GameRoom is a great way to play checkers on the iPad. The game is very responsive and has some nice customization features. Unfortunately, GameRoom teases you with what could be but feels like it falls a bit short.
The strongest part of GameRoom is the familiar favourite checkers, mostly because it delivers a great experience in playing the game. Another player and you can take turns sliding the pieces across the board, watching them disappear when jumping an opponent.
There are two other games included: Reversi and Chinese Go. The object of Reversi is to have more discs on a board with your colour facing up at the end of the game. This is accomplished through a combination of placing pieces and capturing those from the opponent. Chinese Go is played by trying to take over as much of the board space as possible with playing pieces.
GameRoom has some customization options, such as changing the pieces from wood to plastic or stones. The most unusual option, however, include a freestyle manner of playing a mashup of the included games. For example, a player can create an enormous board game with an overwhelming number of tiles, but then fill the board with checkers pieces. Or take a checkers board and throw in some of the Chinese Go pebbles. While typically customization is a welcome feature—this uber-customization where anything goes feels awkward and doesn’t add much to the games.
GameRoom would do well to include some other board games. Chess would be a natural fit, as the iPad’s screen real estate works well for playing a two-person board game. Backgammon and some of the other popular, classic games would also likely please players.
Currently, the games can only be played with someone else—there is no option to take on the computer. GameRoom also does not include heavy monitoring of the gameplay: a player can take turn after turn without a penalty.
As a free download GameRoom will offer some fun gameplay. With some added features it could be a strong contender for your time.
