Critter Chess

Critter Chess is a digital puzzle game teaching directions, spatial reasoning, and logical problem solving (“thinking ahead”).

How does it work?

• You get a tiny map with one or more “critters” ( = cute animals!)
• Each one moves in a specific way. For example: this critter only goes left and right.
• Each one occupies their space, which means others can’t move through there. (They’d bump into each other.)
• And, most importantly, each of them wants to get home!
• Tap where every creature should go to get them home.

On the easiest difficulty, you only learn about very basic critters (“Moves 1 step to the LEFT”). Puzzles only take two or three steps.

The game contains 5 difficulty levels, though, and higher difficulties …

• Add more critters that move in unique ways (one at a time)
• Add more challenging maps where you really have to puzzle to make sure critters don’t block each other’s spaces.
• Allow critters to move backwards, or to move as far as they can, or to—gasp—jump over other pieces!
• Add things to collect along the way: it’s not just necessary to get home, you need to take the right detours too.
• Add fun mystery critters! The game doesn’t explain the exact rule for how they move; you must figure it out as you play with them. The downloadable files contain a PDF with the solutions ( = the simple rule about the direction in which the mystery critter moves)!

As expected, the game has no text, numbers, or complex actions. It’s a fun, thematic challenge for young and old that practices many skills at once.

The game is called Critter Chess because it’s a nice precursor to actual Chess. By the end of the game, you will have seen a few animals that move exactly like their Chess counterparts. (Most of all the Knight, of course, which is introduced at the hardest difficulty!) But the game builds up to that, slowly, step by step, to make sure the player completely understands directions and spatial movement.

In the future, we hope to release a sequel (working title Critter Chess: Captured) that actually introduces rules such as capturing pieces. Such rules were left out of this game to keep it simple and a clear first step into Chess or similar (board) games.

As always, all of these things (and much more) can be changed in the settings. You decide exactly how you want to play, adapting the game to your current skill or situation. For example, you can

• Choose to highlight possible moves or highlight valid homes to help you out.
• Choose to simplify the controls even more by using a single tap! The game already selects which animal you must move; you only have to click where it goes, nothing more.
• Choose whether to narrate the direction you chose to move in (“Left!”), reinforcing the terminology each time.

Have fun and keep learning!