I only review programs with which I have personally spent sufficient time to get a basis for a fair and equitable evaluation. I do not go by ancedotes, claims made on web sites, or the reviews of others with the exception of solicited guest reviews from reviewers I trust, who may have a program I cannot readily obtain all guest reviews are so marked. This means that someworld class programs such as WCC Platinum, Colossus, Nemesis, and Wyllie are unfortunately not yet evaluated. But, I do plan to get the next release of Nemesis if it is ever available and review it in due course and WCC Platinum is in my hands with a review to follow. Wyllie is no longer marketed and so unavailable to me and the advanced version of Colossus would cost me about a weeks paycheck so I dont plan to acquire it anytime in the predictable future. Cm200 Programming Software there. I have revised the categorizations of the programs. I used to group them by a subjective measure of overall quality and seriousness, but this resulted in ever increasing clutter. I now simply group them by playing strength, and do subevaluations of features and other factors I also give an overall final impression in a short phrase or sentence. Here is how I now present the reviews the class system is meant to resemble the American school grading system, where A is best, D is bad, and F is failing there is no E. Class A. A Class A entry is a serious, high grade program with very high playing strength one might say world class. There are definite strength variations in this group, but these are the few and the proud. Class A programs give human grandmasters a run for their money. Class B. A Class B program is a strong player, and is one that is able to defeat Martin Fierz Simple Checkers q. Class C listings in a convincing enough manner, but clearly cant stand against the Class A entries. Again there is a lot of variation here in playing strength, but these are all quite good, and in some cases were once world class. Class B programs give human experts a good game, although fare less well against masters and certainly grandmasters. As of February 2. I have moved a substantial number of programs out of Class B and into Class C in the interests of better rating accuracy. Class C. These are programs that are roughly as good as Simple Checkers. This is not at all a bad level of play, but it is not on a par with the better entries in the higher classes. Some older programs fall here as well they were at one time in better standing but have either fallen behind or were not developed further. These give a good game to the typical checker enthusiast, but not to the expert or above. Class D. Class D programs lose to Simple Checkers consistently, but play along well enough to have given at least a credible performance. These programs are often non serious toys although there is an unfortunate number that pretend to be more than this. The programs in this category might play well enough against a dub or scrub but not against better competition. Class F. Class F programs are easily outclassed by Simple Checkers and dont even put up credible resistance. There are far too many of these more than I can ever review and more than I can afford to purchase. With few exceptions, these are a complete waste of time and money again, sadly, some make completely unjustified claims and pretenses. Even dubs and scrubs defeat these much of the time. I have tried to review the latest versions of each game, but in some cases I may have reviewed an older version. Please let me know if you think this is the case. I admit that I am often sarcastic and merciless. When someone is out there ready to take my money, I expect commensurate value. I will not be gentle with those who talk big and deliver little. If someone says they have a championship level program, they need to be able to back that up. And anyways, who am I, a poor player on a good day, to be reviewing checker programsWell, Ive worked with software for decades, played board games even longer, and I have ideas which I am not reluctant to express. You are completely at liberty to ignore my opinions However, if you feel an injustice has been done, please contact me. Those who have done so have found me to be very willing, and in fact anxious, to correct errors. Rating Parameters. I rate programs according to several criteria. Again, I use the American school grading system, where A is the best grade and F is the worst failing, in fact. The criteria are these After some thought I decided not to separately rate program cost. I factor cost into the overall rating, and I comment on cost, but I go no further. I also comment on opening and endgame play does the program have an opening book or an endgame database, and of what type and size I do include screen shots for nearly all programs for which the review is complete. These screen shots are on separate pages so that this page wont have an enormously long loading time. I did prefer larger graphics to preserve detail and give a more accurate impression of the games apprearance. The Programs. Now at version 1. Kings. Row runs as a game engine with the Checker. Board interface. The competition version is apparently ever so slightly weaker than Cake Manchester based on a recent match won narrowly by Cake Manchester the download versions of Kings. Row, however, may actually be stronger than the download version of Cake Manchester. We are on a shaky footing here as updated versions are made available for download, the situation will surely change. There is no doubt, though, that all versions of Kings. Row and Cake Manchester are very strong indeed. Kings. Row uses a very large calculated opening book of over 8. Chinook 8 piece endgame database and the Martin Fierz 8 piece database, making this engine formidable indeed. The author has recently calculated a 1.