Ravens & Raptors

The Arbiters’ Trials

The Raven King must escape. Outwit Ireland’s birds of prey in Brandubh, an ancient Irish game of the tafl family.

Android · on Google Play · free, with one optional purchase · no account

Every game is one of the Arbiters’ Trials

In the great hall of Croílár, the Ravens are the Arbiters: wise, clever, and sharp-eyed. To keep them that way, the Raptors test them.

Ravens & Raptors brings back Brandubh (“black raven”), the ancient Irish strategy game, played on a seven-by-seven board. Guide Ruaidhrí, King of the Ravens, to a corner, or take the Raptors’ side and trap him before he gets there.

How it plays

The King sits on his throne

Ruaidhrí, King of the Ravens, starts in the middle of a seven-by-seven board with his four defenders around him. Eight Raptors wait at the edges.
Every piece moves like a rook

In a straight line, as far as it likes, but never over another piece. Only the King may stop on the throne or the corners.
Trap a piece between two of yours

Close a piece in on two opposite sides and it is taken. The empty throne and the corners count against both sides, so they make traps too.
Get the King to a corner, or catch him

The Ravens win if Ruaidhrí reaches a corner. The Raptors win if they catch him. Simple to say. Less simple to do.

A look inside

A game of Brandubh on a paper-patterned board in a firelit hall: origami ravens in the middle, kestrels at the edges, a raven picked up with its moves marked.

Two games

Brandubh: quick, sharp, and full of traps, where the King escapes to a corner. Fidcíall: the great siege, with sixteen Raptors and eight Ravens, where any edge is escape. Play either side, against the computer or against a friend on the same phone.

Bramble the raven explains the game in a speech bubble beneath the board.

Learn with Bramble

Bramble, the raven from Croílár, teaches both games in short, hands-on lessons. You move the pieces yourself.

The end of a game: Ruaidhrí spreads his wings under the words You win, and Bramble says he is safe and the Ravens carry the day.

Four challengers

The Kestrel, the Barn owl, the Buzzard and the White-tailed eagle, each a stronger opponent, from gentle first games to a real fight. The Kestrel is free; one purchase unlocks the full game.

Bramble’s book

Win against each challenger to earn pages of the story of the Arbiters’ Trials, written down by Bramble as it happens.

Fidcíall on the carved Queen’s Yew board: white knotwork horses in its border, Ravens in a cross at the centre and Raptors along every edge.

Carved boards

Earn four more boards, Stone, Marble, King’s Oak and Queen’s Yew, each with its own story of how it came to the hall. Here, Fidcíall on the Queen’s Yew.

Made to be calm

Plays offline.: No account, no sign-in, no server. The game runs entirely on your phone, and so does the computer opponent.
No ads, no timers.: Nothing interrupts a game, and nothing hurries you. Take as long over a move as you like.
One purchase, once.: The Kestrel and both games are free. One purchase opens the other three challengers, the rest of Bramble’s book and the boards. No subscriptions, nothing consumable.
Made for everyone.: Pieces differ in shape as well as colour. Screen-reader support, large text, reduced motion, and a board you can tilt to suit your eyes.
Nothing here can track you.: No analytics and no tracking. Your games and your record stay on your phone; the game goes online only to buy or restore the full game.

We Ravens are Croílár’s Arbiters, and the Raptors are here to test us.
Bramble, teaching the game

Get Ravens & Raptors

Ravens & Raptors is on Google Play for Android. The Kestrel and both games are free to download; one purchase unlocks the full game.

If something looks wrong, or the game is just no fun, send a note. It goes straight to the person who made the game.

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