Durham, North Carolina – Created by a retired research mathematics professor, Tactical Checkers is easy to learn, but challenging to play well. The game is appropriate for kids and adults – ages 8 and above. It is available for the iPhone and iPad and requires system iOS 7 or higher. Tactical Checkers contains considerable tactical and strategic complexity. The concepts of double-attack and forcing moves that are key in games such as chess and checkers play a similar role in good Tactical Checkers play.
This two-player game consists of a 5 x 4 board divided into 20 squares. The players move their pieces in consecutive turns with the objective being to get three pieces of their color in a row vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. The user can play another human or play the computer at any of four strength levels: Novice, Good, Strong, and Expert. The artificial intelligence behind Tactical Checkers uses a deep tree search in much the same way as that of chess and checker programs.
The Novice level is not hard to beat, but gives the player some experience playing the game before moving to higher levels. At the Expert level, the app is capable of finding forced wins six full moves ahead. It is possible to beat the expert level, but that requires considerable thought on the human’s part.
Many players will find Expert virtually unbeatable.
The game is small and loads quickly. Game play is smooth, fluid, and nicely animated. All settings are preserved between sessions, and the user will resume a game exactly where she left off. The app includes detailed and easy to access documentation of all its features.
Feature Summary:
* Available for both iPhone and iPad
* Play a Human or the computer
* Four total levels for computer adversary
* Novice level is easy to beat
* Expert level is challenging to beat
* Smooth animation and graphics
* As easy to play as Tic Tac Toe
* Educational
Device Requirements:
* iPhone or iPad
* Requires iOS 7.0 or later
* Universal Application
* 39.3 MB
Pricing and Availability:
Tactical Checkers 1.0 is available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category – specifically Board Games and Educational Games. It is available for sale as of Saturday May 7, 2016, and is free for a limited time with no in-app purchases.
Tactical Checkers 1.0
Purchase and Download
Screenshot
App Icon
Press Kit (zip)
David Sumner is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of South Carolina and is the author of many research papers in mathematics. He is the author of PentoMind, a board game/puzzle app, which was as high as position three on Apple’s ‘What’s Hot in Board Games’ in the United States App Store. He is also the author of the iOS apps Peg Pals Pro and Circular Tic Tac Toe. He has been an Apple developer for about 25 years. All Material and Software (C) Copyright 2016 David Sumner. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, OS X, iPhone, iPod, iPad and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.