Sedef Checkers

Sedef is mother-of-pearl, the shell set into the walnut boards of coffee houses from Istanbul to Damascus. Every piece here carries a pearl inlay, a star once it is crowned, and the board plays by whichever rules your table grew up with.

Checkers and draughts in seven rule sets, English to Turkish dama: against the computer at three levels or a friend online, a ladder, puzzles.

On the title screen pick Match, Ladder or Puzzles, then press Play. Every mode starts from the rules card: the board opens in the rule set most players in your language use (English checkers in English, Turkish dama in Turkish, Russian shashki in Russian, Brazilian rules in Portuguese, international 10x10 in French), and one tap on the rules row switches to any of the seven: English, Turkish, international, Brazilian, Russian, Spanish and Italian. Tap a piece to see where it can go and tap the square, or drag it there. A capture over several pieces is played by tapping the last square; when two routes end on the same square, tap the stops on the way. Captures are compulsory in every rule set, and the rules card says which capture must be chosen: any capture, the one that takes the most pieces, or (Spanish and Italian) the most pieces and then the most kings. A man that reaches the far row is crowned; kings fly over any distance except in English and Italian draughts. You win when your opponent has no move left, all pieces taken or blocked. Match: choose Light or Dark and Easy, Normal or Hard; Undo takes back your last move and the reply, Hint shows the computer's choice for you. Ladder: ten opponents from Rookie to Master for each rule set, each with its own way of playing; beat one to open the next. Puzzles: four chapters of ten per rule set, win in 1 to 6 moves against the best defence, each with exactly one winning first move; a wrong move is taken back. The daily puzzle is the same for every player. Winning at Normal, beating the third ladder opponent or solving a chapter 2 puzzle opens hard mode: no Undo, no Hint, and one wrong puzzle move ends the puzzle. To play a friend online, choose Play with a friend on the title screen, pick a rule set, create a game and send the link. Undo and hints are off, and you can resign.