Chippy's Draughts Open the app

TTDCA School Draughts Programme

Learn international draughts with Chippy, the checkered hummingbird

Forty short chapters take children from their first move on the 10×10 board to shots, formations and endgames. Every puzzle is checked against the official FMJD rules.

  • 40chapters
  • 5worlds
  • 1,000+daily puzzles
  • 0ads

Try a shot from Chapter 13

White to play. Give one man, then take four and make a king.

Tap a white man, then the square to move it to.

Book 1 · three school terms

One adventure, five worlds

Chippy hatches in the Grove and flies all the way to the Sky Castle. Each chapter has a story, a lesson, practice with hints, a game and a mastery check, and every world ends with a badge. Children who pass the assessments qualify for a printed TTDCA certificate, requested by their coach or school.

The Hatching Grove
World 1 · chapters 1–7

The Hatching Grove

The board, men and kings, captures, the majority rule, safe moves and notation.

Eggshell Beginner
Cliffside Climb
World 2 · chapters 8–14

Cliffside Climb

First shots, forcing moves, formations, temps and key squares.

Sprout Strategist
The Island Sea
World 3 · chapters 15–26

The Island Sea

The named shots, traps, king shots, outposts, locks and a master game.

Jet Hummingbird
The Crystal Caves
World 4 · chapters 27–33

The Crystal Caves

Judging a position, attacking plans, wing control and the Roozenburg attack.

Phoenix Tactician
The Sky Castle
World 5 · chapters 34–40

The Sky Castle

Defence, opposition, Keller's endgame, king against men, and the Book 1 diploma.

Cosmic King

Term 1 covers Worlds 1 and 2, Term 2 the Island Sea, and Term 3 the Crystal Caves and Sky Castle. Children who pass all 40 mastery checks and the final assessment qualify for the Book 1 diploma, issued by the TTDCA on their coach's or school's request.

Beyond the lessons

Something new to do every day

Practice keeps going after the chapters, with rewards that grow as children improve.

Daily training

Five puzzles a day, from a warm-up to a boss puzzle, at a level from 1 to 10 that rises when children solve first time. Over 1,000 puzzles, each with one winning answer.

Five computer opponents

From a gentle first game to a strong engine that sees deep combinations. Play White or Black, with a live count of pieces and temps.

PicoKikiCoach IbisThe RaptorsThe Oilbird Elders

Badges, Feathers and fair rewards

A free badge for every world and ranks from Hatchling to Legend of the Grove that never go down. Feathers earned by learning buy new boards, pieces and Chippy accessories: looks only, never money. Weekly XP, improvement and steady practice count as much as all-time totals.

Read aloud, hints and game review

Every story, lesson and puzzle can be read aloud in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese or Dutch, slower if needed. Hints come step by step, and after a few tries Chippy shows and explains the answer. After a game, Coach Ibis points out a missed shot or a great move and links it to a lesson.

Play your class

Children in an online class can challenge classmates and play move by move on their own phones. There is no chat: only invitations and moves are sent.

English, Español, Français, Português and Nederlands

The whole course is also in Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese and Dutch. Spanish uses the draughts words of the Spanish edition of Goedemoed's course (corona, cuadro, disparo, captura mayor); French uses the words of the TTDCA French workbooks (dame, case, rafle, prise majoritaire, coup Royal). Portuguese uses the words of the Brazilian edition of Goedemoed's course (pedra, dama, casa, lance, Lei da Maioria, Golpe Real). Dutch uses the words of Goedemoed's original Dutch course, Dam Cursus (schijf, dam, veld, zet, meerslag, coup Royal), for the Netherlands, Suriname and the Dutch Caribbean. Same positions and answers; children choose their language on the first screen.

For coaches, clubs and schools

Run your classes in the app

  • Classes with a join code. Children type six letters and a nickname. No accounts or emails.
  • Live progress. XP, chapters, stars, badges, streaks and daily level for every child, ranked and updated as they play.
  • Homework puzzles. Choose a level and a number of puzzles; see who solved each one first time.
  • Class games. Optional clocks with server timing, draw offers, printable game records and PDN downloads.
  • Fair class lists. Sort by this week, most improved, steady practice, puzzle level or chapters, not only all-time XP.
  • Printed certificates. See who qualified, with a reference code, and send the TTDCA a ready-made request.

