pawn. i also, i mean, i'm spending way too much money on pieces, i feel like. don't get me wrong, two pawns, i mean, not so bad in rijimajang. they got their own queen. on weight, create a copy of this piece on a random tile. truly devastating. forgot i go first again. this is what i was hoping for. something like this into this, into this.
16:27 into becoming a queen and then i still get to go again into capturing their queen so i don't get captured. okay, that was an absolutely beautiful turn for us. we've unlocked a new gambit somehow and we still have our pawns which is crazy. a king move one square in any direction at the start of the game earn two bucks per bishop. when a piece is blessed one in three chance to earn its cell value
16:58 well, with $24, first off, give me a piece so i can have a full board. honestly, give me a king, man. and then, i mean, this is money. it's money. two bucks for a reroll. fuck it, let's just choose between three legendary gambits. one token available in the shop. copies the first triggered tile in a game onto a random tile. at the end of your game, earn five bucks per piece next to a king. that's the family gambit, y'all. i'm shelling out.
17:49 moving a piece onto this tile grants a phantom copy of it. phantom pieces sell for zero vanish at the end of the game. pachinko bro. apple tv. filmed in vancouver. look it up. having a phantom tile where we can move our queen in the early game seems crazy. we go next. mecha chungus carlsen. what the fuck? what's your thing again? shuffles your pieces and makes them unreadable during the formation phase.
18:42 alright, so we don't know what's what. we'll just do it like that. go. literally acceptable. turn one. phantom queen, bro. i can't place it. i need to wait for a piece to die. umm... literally fine. we make a move. we make a move. this piece can only be captured last. okay, well, another phantom piece. well, you're in hell. you're in hell and i run this town, because this is free. this captures a pawn.
19:42 you move over and do absolutely nothing. you can only be captured last, so we got some thinking to do, don't get me wrong. i mean, can't we just move a pawn to the stock? i guess you'd have to sacrifice it. i mean, i prefer not to lose any pieces if possible. maybe i could force your hand? because this... well, yeah, okay, literally just letting the enemy move seems to be the place sometimes. what a hell of a fork though, don't get me wrong.
20:24 whatever man you capture the king you capture the king and you can only be captured last you fucker um okay, you go here this buys us a turn you probably capture with the night no, cuz you don't get to go which means i get to go which means i get to go and then you become a queen which means i get to capture you and then your life is like extremely over you can take my phantom queen and
20:59 no, you can't. oh, yes, you can. you can take my phantom queen. i do not. that's not even phantom. that's a promoted queen. so it's literally a pawn and your life is clearly over. only thing is, wait, wait, wait. i no, no, no. okay, here's this. i'm farming capture the night with a pawn in order to get $2. whatever. i've won against mecha chungus carlson. too easy, bro. get my $16. okay, we need pieces. that's important.
21:47 at the start of the game, i don't even give a fuck where my pieces are. so seven bucks for free seems kind of crazy. and then one random chess piece like that. another bishop? why not? we don't have a king anymore. we could sell the family gambit if we find a better gambit. let's reroll for two bucks. i love the idea of a pawn.
22:29 when capturing with a knight earn a knight, waiting during crumble mode grants a piece. upgrade the board for $15. wait, wait, wait. i think i fucked up. let's put one bishop in the stock, sell the family gambit, and then get legendary gambits. epic gambit! okay. imagine if we win our first try, man. at the start of the game, earn a pawn. when one of your pawns is captured, promotes a pawn, landing a piece.
23:11 has a half chance to skip the enemy's turn. free pawn at the start of the game. too crazy for a guy like me. and then random tile. didn't even look at what they were. didn't even look, just clicked the button. when an enemy piece steps on this tile, trap it. it can't move next turn. we go next. it's crazy how you glance constantly in cs2 but in a single player game your ass is not looking at chat. yeah yeti, cause in cs2 i spend half my time being dead, man. seven bucks for me cause all my pieces are on white tiles. okay.
23:54 you have to be captured last. literally, phantom queen is step one. all right, i'll say the obvious. that's probably like not ideal. literally, no matter what you capture though, it doesn't matter because we trade. and then we skip ya. now the question is, do i go for it? i think you go for it, man. why not? we get a free pawn every time anyway. and then i would place a pawn right there to start another chain. you don't want to do that, bro.
24:48 literally, i don't even care. do you? pop this down here. you capture me. fight's over. i got a piece in the stock. i don't mind. we earned a lot of money off of that. we lost a little bit of money off of that too. wait, no, our board looks fine, man. upgrade it. buy a rook. put it on a white square. at the start of the game, earn a pawn. we literally love it. we don't even need a random chess piece, bro.
25:26 do we want a modified tile? i don't fucking know. blessing tile? protective tile? protective tile might literally be better. protects it during one turn. the background looks like newborn poop. it's literally called meconium. i thought you guys played isaac. on weight create a copy of this piece. understood. okay, let's go. give me my seven dollars. i've captured a pawn. captured a rook. captured a pawn.
26:22 captured a pawn? i'm starting to think they don't know shit about chess, man. aw, fuck. well, either way you're cooked is the important part. get blessed. create a phantom copy. you will not run from me. give me my $11. if you're moving a knight, have chance to skip the enemy's turn. nah, man. it's gonna be pawn. it's gonna be peace and i hope it's a... i don't know. i hope it's a pawn. it's a knight? interesting. crazy good spot for a knight, though.
27:18 and then another piece would go crazy. half chance to skip the enemy's turn. okay, wait, there's gotta be something, man. capturing with a pawn grants $2. we literally don't care. give me the fork. stage 3 of 5, game 3 of 5. this is like halfway then, right? i have chance to skip the enemy's turn if you can capture 2 plus pieces. okay, well then here's the play, man. go here, get your $7, move here, you're forking.
