The old board game, tuned
CHECKERS
draughts · every square a noteTwelve red coins, twelve cream, a painted wooden board. Every dark square is a note on Sa = G — so every move is an interval you hear. A slide sings a step, a jump sings a leap, and a new king plays a cadence home to Sa.
Who is playing
Red moves first. Pass the phone after every move — the edge of the screen shows whose turn it is.
Open a room and send its word — the first friend in plays Cream; anyone else watches.
Got a word from a friend?
How you play
More options
Ears level
How the board sings
- Along a row the four dark squares climb the scale — Red's home row is Sa Re Ga ma (G A B C), Cream's is Pa Dha Ni Sa two octaves up.
- Step to your left: a 2nd. Step to your right: a 3rd.
- Jump left: a 3rd. Jump right: a 5th. Two jumps stack thirds into a chord — the board plays its arpeggio.
- Crowned at the far row, your king plays a cadence, V to I, home to Sa. A captured coin leaves singing its own note.
That is the major board. Under More options the board can be tuned to another scale — minor, Dorian, Mixolydian, harmonic minor — or a raga: Bhoop, Yaman, Kafi, Bhairav, Hansadhwani, Durga, Malkauns, Khamaj. In a five-note raga each step is the raga's next note.
The rules are English draughts: move diagonally forward, captures are forced, keep jumping while you can, kings move both ways. No move on your turn and you lose.