Freeview: Checkers 2.0

As I’m writing this I find myself famished, the laundry’s not getting done, and my Palm Pre is screaming “Battery Low” as it always does when I’ve spent a good couple hours on a new favorite app. All of this is to blame on an early Homebrew game that’s all grown up: Checkers 2.0 now in the Palm App Catalog and free by developer Keen Studios.

An oldie but goodie, the game of checkers has been around seemingly since the beginning of time. It was a personal favorite of mine growing up and was happy to see it come to WebOS as a free Homebrew app back in February of this year. After a long hiatus, Keen Studios has given it an overdue once-over and boy is it a good one.

A bevy of options have been added to this free version including Haptic Feedback (vibrating tone when a game piece is moved) and sound! To top it all off the game now has an online play mode that is crazy fun to play when others work up the nerve to join in. More on this later.

As for regular play you’ll find the usual one player and two player options. In single player mode you play against the computer while two player mode lets you play against a friend on the same device. The haptic feed back and sound options are a welcome touch and the sensitivity on the checkerboard is just right in that you don’t fuss around picking the wrong pieces to move.

After a short registration process when beginning online play, you’re taken to a “lobby” area where you can see what other users are currently online. Tapping on a userID gives you the option to “Challenge” them to a game. If they accept, all that’s left is to answer a popup window indicating your challenge has been accepted and you’re ready to play!

The online play system is wonderfully put together and includes a chat area that allows you to chat with your opponent as you play the game. It took a few tries to find someone willing to play online, but there was never any shortage of available users in the lobby area. As of this writing, Keen Studios claims over 3800+ users have registered for online play using the app. It’s a great addition to the game.

Despite the welcome face lift, there are a few shortcomings. If you don’t keep your eyes on the board, it’s easy to miss a move of a game piece even with haptic feedback and sounds enabled- it’s that fast. Also, the game state isn’t saved if you close the card to come back to it later. If you’re hot and heavy into a game and you swipe the card away, the game starts over. Still, Keen Studios has done a wonderful job with this revision and I look forward to what else is in store.

Interested? Go here to download Checkers 2.0 directly to your device!