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Tactical Checkers

A quick and fun game filled with tactical tricks at every turn! The rules are simple for this challenging game, but one misstep and it's all over. The computer at its expert level is beatable, but not easily.
Category Price Seller Device
Games $0.99 David Sumner iPhone, iPad, iPod

* You can play a complete game while waiting in line at the grocery store!

* You have the choice of playing another human or the computer.

* Learn by playing the computer, and then beat your friends convincingly!

* The game is quite complex despite the apparent simplicity.

* The computer can play at any of four levels from the easily beatable Novice up to the quite potent Expert. Expert is actually beatable, despite being able to search 9 moves ahead. But to win you must play exceptionally well.

Pieces move horizontally or vertically (not diagonally) one square at a time, and there is no jumping. If you're a seasoned chess or checker player you will notice related aspects of the tactics in those games to the tactics here. Double attacks play a big role as does the concept of zugzwang (the unpleasant obligation to move).

A later version will offer the option of Guru - which plays an absolutely perfect game and cannot be beaten with either color.

The app contains a great deal of information about how to play Tactical Checkers well.

Tactical Checkers derives from the game of Tac Tickle originally developed by Harry Ruderman in the 1960's.

If you like Tactical Checkers, you will definitely like Circular Connect Four also available on the App Store.

If you have suggestions or comments on the game, please use the email option included in the app to contact us - we really would love to hear from you!

And if you enjoy Tactical Checkers, please leave us a rating or review!

Reviews

Exactly what I needed
Abdullahzs

A very fun and simple game! Looking forward to improving my skills and challenging family and friends with this one. I'm enjoying it very much :)


Working on It, With Great Pleasure
Danny Purvis

How could a board game with so few squares and so few pieces and such simple rules be so bewildering? As in all of Dr. Sumner's apps, the presentation is superb. And what a game! It probably takes a genius mathematician like Dr. Sumner to find such a game. Surely there can't be many more with such haiku-like fecundity. So I'm working on it, hoping to eventually master, but not remotely close at this time...


Please, please, puhleeze...
sjm49

...update this game to enable screen rotation to landscape display mode for this otherwise cool game (for me, and possibly many others, portrait display mode playing is close to being an "accessibility" related deal-breaker). This shouldn't be a big issue for the Dr. Dev., eh? Thanks. RESPONSE to Dev: ...on my iPad.