For adult coaches

Coach Academy: the Year One coaching certificate

A free online course for adults who coach draughts, based on the TTDCA School Draughts Programme Year One coaching standard. Short lessons on the board and practice questions that show the right answer and why, then an exam for the Certificate of Coaching Competence — Year One.

  • ARules and calculation
  • BCurriculum and sessions
  • CCorrecting errors
  • DLesson planning
  • ETournament conduct
  • FTeaching practice

How it works

  1. Take the course, free. Open the Coach Academy in the app. Lessons and practice work offline, as often as you like.
  2. Sign up and enter a voucher. Your full name and club or school go on the certificate. Exam vouchers come from Chippy Technologies Ltd.
  3. Sit the exam in the app. One online sitting of two hours, saved as you go. It is not supervised and anyone can take it. The result shows your marks by domain: draughts knowledge, teaching (with a practical task), and conduct.
  4. Get your certificate. Issued by Chippy Technologies Ltd. to record that you passed the online examination, printable on A4, with a code anyone can check.
The course and the exam are in English.

For parents

Safe, private and free

Children type only a first name or a nickname. There are no accounts, no email addresses and no ads.

Progress is saved on the device, with a separate player for each child on a shared school tablet. If a child joins a coach's class, the class sees only the nickname and scores (and homework, class games and certificate qualifications); a practice rating is shared only if the child turns it on.

To see how many people use the app, it sends anonymous counts: a first open, a home-screen install and one “opened today” a day, with the country (from the device's time zone), the language and the kind of device. No names, IDs or IP addresses are kept, and devices set to “do not track” are not counted.

The app works offline once it is installed, so it can be used without mobile data.

Put Chippy on your phone

  1. Open Chippy's Draughts from this page on the phone or tablet.
  2. On iPhone or iPad: tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. On Android: tap the ⋮ menu, then Install app.
  3. Open Chippy from the home screen. Type a first name or nickname and start the adventure.

For grown-ups

Support Chippy

Chippy is free. Donations keep the app running and help us build new worlds, lessons and languages for children everywhere — Chippy is a constantly evolving learning experience and we keep strengthening our courses.

Donations are made in US dollars to the Trinidad and Tobago Draughts and Checkers Administration Foundation.

Bank transfer (USD) – email us for details

Email ttdraughts@gmail.com and we will send you the bank details for a transfer in US dollars (ACH, international ACH or wire). Bank details are never published on this website.

There are no donation requests inside the children's lessons or games.

Ready to hatch?

Chapter 1 takes about ten minutes.

Open Chippy's Draughts
Chippy Technologies Ltd. — Innovate, Educate, Elevate

Who makes Chippy's Draughts

Chippy Technologies Ltd.

Chippy Technologies Ltd. makes Chippy's Draughts Learning App, working with the Trinidad and Tobago Draughts and Checkers Association to bring its School Draughts Programme to every child with a phone or tablet.

Our aim is simple: make learning feel like play, keep children's information private, and give coaches tools that save them time.

  • Innovate
  • Educate
  • Elevate
Nicholas Ramsundar, founder of Chippy

Meet the founder

Nicholas Ramsundar

Founder of Chippy · President of the TTDCA

Nicholas Ramsundar is the founder of Chippy and President of the Trinidad and Tobago Draughts and Checkers Association (TTDCA). A former national junior champion and FMJD Candidate Master, he has served as a national junior coach and continues to expand draughts through youth, school and community programmes.

Chippy reflects his commitment to making the game engaging and accessible to young learners around the world, alongside the TTDCA's school development work and corporate partnership outreach.

  • Former national junior champion
  • FMJD Candidate Master
  • National junior coach

Sources and credits

TTDCA School Draughts ProgrammeThe course order, lessons and assessment positions follow the Trinidad and Tobago Draughts and Checkers Association programme and workbooks.

A Course in International DraughtsExplanations and sample positions by Tjalling Goedemoed, used with the written permission of the FMJD, which holds the rights to its free English courses.

Source materials and rulesFurther positions and ideas come from the FMJD's free English courses, including Judging Positions, and published master games. Rules: official FMJD international draughts (10×10).