The update is now live and should show up under the "Updates" tab of the App Store on your iPhone.  It provides the following changes:

• Added option to automatically adjust the difficulty level to adapt to the user.
• Adjusted offset of some kinged pieces to be more noticeable.
• Changed artwork for classic boards to have a bit of a texture.
• Modified default themes.
• Fixed saving of custom themes.
• Fixed "New Game" button after first launching application.
• Pieces that were previously kinged, can now jump into and out of first and last rows without ending turn.
• Quitting while data is being saved will properly close the database.

If the update doesn't show up for you under iTunes on your computer, please try updating from your iPhone by clicking on the "App store" icon and then the "Updates" tab in the lower right.

Yes.  Most definitely.  It's quite enjoyable that way.

You'll need to start playing the music before entering Checkers Touch.

To still control the music while playing it's advisable to leave the "Home Button" configured to show iPod Controls when playing music.  This is enabled by default.  If you think you changed it, it can be accessed by going into the Settings application, then "General" followed by "Home Button."  From there make sure that "iPod Controls" are turned on.

Now to con troll the music while playing, double click on the "Home" Button (The only button below the screen) and you will be presented with a standard small dialog listing the current artist, song, album name along with volume control, back, pause/play and forward buttons.

If you want more con troll over which song is playing, you can exit Checkers Touch without fear of losing your progress. It will save the current game state.  Now go to the iPod App to make your selection, and then re launch Checkers Touch.  It will return to the same saved state allowing you to continue your game already in progress.

When presented with a forced jump, there are often times where there is just one move to make.  This also goes for continuation of captures.  If you initiate a capture out of multiple possible capture moves and it leads to just a single possible follow on capture, that move can be automated as well.  Similarly, sometimes you may find that all pieces are blocked such that there is only a single move possible.

To speed play, you can have your iPhone make these moves for you by turning on the "Auto Single Moves" feature.

In nether of these cases does letting the computer automate the move change the outcome of the game because it only does so when there is a single legal move to make.

As stated below, the official rules of Checkers requires the user to jump if possible, and Checkers Touch will only allow for legal moves.  However it's not always obvious when there's a jump possible.

To help users identify which pieces can be moved, turn on the "Show Movable Pieces" option.  This option was disabled by default when version 1.0 was released.  Starting with version 1.0.1, it is now enabled by default.

Depending on how long it's been since you've played a game of checkers, you may find the initial setting either too easy or too hard.  While you can change the difficulty level, version 1.0.1 of Checkers Touch brings a new feature to auto-adjust the difficulty setting dynamically.

This new feature is on by default, and works by watching the number of wins and losses.  For each win a player will earn a reward point and the opponent will lose one if they already have one.  If either player reaches three reward points the difficulty will be made either easier or harder depending on which player won.

With this new feature there are now more granular difficulty levels.  Instead of just 4 levels, there are now an additional 5 sub-levels per level for a total of 20 levels of difficulty. The progression is easy 1-5; moderate 1-5, Challenging 1-5 and finally hard 1-5.  A level is indicated on the main screen by its name followed by from 1 to 5 small checkers pieces representing the sub-difficulty level.

Also, a new page of rules and tips has been posted.  It contains some helpful strategy advice.

Yes.  You can play without being connected to the internet.  Currently there is no network play, although we do want to add it in a free update at some point.  For now it's just you against your iPhone.  As you play against your iPhone, it will get smarter and learn which moves lead to victory.

There are only two features that would require a connection, and they are both in the About Checkers Touch page.

Check out our other products will connect to the internet to find a list of other products. This will be more useful later, as Checkers Touch is the only app currently released.

Recommend to a friend will need a connection to send an email message.

Other than those, the game is completely playable without being connected to the internet.

Version 1.0.1 was submitted to Apple on the evening of July 16th.  We had hoped it would have only taken a few days for that to go live.  However, after 10 days, It is still marked as "in review."

It looks like Apple has been very busy adding some great new applications to the App Store.  Last night we saw a flurry of new updates for applications, so perhaps the wait won't be much longer.  Again, thank you for your patience as this is out of our control at the moment.

We'd also like to thank everyone for their generous, and in many cases gracious, feedback.  Your feedback is invaluable, and sincerely appreciated.  So please keep it coming.  You can send feedback to support@digitalearthlings.com

Several people have written in to request that the forced jump rule be relaxed.  While the official rules of checkers require jumping if possible, we understand that some may prefer to play by more relaxed rules.  A development version has already been created allowing for the relaxed rule. It works, yet testing shows that the checkers engine will need changes to make play fun.  This should appear in a free update in the second half of August.

Some have requested a multi-player mode with the ability for two players, either on different iPhones or sharing the same iPhone, to play against each other.  While we don't want to commit to a firm time-line for these features, we would like to reassure our customers that we too want these features, and are investigating how to best implement them.

Jumping is a required rule of Checkers.
For further clarification see the official rules