A fast-acting S.C. Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether to overturn a hotly contested video gaming case out of Allendale County and whether to tighten the reins on all judges hearing such cases.

The justices also set a tight deadline, 1 p.m. Friday, for Castle King, the video company that markets the game, to present its arguments in writing.

The court has not said whether it will hold a hearing or when it might rule.

The legal fight pits the State Law Enforcement Division against Castle King, a Goose Creek-based company that markets a video game called Chess Challenge II.

On Oct. 29, a state circuit court judge in Allendale County, Perry Buckner, ruled the machine was legal and banned police from seizing any Chess Challenge II in the state.

After a tug of war over legal strategy between SLED Chief Robert Stewart and state Attorney General Henry McMaster, Stewart hired a private lawyer and appealed Buckner’s ruling to the state’s top court.

McMaster joined that effort after first cutting SLED from the appeal, court records show.

SLED contends Chess Challenge II is an illegal game, rigged by computers to ensure a player’s skill does not determine a win.

Without hearing from SLED or the attorney general’s office, Buckner ruled that a skilled player can win the game. Under the law, that makes Chess Challenge II a legal device.

On Friday, SLED asked the Supreme Court to overturn Buckner’s ban on the games’ seizure.

But the agency went further. It asked the justices to issue a “writ of prohibition,” a rarely used legal maneuver that seeks to have the Supreme Court order all judges to rule only on the machines brought to them in a forfeiture hearing.

Reach LeBlanc at (803) 771-8664 or cleblanc@thestate.com.