the-ford-twin:

headful-of-feathers:

mabel-pines:

busket:

ford should have guessed that bill was a filthy fucking cheater right from the start, because in their first game of chess bill had the black pieces but he took the first move. the white pieces always take the first turn in chess. bill cheated

ok but

neither of them moved a pawn first so it’s possible ford just has no idea how to play chess

I think it’s… the animators who don’t know how chess works :p

Alternative idea: Since the knight can jump pieces, and Bill’s opening move is technically legal, we can conclude that Bill has at least a rough understanding of how to play chess.

However, the queen, Ford’s opening piece, cannot jump pieces and therefore can’t be used as an opening move. Ford and Mabel share the same understanding of chess.

So the game probably went like this:

Bill: *internally* yeah okay he’s a nerd this is probably a good enough opening to catch his fancy

Ford: *internally* fuck fuck fuck I don’t fucking know how to play chess I only know how to play Dungeons Dungeons and More Dungeons. Fuck. I’m just gonna bullshit this and hope he doesn’t notice

Bill: *internally* okay don’t say anything just play along and maybe let him win a few times, don’t tell him he’s using the horses wrong don’t say anything. You can do this, Cipher, you need this guy to build you a portal.

Ford: *internally* he hasn’t noticed, I must be really good at this completely by accident.

Later, Dipper asks Ford to play chess with him and it’s just:

Ford: *opens with the queen*

Dipper: Great Uncle Ford what the fuck

It could be forshadowing to how bill was technically playing by the rules the entire time, but ford ended up cheating to win in the end