27:55 enemy's turn has been skipped and we got a phantom piece. i mean, i'm the type of beast that would probably just say, what if you just put a knight on the board in such a position that it could not, doesn't work like that. okay. okay. okay. queens in an interesting spot, huh? i'd really like my queen not to get captured. can you move too? i don't even know if that's a good move. honestly, pop this beast down right here.
28:46 you capture that, not unexpected. we go here, you go there. i really can't... i don't want to lose my queen, man. we're in an un forkable position. you know what? move it back to the stock if you get captured. and then i didn't really think about what we were going to do after that. capture this beast right here. not a surprise. things are getting a touch spooky for sure. probably going to lose the pawn.
29:41 but if you can lose the pawn to win the round, all might be forgiven. go here. ah shit. it's over! it's over! i can't move anywhere without getting captured! i can't move anywhere without getting captured! oh wait, you're right, the protected tile! huge. and i'm only protected for one turn. moving a piece onto this tile protects it for its turn. okay. in that case, bless me, i've returned. never mind.
30:32 alright, that was our seed. i think we learned something very valuable though. what we learned is we need to not trade pieces. i was in a very chess oriented mindset where i was like trading pieces is good when you're up material. you need to protect all chess pieces no matter what. see you in the on ban request buddy. um, kev borclick. the boss selects two of its pieces and applies stasis to them. okay.
31:08 literally no problem whatsoever. we go you were not up material i meant throughout the game point dexter because we would have had way more money to spend on gambits and specialized tiles if i hadn't been buying four pieces per round you're fucked lad easiest round in my life account created 2013 get it twisted a lot of people just being old doesn't give you an excuse to be mean. you should know that you're 22 also, they if they if they apologize any on band requests, they'll get on band and
31:46 what has happened a lot and then mods back me up on this one if you've seen the on ban requests there's been a lot of on ban requests that are like i didn't know i would get banned for that that is not an apology just to be clear so for anybody who's posting a message that's like rude and then they get banned and they go i didn't know this was against the rules you're you're not gonna make it to heaven. okay, that's like camel meat eye of the needle all you need to do is say i
32:15 i'm sorry, my soul weighs insultingly not the same as a feather according to anubis. it won't happen again and then if it happens again you're cooked for life. it's that simple. yeah, just my fault og, that's all you need. hell yeah, i'm banned. anyone who says my bad unless it's some crazy shit. you get it, magresta, you get it. you get it. okay, one second. we got three pieces on. this is a save round for sure. unless you see better game, this is a save round.
33:04 if i got a ban in here, my life would be cooked. that's literally more reason for me to ban you if you make me feel bad because i know that it hurts you more. you should never type something like that. that literally means that i have so much power. if you ever do anything wrong, i will just ban you. and then i know that you're going to come crawling back. so i really hope they make a mistake here. i go here, you go here. i go here, you promote. i lose my life.
33:36 tragic. am i okay losing a pawn? i mean, i don't really have a... stalemate? let's start again? alright. yeah, i was gonna say that shit is not a stalemate. i think they just kill me, but i appreciate it. that's probably the best outcome i could've asked for. okay, this is going much better. that was way better! $17. i do feel like getting another piece matters, man. but there's also the interest level. waiting is a chance to turn one of your rooks into a queen?
34:41 i mean, honestly, maybe it's like let's treat it like an auto battler. if you have the chance to turn a to put a piece on the board, you take it. what do you got here? oh, okay. likely first moves, pawns here. okay, i think i know i know what i like. we go first. that's the important part. we want to block their easy promotions. probably play something along these lines right here. but then what's your first move? first move is king to here.
35:28 and then when... no, because then if you do rook to here, you blow me out. first move is literally wait or move king back one. waiting would literally be op if they had it in chest, by the way, so i don't want to hear it. literally wait again. we have to swap. if we push up, well, yeah, we have to swap. we have to swap. now, you can still do rook to there, which is truly devastating. i thought you might do that. realistically speaking, sucks to lose the pieces, but that like...
36:10 couldn't have gone that much better for me given the lack of aggression that i had early on. two bucks for a pawn is a given. capturing with a knight has a chance to turn a pawn in your stock into a knight. at the start of the game earn a pawn. that seems incredible for econ, bro. it's the best day of my life. ah shit, no it's not. we should have moved our king out of the way. i'd like to go back. well, if we just move the king out of the way, it's the easiest win of all time. ah shit.
37:02 it's called endgame theory, yasser sirowan. a queen, huh? real original. we win those. oh, okay. easiest day of my life. another king. we have $12. we're spending all of our money on pieces again. we do have five bucks in the bank. you have boarclik, clock of fate. it looks like you have an undo button. oh wait.
38:02 no, this piece can't be captured. use weight three times to remove this state? brother. well, the good news is if i just keep my pieces on dark squares, there's really nothing you could do about that. but put you there and then that gives me a free weight without the rook capturing it at least. well, i don't know. i mean, to be honest with you, at some point we got to swap. maybe the point is right now. a pawn.
39:01 i literally... but what is my king gonna do? my king's in a fucked up position, bro. no, because you just go... you just go there. wait. umm... if i'm... if i'm being honest, you... don't think it bothers me all that much in the whole scheme of things. obviously you're gonna capture my king, but then i'm gonna capture this bishop, and then you're gonna capture the pawn, and then i'm... then i'm fucked is the thing. then i'm going king against rook, which in theory should mean that you...
39:44 i mean, it should mean that, oh my god, i fell through, which is good, right? doesn't that mean we stalemate? no. all right. we go again. we go again, and this time we actually protect our pieces.