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Other Checkers Programs

Here are some alternatives to CheckerBoard that I find noteworthy:

• Nemesis by Murray Cash.
  Commercial, 119$, Windows.
  Nemesis won the 2002 Computer Checkers World Championship, but has not been updated since. It has a nicer interface than CheckerBoard, but I don't believe it plays any better than the newest versions of Cake and KingsRow.
  
  
• Sage by Adrian Millet.
  Commercial, Windows. Demo version can be downloaded.
  Sage is a bit weaker than the top programs, but it has a nice interface with many useful database features. It can also use my 'Cake' engine to play a better game!
  
  
• Checkers for Linux!
  Peter Chiochetti's Capers comes with an older version of Cake as engine, and is probably the best checkers program you can get for Linux.
  
  
• Gui Checkers 1.05 is a small checkers program with nice graphics by Jon Kreuzer. Since version 0.90 it also is available as a CheckerBoard engine dll. Gui comes with source code, so you can learn some of the more advanced techniques that are not built into simple checkers, such as hashtables and forward pruning.
  
  
• Damas 99 by Nelson Castillo.
  Freeware, Windows. If CheckerBoard doesn't run on your computer, this might be an alternative. Not as feature-rich as CheckerBoard, and clearly weaker than Cake or KingsRow it still gives the casual player a good challenge.
  
  
• Checkers for the iPhone
  Two checkers programs for the iPhone are based on my simple checkers engine, so I can heartily recommend both :-)
  Geoff Rainville's program is called Teeny checkers. You can buy it at the iTunes store!
  Jon Schlegel has written Draughts Free and Draughts Premium. The free version will display ads, the premium version won't bother you.
  
  
• Checkers for the gPhone
  Aart Bik has written a checkers app for the Google phone. Apparently, it is available at the Android market, although I think you need a gPhone to connect there properly.
  
  

There are many other programs, but those I know of are either too weak, not free or otherwise not interesting enough to deserve a link ;-). If you know a checkers program which belongs here, send me the link to it's website!

In 2006, Bob Newell reviewed most of the many checkers programs out there, and you will find his reviews on his site - the link to his site is on my checkers links page. Unfortunately, Bob never updated his reviews since, so they may be a little outdated - although I have to admit that not much has changed in computer checkers over the last two years.

-- February 15, 2009.