My 4-year-old wanted to play checkers on a tablet. I was tired of dealing with ads and in-app purchases in kids' apps. So I decided to build it myself.
To make it more fun for a little kid, I added playful capture animations, color themes, and a silly bunny character who watches the game and reacts to what's happening on the board. My daughter suggested that captured pieces should look like actual pieces, not numbers — she can already count, but can't read digits yet. That small idea made the whole game feel better.
I also added flexible rule settings to cover all the major checkers variants played around the world:
• English (American) checkers — short kings, forward captures only
• Russian checkers — flying kings, backward captures, promotion during chain
• Brazilian checkers — flying kings with majority capture rule
• Italian checkers — short kings, men cannot capture kings
• Pool checkers — flying kings with immediate piece removal
Each rule can also be toggled individually, so you can mix and match to create your own variant.
Difficulty levels range from truly Easy (random moves — perfect for toddlers just learning the game) to Pro (minimax AI that plays several moves ahead). There's also a brief stats screen after each match so kids can see how they did.
Features:
• No ads. No in-app purchases. No tracking. Ever.
• Play vs AI or pass-and-play with a friend
• 4 difficulty levels: Easy, Medium, Hard, Pro
• 5 rule presets + individual rule toggles
• 6 color themes: Pastel, Rainbow, Cotton Candy, Space, Ocean, Forest
• Fun capture animations
• Undo button to take back a move
• Bunny companion that reacts to the game
• Captured pieces shown visually
• Post-match stats screen
• Works great on both iPhone and iPad
