Free checkers vs the computer

How to start

1. Open bigboard.games on every device and tap Start a table on one of them.
2. The others join by themselves on the same Wi-Fi; elsewhere, scan the QR code or type the four-letter code.
3. Lay the devices edge to edge, screens up, as the drawing shows, and pick the game.

One level, and how it thinks

The bot has a single level. For each legal move it looks at every reply, then keeps the move whose worst reply leaves it best off. It weighs material, with a flying king worth more than a short one, how far its men have advanced, and the men still guarding the row the other side crowns on.

A little seeded variety means no two games go the same way. It beats random moves in more than 90 % of games under either rule set: a sparring partner for practice and a quick game, not an engine for analysis. The chess bot plays at the same strength.

Playing it alone

Start a table on one phone or tablet, add a bot, and the whole board is on your screen, facing you. The bot waits between about one and three seconds before each move, counted from the start of its turn, so the game keeps a human rhythm.

Clocks apply to it as well. With a move timer or a clock turned on, the bot's time runs exactly like yours and can run out like anyone's. Resign when the position is lost, and Rematch starts the next game at once.

Bots at a bigger table

Bots fill seats in every setup: the third player in 3 player checkers, any of four on the octagon, or a partner in checkers 2v2, where a bot moves its side's pieces like anyone. With a bot at the table, every device shows the whole board.

Bots play on the first device at the table. If that device leaves, the next one takes the bots over and keeps the same pause, so the game carries on.

With bots: questions and answers