ScrollChess: Chess for Watch

Chess on Apple Watch you cannot mis-tap.

A chess square on a watch is about half the size Apple's own guidelines set as the minimum for anything you tap. So ScrollChess does not ask you to tap one. The Digital Crown moves a crosshair from one legal option to the next, and a tap — anywhere on the screen — confirms it. Nothing on the board is a touch target, so there is nothing to miss.

ON YOUR WRIST

• Play a full game against a chess engine written for this app, at four levels — from beginner to a strong club player

• A daily puzzle that takes about twenty seconds, with a streak. 1,048 of them are in the app, which is a new one every day for nearly three years

• Add a complication and today's puzzle is one tap from the watch face

• It all runs on the watch alone — no phone nearby, no signal, no account

ON YOUR IPHONE

• The same engine and the same daily puzzle, with direct taps on a larger board

• Take a move back, replay it, and step through the game move by move

• Pass and play: hand the phone to someone else and the board turns itself around between moves

AN OPPONENT THAT PLAYS LIKE A PERSON

The four levels are not one engine with the brakes on. A weaker level chooses among moves the search already approved, so it plays inaccurately rather than absurdly — it will punish a blunder but it will not hand you a queen for nothing. It also takes a moment to answer, because an opponent that replies instantly to a move you thought about is not an opponent, it is a machine.

BUILT FOR THE WATCH FIRST

Every number in this app came off a wrist rather than a monitor. The board fills the screen, the haptics are tuned so one pulse means one step of the crosshair, and the puzzles were filtered for lines short enough to solve while your arm is up.

ACCESSIBILITY

The board is fully navigable with VoiceOver on both platforms: every square announces where it is, what stands on it and what is happening to it, and can be played directly.

NO ACCOUNTS, NO ADS, NO TRACKING

There is nothing to sign into and nothing to switch off. The engine, the puzzles and your games live on your device. No analytics, no advertising, no data leaves the app — it works the same in Airplane Mode.

WHAT IT DOES NOT DO

There is no online play and no matchmaking with strangers. This is a game against the engine, a daily puzzle, and a board you can hand to the person next to you. The watch and the phone each keep their own games and their own streak — nothing syncs between them yet.

One purchase. No subscription, no in-app purchases.

Questions: hey@scrollchess.com