Odin's Checkers — Support
Need a hand? Email sean@hollender-consulting.com and I'll get back to you.
Getting started
Odin's Checkers plays on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Mac. It's a single purchase that covers all of them — buy it once and it appears on your other Apple devices at no extra cost.
- iPhone and iPad — tap a piece and tap where you want it to go, or pick it up and drag it.
- Apple TV — swipe on the remote to move the highlight around the board. Click to pick up one of your pieces, then click a glowing green dot to move there. Back clears a selection or leaves the match; Play/Pause opens the pause menu.
- Mac — use the pointer, or the arrow keys to walk the board with Return or Space to select and Escape to cancel.
Ways to play
- Solo against the computer at Easy, Medium, Hard, or Expert.
- Pass & Play — two people sharing one device.
- Online — Quick Async Match, Live Match, or an invitation to a friend.
- Nearby — two devices in the same room, over your local network.
The twelve traditions
Checkers is played differently around the world, and Odin's Checkers ships twelve of those traditions — genuinely different games, not skins. Boards run 8×8, 10×10, and 12×12, kings move differently, and Turkish and Greek dama use every square with straight-line moves instead of diagonals.
Open World of Checkers from the main menu to pick one. Your choice applies to new games — a match already in progress keeps the rules it started with.
Select any tradition below for its rules.
Checkers — English Draughts — Forced jumps, single-step kings — classic checkers.
The game as shipped — America, Britain & the Commonwealth · 8×8 board
Men jump forward, kings step one square in any direction, and every jump on offer must be taken. The two House Rules toggles — forced captures and flying kings — are yours to change here and only here.
International Draughts — A 10×10 board, flying kings, and the biggest capture is the law.
The world standard — Netherlands, France, Poland & beyond · 10×10 board
Twenty pieces a side on a 10×10 sea. Men may capture backward, kings fly the diagonals, and you must play the line that captures the most pieces. Captured pieces stay on the board — blocking the way — until the whole move is done, and a man only crowns if his move ends on the last row.
Brazilian Draughts — International rules on the classic 8×8 board.
Brazil · 8×8 board
Every international rule — backward captures, flying kings, maximum capture, crowning only at the end of a move — played on the familiar 8×8 board with twelve pieces.
Russian Shashki — Men crown mid-leap and keep capturing as kings.
Russia, Ukraine & Eastern Europe · 8×8 board
The signature thrill: a man that reaches the last row mid-capture crowns instantly and keeps capturing as a flying king in the same move. Men capture backward, and you choose freely among your captures.
Spanish Damas — Flying kings on a mirrored board — ties go to capturing the king.
Spain & Latin America · 8×8 board
Men capture forward only; kings fly. You must take the most pieces, and when two captures tie, the one taking more kings — soonest — wins the argument. The board sits mirrored, double corner to your other hand.
Italian Dama — A man can never take a king.
Italy · 8×8 board
Kings step one square and men may never capture a king at all. Among captures the law runs deep: most pieces, then a king must do the capturing, then most kings taken, then the king taken earliest. The board sits mirrored, like Spain's.
Czech Draughts — When a king can capture, a man may not.
Czechia · 8×8 board
Kings fly the diagonals, men capture forward only — and whenever a king can capture, a man may not. The king leads from the front.
Giveaway — Lose all your pieces first — being captured is the goal.
Everywhere — the trickster's game · 8×8 board
Checkers upside down: shed every piece you own, or run yourself out of moves, and you win. Captures are always forced — that is the whole trick. Feed your men wisely.
Thai Makhos — Eight men a side, and a king that halts the moment it strikes.
Thailand · 8×8 board
Only eight men a side, set out on two ranks, so the board is open from the first move. Kings slide the diagonals but must stop on the square just past the piece they take — no running on down the line. The board sits mirrored, double corner to your right.
Canadian Draughts — A 12×12 board and thirty pieces a side — the widest sea of all.
Quebec, Malaysia & Singapore · 12×12 board
Thirty pieces a side on a 12×12 board — international rules stretched to their widest. Men capture backward, kings fly, and you must always play the line that takes the most pieces. Quebec calls it Canadian draughts; Malaysia and Singapore know the same wide board as Dam Haji.
Turkish Dama — Every square is in play, and pieces march straight — never diagonally.
Turkey, Egypt, Jordan & the Gulf · 8×8 board
A different geometry entirely: every one of the sixty-four squares is in play, and pieces move straight rather than on the diagonal. Men step and capture forward or sideways, never backward; kings run the ranks and files like a rook. Sixteen men a side line up on the second and third rows, and the biggest capture is compulsory.
Greek Ntama — Dama's cousin: the same straight march, but the king halts on the strike.
