Twelve Hnefatafl Games for Your Mobile Phone: Viking Chess by Capt Studios

Monday, 19th September 2016

Not to be confused by the 3D hnefatafl game for iOS, Viking Chess for Android was released by Capt Studios and last updated in 2015.  It features two rule sets, and an AI opponent.

Viking Chess can be played on a 9x9 or an 11x11 board.  On both boards, the king wins upon reaching a corner square.  On the 9x9 board, the king is captured like other pieces, but on the 11x11 board he is captured by being surrounded on four sides.

Unusually, the source code for the game is available for programmers to look at. This means that in theory a programmer with the Android Development Kit could create their own customised version of the game. In practice it will provide something to learn from for someone who wants to write their own hnefatafl game.

You can get Viking Chess from the Google Play Store. Tomorrow I'll be looking at another Android game.