If you don’t know the game … 

Uckers is an addictive, high-tempo board game with its history firmly rooted in the Royal Navy and more latterly in other UK and Commonwealth Armed Forces. Similar to Ludo, it involves a board, counters and either 2 or 4 players, but that is where the comparisons end! Adding more than a few exciting twists, Uckers injects several rules that add a level of skill required to balance the luck of the dice. It is this mix of luck and skill that until now have made Uckers the best kept secret of the board game world. 

The game is based on the simple premise of getting four or eight pieces around the board (home) before the opposition. Even greater glory is attached to achieving all pieces home without the opponent getting any home at all—this is known as an 8-piece victory. For the ultimate win though, a player who gets all their pieces home while their opponent has got none out of base at all, is said to achieve an 8-piece ‘all in’ victory. Any 8-piece victory warrants the losing player’s name being recorded on the reverse of the Uckers board for posterity. 

There are several rule variations played in Uckers which have evolved over time. Just asking a group of Uckers players to agree on a ‘standard’ set of rules is likely to result in some vigorous differences of opinion. One rule however is common to all Uckers games and that is what most of the game’s tactics are based around. If a player stacks two pieces of the same colour on top of one another (a ‘blob’) then their opponent’s pieces cannot pass. That is, except if they can get a piece behind the blob and roll a six on the first roll of their turn. They then have an opportunity to challenge the blob. If a player has pieces of differing colour on the same square, then there is no such special treatment. 

How did UCKERS.COM come to be? 

On 27TH August 2022, Paul was playing online chess with an old Royal Navy shipmate whilst having a video call at the same time.  During the reminiscing of their time in the Royal Navy, Paul wondered why there hadn't been a digital version of the game of Uckers.  He checked for URLs and found that Uckers.com was available so he bought it on the spot! Little did he know what turn events would take. 

Having gotten himself a website URL, Paul then faced up to the dawning realisation he didn’t know much about web design. Undeterred, he turned to Google and quickly discovered an Uckers iOS game already existed. Good as it was, it was not the polished product that Paul thought the Uckers world needed.   He contacted Tim, the developer and the two of them agreed to join forces and create Uckers International Ltd. 

Getting inspiration from a number of sources such as chess.com and Duolingo, Uckers.com aims to build a global community around a gaming experience that both brings back memories for seasoned Uckers players whilst introducing a new generation to this incredible game. 

Fun fact:  Although Paul and Tim have been working together on this project since September 2022, they have never actually met in the flesh.  Everything has been done online! 

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