Greece · 8×8 board
Turkish dama's near twin, played the same way across every square with the same straight march. The one difference decides whole endgames: a Greek king must halt on the square immediately beyond the piece it takes, where a Turkish king may run on as far as the line stays clear.
Why can't I change house rules?
Because the tradition you've selected sets them. Only Checkers (English Draughts) leaves the House Rules toggles free — every other tradition locks them to what its federation actually plays, and the House Rules screen shows them locked with the tradition named. To get the toggles back, switch to English Draughts on the World of Checkers screen.
What are house rules?
Two rule variations you can set for English Draughts, per match or as your default: forced captures (on by default, the standard rule) and flying kings, where kings slide any distance along a diagonal as in international draughts.
Coach
In any game against the computer you can turn Coach on and the app will point out a move worth considering, with a short note on why. It toggles on and off mid-game. Pass & Play deliberately has no coaching — hints would leak strategy to the person sitting across from you.
Why didn't my win extend my streak?
Wins in a coached game still count in your record, but they stay off the pure-skill leaderboards — the streak board and fastest Expert win. Turning the Coach on at any point in a game marks it, and the mark is saved with the game, so parking a coached match and finishing it later doesn't clear it.
Ranks, leaderboards and achievements
Every game you finish against the computer, online, or with someone nearby earns XP and raises your level — the number in the gold ring on the home screen. Tap the ring for the rules in short; every XP rule, all 17 leaderboards and all 28 achievements are listed on Ranks, leaderboards & achievements.
Pass & Play and coached games earn no XP — one person is playing both sides in the first, and the coach played too in the second. Leaderboards and achievements need you signed in to Game Center; your level does not, because it lives on your device and travels between your devices through your own iCloud account.
Watch replay
After a game ends, Watch Replay walks the whole match back turn by turn. Stop Replay returns you to the result.
Undo and draws
Undo Move in the side panel takes back your last move — against the computer it rewinds its reply as well. A game is a draw when the same position occurs three times, or after 40 moves per side with no capture and no man moving forward.
Playing online
Three ways to play someone who isn't in the room:
- Quick Async Match — pairs you with another player automatically. Turn-based, so you each move at your own pace over hours or days. It matches you inside your chosen tradition; if nobody is waiting there, the app offers to join a player waiting in a different one.
- Live Match — both players connected at once, moves arriving instantly.
- Invite a Friend — pick someone by name and they're asked to accept.
These three need you signed in to Game Center (Settings > Game Center).
Playing someone nearby
Play Someone Nearby is separate from the three above, and does not need Game Center. Two devices on the same local network find each other by name and connect directly. If you're signed in to Game Center your nickname is what the other player sees; if not, your device's name is used.
I can't find anyone nearby
Both devices must be on the same network with the Play Someone Nearby screen open — discovery only runs while you're on that screen. The first time you open it, the device asks permission to find things on your local network; if that was declined, the app can't see anyone and will say so. Turn it back on in Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network (on Mac, System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network).
Saved games
Up to 6 games are kept, saved automatically at every turn, and resumed from the main menu. Drag a game up or down to reorder — the top one becomes your Continue card. To rename or delete: swipe left on iPhone and iPad, swipe left with two fingers on Mac, or press and hold on Apple TV.
My games aren't syncing between devices
Saved games and records sync through your own iCloud account. Make sure every device is signed in to the same Apple Account with iCloud Drive turned on. On Apple TV this is under Settings > Users & Accounts. After a fresh install it can take a moment — or one relaunch — for the first sync to arrive.
Apple TV is a shared device
On Apple TV, each person's profile gets its own saved games, records, and Game Center account. Switching profiles in Control Center switches the app over to that person's games.
Changing the language
Odin's Checkers is playable in 50 languages. It follows your device by default, and you can override it under Language on the main menu — the change applies immediately, with no relaunch.
I can't hear any sound
Sound has its own toggle inside the app, on the in-game toolbar and on the main menu. It's deliberately independent of the ring/silent switch, so check the in-app setting first. iPhone also plays a haptic matched to each sound; iPad has no haptic engine, so it stays silent there by design.
Widget and Siri
The widget shows online matches waiting on your move. You can also say "Continue my Odin's Checkers game" to Siri, which opens your most recent game — an online match waiting on you, or your latest save.
How do I get my purchase back on a new device?
Sign in with the same Apple Account and download the app again from the App Store. There's nothing to restore and nothing to pay again.
Can I play without an internet connection?
Yes. Solo play, Pass & Play, all twelve traditions, House Rules, saves, undo, and replay work with no network connection at all. Only the online modes, leaderboards, and achievements need connectivity — Play Someone Nearby needs a local network but no internet.
Accessibility
Every square on the board carries a VoiceOver label, and all animation respects the system Reduce Motion setting.
Contact
Hollender Consulting, LLC — www.hollender-consulting.com