Checkers

Review by eFreeware

Finding a checkers app that plays the way you learned can be harder than it should be. Rules vary by country and by household, and plenty of digital boards quietly settle on one variant and leave it at that. Checkers, from Gamma Play, takes the opposite approach: it treats the rule set as something you choose rather than something you accept.

The game is free, sits in the Board category, and has been on Google Play since June 2019. It has passed 10 million installs and holds a 4.6 average from more than 44,000 ratings, which suggests a broad audience has stuck with it. The app is free to download and includes ads and in-app purchases.

What follows is a look at what the game offers, where its choices matter, and the kind of player it fits. Everything here comes from what the developer describes, not from time spent at the board.

The rule set is the real feature

Most checkers apps are one game. This one is closer to a small collection. Five rule sets are available: International, English (American checkers), Russian, Turkish and Spanish draughts. Each has its own conventions, so the same app can feel like a different game depending on what you select.

That range is the strongest argument for installing it. Someone who grew up playing English draughts and someone who plays International draughts can both find their version in the same download. The developer also allows custom rules, which means you can adjust the setup rather than being locked into a preset.

Custom rules are the sort of thing that sounds minor until you need it. House rules, regional quirks and teaching variations all fit under that umbrella. It is the feature that turns a fixed product into something you can bend to your own table.

Five levels to work through

Difficulty is handled through five levels, which gives a clear path from learning the moves to facing something that punishes loose play. The developer describes the computer opponent as advanced and says it is programmed to think several moves ahead. That is a claim about the AI rather than a guarantee of how it plays, but the five-level structure suggests the challenge is meant to scale with you.

For a beginner, the lower levels are where the game teaches rather than tests. For someone who already knows the rules, the upper levels are the reason to keep opening the app. Having both in one place means you do not need a separate beginner app and a separate serious one.

The progression also gives the game a natural rhythm: win at one level, move up, and find out where your play breaks down. That loop is simple, but it is the reason difficulty settings matter in a game with no story or campaign to carry you along.

Tutorial, practice and achievements

The developer includes tutorial and practice modes aimed at players who are new to the game or want to sharpen their play. A tutorial is the sensible way to introduce the five rule sets, since each one changes what a legal move looks like. Practice mode lets you work on the board without the pressure of a match.

Achievements add a second layer of goals on top of winning. They give you something to chase beyond the outcome of a single match, which is useful in a game that can otherwise feel repetitive once you have settled into a difficulty level you can beat.

The combination is more thoughtful than the average free board game. Teaching, drilling and long-term goals are three different jobs, and the app addresses each one separately.

Playing alone or across the table

There are two ways to play: against the computer or against another person on the same device. The one-player mode lets you play against the computer, and the two-player mode turns the phone or tablet into a shared board. That is a good fit for a coffee table, a waiting room or a long car ride where passing the device back and forth is easier than setting up a physical set.

The developer also states that you can play at home or offline. Offline play matters more than it sounds for a board game, because checkers is exactly the sort of thing you reach for when you have a few minutes and no particular reason to be connected.

The game supports both modes. You can play a solo match on the way to work and hand the device to a friend that evening.

Eight boards and a clean look

There are eight board designs to choose from, covering both classic and more modern looks. The graphics are described as high-resolution and the interface as intuitive, and the eight design options are the part that is easiest to verify: enough to find something that suits your taste without turning customization into a project.

Visual polish in a checkers app is not a small thing. You stare at the same board for the length of every match, so a design you like makes the game easier to return to. The eight options let you change that without changing anything about how the game plays.

The app receives regular updates, with the most recent one in October 2025 adding new options and bug fixes. For a game released in 2019, that is a reasonable sign that the app is still being tended to.

Ads, purchases and what free means here

The download is free, and the game contains ads and offers in-app purchases.

The core content is available without spending: five rule sets, custom rules, eight designs, five difficulty levels, tutorial and practice modes, achievements, and both one-player and two-player play.

The honest framing is that this is a free game. Players who dislike ads or purchases in any form will want to weigh that before installing.

Suited to casual players and draughts regulars

This is a good fit for anyone who wants a checkers game they can open for five minutes without setup. The five difficulty levels mean you do not have to be experienced to get something out of it, and the tutorial and practice modes give a new player a way in. The two-player mode adds a social option for households where one device is shared.

It also suits players who care about rules. If the version of draughts you play is not the one most apps assume, the five rule sets and the custom rules option are the reason to pick this over a simpler alternative. That flexibility is not common in free board games.

For someone who wants a single, fixed version of checkers and nothing else, the extra options are harmless rather than essential. The game is still checkers, played on a board, with the same basic goal of jumping and capturing your opponent's pieces.

A flexible free board worth having on your phone

Checkers earns a place on a phone because it does several things well at once. It covers five regional rule sets plus custom rules, scales across five difficulty levels, offers both solo and shared-device play, and works offline. The eight board designs and the achievement system round out a package that is broader than most free checkers apps.

The caveats are the ones that come with the format. There are ads and in-app purchases. The AI is described as advanced, but that is a claim from the developer rather than a measured result.

If you want a checkers game that adapts to how you play rather than the other way around, this is a reasonable one to install. It is free, it has been maintained since 2019, and it holds a 4.6 rating from a large number of players. For casual players and draughts regulars alike, it covers more ground than the average board game download.

What's new in version 1.98

Thank you for playing Checkers! We make updates regularly to add more options and fix bugs.