Checkers!

Checkers!

Commodore PET - Screenshot - Title.

Developer Tom Skibo Publisher The Code Works, Brookfield Software Published 1980-05-?? Platforms Commodore 64. Commodore PET Genres Board game, Single-screen, Strategy, Turn-based strategy Distribution Commercial

Checkers! is a video game adaption of the board game checkers developed by Tom Skibo and published by The Code Works for the Commodore PET in their May 1980 issue of Cursor magazine. It was ported to the Commodore 64 in 1983 and published by Brookfield Software. The game was written in Commodore BASIC. In 2023, the developer rewrote the game in 6502 assembler to speed it up considerably.

The game is a bare-bones rendition of checkers played against a primitive AI.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes.
Finished	2025-04-21.

While looking for other Commodore PET games to beat, I came across this one. I've had success defeating old checkers AIs in the past, so I tried it out. I beat it on my first attempt with five pieces remaining.

Review

3	3	2	1	3

Best Version: Commodore PET (2023 version)

Good

• The game competently enforces the rules of checkers.

Bad

• The AI has no settings to make it more complex. It plays a decent opening, but it doesn't make a long term strategies, and it's incompetent during the end game.
• Having to input your moves as number dash number isn't nearly as satisfying as highlighting the pieces with a cursor and moving them around.
• The screen refresh is quite slow.

Ugly

• The AI is very slow to process its next move.
• The game is very media challenged. All monochromatic text isn't much to look at and the beeps between turns isn't exactly melodious.

Media

Documentation

• 

  Cursor magazine - May 1980 - Page 1.

• 

  Cursor magazine issue 15 - May 1980 - Page 2.

Screenshots

• 

  Title screen.

• 

  The start of a new game.

• 

  Victory.

• 

  The title screen of the upgraded version.

Videos

Game play.

Play Online

Commodore 64, Commodore PET

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	This game doesn't have characters.
Bechdel test?	Fail	This game doesn't have characters.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	This game doesn't have characters.
Queer character?	Fail	This game doesn't have characters.

Credits

Role	Staff
Programmer	Tom Skibo

Links

   

• tskibo.itch.io/checkers2 - Developer's port to assembly.