Checkers Royal+ Apple Arcade - Tip, Walkthrough, Glitch

Dinsun Review

Dinsun here. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say about a checkers app. It works. The pieces move when you slide them, and the AI doesn't cheat, though it’s predictably efficient on higher settings. It’s as dry as a desert, which is fine for a board game, but don't expect any 'royale' excitement despite the name.

It’s a 60 because it’s a utility more than a 'game' in the modern sense. It’s good to have a clean, ad-free version on the phone for when the internet goes out or you're waiting for a flight. But there’s no soul here. It’s just code and a checkered board.

Overall Stats

Pros & Cons

Clean, ad-free interface
Supports multiple international rulesets
Solid AI difficulty range

Completely unexciting presentation
Limited social features
Lack of any innovative modes

Technical Report

Performance: Bug-free and extremely light on resources.

Accessibility:

High-contrast board colors
Large touch targets
Move undo

Audience Fit

Buy if: You want a clean, ad-free way to play checkers on your phone.

Skip if: You are looking for a modern gaming experience or deep progression.

Similar Games:

Chess - Play & Learn
Backgammon Plus
Solitaire by MobilityWare

Reviewer Context

Reviewer: Dinsun (Board game traditionalist, no-nonsense critic)
Hardware: iPhone 13
Playtime: 2 hours
Status: Won 10 matches

Ratings & Reviews

4.7 out of 5 with 15845 Counts

★★★★★

Age Rating 4+

★★★★★ Love the app (please fix toggle)

Wed Feb 19 2025 Cozy Nebula

Love playing the games using this app. I mainly play the American version and recently have been playing the Turkish version after watching some videos about the game. Both very fun! One repair in Settings is needed: the toggle to Highlight available moves doesn’t work because it stays on regardless of how I position the toggle switch. It’s great having this feature, because it has helped me improve my game. But, I would like to be able to also play sometimes without this feature to test my skill.

★★★★★ Froze and Deleted Game Data

Fri Nov 05 2021 BrianFromCali

This is a pretty low quality game for Apple Arcade. Everything from the menus, to the sounds, to the general app performance all seems extremely basic. For starters, every single time I would load the app it would tell me there was a difference between my iCloud save file and local save file, yet the details of each were always identical. Every time. There is exactly one generic sound for moving the checker pieces and it gets repetitive immediately. There is no way to preview the various board unlocks, which change the color of the pieces as well. There isn’t a way to change difficulty in the settings mid-game; you have to go back to the title screen to change difficulty. On any difficulty above Easy, the computer seems to almost never make a mistake. There is no way to simply slide a piece with your finger in this checkers game, you have to tap the screen at least twice every time you move. There is no way to disable the movement animation which makes every game take longer. The icing on the cake was when my game data was deleted randomly after the game froze. It also conveniently froze right when I pinned the computer’s last piece into a corner. Brilliant. Play all sorts of iOS games and never had an issue with save files just disappearing like that but this one managed to do that within three days. Finally, it’s obvious from the reviews that so many people just straight up have never played checkers by the rules and don’t know that you’re required to capture pieces if the opportunity presents itself. This is one of the primary ways to strategize as you can force your opponent into undesirable positions. Like at least rate the app low because of the features you don’t like, not because you didn’t understand the rules and are salty about it.

★★★★★ Needs a couple of tweaks

Fri Jul 26 2024 Jacksonb33

I have played this game almost daily for years. The difficulty makes the games competitive. However, I would like to see two tweaks. First, the player should be able to offer a draw. The computer can offer a draw, but the player cannot. Please fix this. Also, the player should have the option to concede. Once the outcome appears certain, the appropriate thing to do is concede rather than have to play it out. The computer can concede, so please give the player that option. Other than these two improvements, this is a great checkers app.

★★★★★ Could be better

Sun Jul 28 2024 Dgrnbornaksion

Great interface but a couple issues - No option to draw matches and the AI will not concede even when there is no chance of winning. -Forces you to capture max pieces when advantageous to the AI but only single pieces when you’re winning. -Lack of customization for board and pieces just some generic themes. -Issue with save data, doesn’t sync with cloud and asks you to choose between it and local save data.

★★★★★ The best classical game of checkers , but has a bug

Sat Sep 17 2022 Mylyn50

I just downloaded this game and while playing , when I had a great double jump to become a king, it refused to let me make the jump. It keeps lighting up to show me to jump. Yet it won’t do it! It did this just before and I was able to finally make the move after many attempts. So it must be a bug…HOW AGGRAVATING!!!! Yet it’s telling me “ mandatory jump” ! I DONT know what I’m doing wrong ? I put on the American game. Maybe I am choosing the wrong one from the one I’ve always played since a child? I never knew there were other options of playing checkers? Please….can someone PLEASE help me? I don’t want to delete the App because it really is the best game of checkers I’ve come across in the App Store.

★★★★★ Garbage AI Ruins an Extremely Easy Concept

Wed Apr 21 2021 Matt Kesner

When talking about a classic game like checkers, it’s really hard to mess up. Somehow these developers have failed at designing any sort of difficulty scale in their AI. Everything after Beginner is essentially the exact same AI from what I can tell. I have the same number of Wins in Easy difficulty as I do in Expert. If the AI is fixed to a point of being relatively useful, then I may reconsider my review. Until then, it stands. If you’re going to be a part of a paid monthly subscription, there’s a higher standard of quality expected.

★★★★★ Do not download!!!!!!!!!!!

Fri Mar 21 2025 DribbleUplover

Do not download this app! The bots cheat! Like in a tournament against AI that it does every day, in the championship game, I had it well in hand, but then it would not let me take a double capture that I clearly had and I killed my chances. I rage quit after that. And in the hard mode, it let me take a double capture, but there was one piece from the AI, that it would not let me capture because it was about to become a king. It does this every time! Do not download you hate it!!!!! Zero stars. I wish I could give zero stars.

★★★★★ 1 min in and I already found somthing I hate

Mon Apr 12 2021 fire cub

Ok love this but I got this game like 5 mins ago and I already found something that I HATE. So while your in a match if you can kill it MAKES YOU! You can’t do any other move that’s not that kill, so not only is the annoying but it puts you in moments after you kill where your opponent gets a double or even a triple kill, or even getting you stuck, sure it can point out kills you can do but not MAKE you do it! It’s a very frustrating thing. Please fix this, just wanted to point it out.

＜Previous ＞Next