What is Checkers in the Park?

Checkers in the Park is an Activity that we've developed here at Discord for playing checkers with your friends!

Starting Checkers in the Park in Discord

There are many different ways you can launch Poker Night in the Discord app for you and your friends! Whether in a server’s voice channel, in a direct message (DM), or a group message you can check out Activities on Discord for instructions on how to start any Activity.

Before starting any Discord Activity on Desktop, please make sure to turn on Hardware Acceleration in User Settings > Advanced.

How to Play Checkers in the Park

These instructions may look slightly different on mobile devices.

1. After opening up Checkers in the Park, you can select Create Game to create your own game or Join Game to join an existing one. If there are existing checkers games in your server, you can view or join them by selecting them.

2. If you’re creating your own game, you’ll see the following options:

Game name: Tap on Generate Game Name to generate a new name.
Unlocked: If your game is unlocked, anyone can join.
Free Jump: Choose between Free Jump or Forced Jump. With Free Jump, players can choose not to jump a piece when you have a jump available. With Forced Jump, players must make any valid jumps, which add an element of strategy to your checkers match.
Time Limit: This is how long each player has for their turn. You can select 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, or a custom limit up to 99 minutes.
Color: Pick what color piece you’d like. Red, black, or you can select the question mark for it to be randomly selected for you.
Theme: Choose the checkerboard and background theme you want.
Piece Set: Select a game piece style you’d like to use.

3. After you’ve decided on everything above, tap on Create Game to create your game!

4. Each player gets a turn to move one of their checkers on the board. Your standard checkers game piece can only move diagonally and toward the opponent, and only move one spot at a time.

5. If you get one of your checkers game pieces to the other side of the board, then your piece can move forwards or backwards diagonally. Depending on the checkers game piece design you picked, this piece will look a little different than the rest (for example: if you use the snow set, your piece will turn into a snowman’s face).

5. The first person to remove all of their opponent’s game pieces wins the game.

6. Need a refresher of how to play the game while in a match? Tap on the cogwheel in the top right corner and then tap on How to for instructions.

Checkers in the Park FAQ

Q: Why is Discord adding games into voice channels?

A: We started Discord because we are all about bringing people together around gaming. As Discord has grown, we've seen more and more people use Discord to come together around games. For instance, we’ve seen people use Discord to not only play League but also to hang out and play more casual, social games with friends like Jackbox and Among Us.

For more information about Activities on Discord, go here!

Q: Is there an age requirement?

A: There is no age requirement for Checkers in the Park.

Q: How do I play?

A: To start a game, first join one of the voice channels. Once there, you should see the Activity Launcher (it looks like a rocket ship) in the voice channel controls. Click the Activity Launcher to open the Activity Shelf, " and then select "Checkers in the Park".'

Q: How many players can play Checkers in the Park?

A: An unlimited number of users can play a game of Checkers at the same time, but there is a limit of 2 players per Checkers game, with an unlimited number of spectators to watch. There is a limit of 2 “open” games that can be created per person (open meaning games that are waiting for another player to join.)

Q: Where can I report bugs and problems with the game?

A: You'll be able to submit a bug report by going to https://dis.gd/bugreport

For instructions on how bug reports should be submitted, please see our Help Center article: https://dis.gd/bugs

Q: How do I view/delete my Activities on Discord data? What data is tracked?

A: You can view data for Discord-developed Activities like Checkers in the Park through the Discord Privacy and Safety settings. To enhance the gameplay experience, Discord Activities access and temporarily store the following user data once a user joins the Activity:

Discord ID
Avatar
Username

For Activities played in a single session, user data is stored so long as the Activity remains active, even if the user leaves the Activity. Once all users leave the Activity and it is determined the Activity has ended, the user data is deleted and no longer retained.

For Activities that can be played across multiple sessions (like with Chess in the Park or Checkers in the Park), the user data above is retained.

Note: Deleting your data will remove all of your progression across these Discord-developed activities.

Q: My question isn't listed, what do I do?

A: If all is lost, please submit a ticket to our support team at https://dis.gd/contact