Bughouse chess and random to the casual onlooker; hence the name bughouse, which is slang for mental hospital. The game is traditionally played as a diversion from regular chess both over the board and online. Yearly, several dedicated bughouse tournaments are organised on a national and an international level. Bughouse is a chess variant played on two chessboards by four players in teams of two. Each team member faces one opponent of the other team. Partners sit next to each other and one player has black, while the other has white. Each player plays the opponent as in a standard chess game,
Hridayeshwar Singh Bhati can play. Bhati's multiplayer design employs all the standard chess pieces and their moves. Individual armies are distinguished by colour. Each player starts the game with the same number and types of pieces as in standard chess. Non-pawn pieces start in their normal positions on the (the 8×1 extensions at the board perimeter), with queens always placed to the left of kings. Pawns are placed on the rank in front of the pieces as in standard chess. Red squares cannot be occupied or passed through when moving or capturing. The multicoloured central area can be passed through but not occupied.