Ancient Petteia

Petteia is the ancient Greek board game Plato names — and the game whose rulebook was never fully written down. This app does not pretend one reconstruction is the definitive one. It ships the three best-documented rule sets side by side, with their antique sources, and lets you see for yourself how the same position resolves differently under each. A REAL OPPONENT, NOT A RANDOM MOVER Play a complete match against a purpose-built negamax search engine with alpha-beta pruning, calibrated at three tiers: Recruit, Hoplite and Strategos. Ask for a one-move hint, take a move back when you want to explore, and replay a finished match move by move from the move list. THREE RULES, ONE BOARD The Rules Lab puts the documented reconstructions next to each other — rook-step movement, sliding movement and the corner-sanctuary capture rule. A live board preview shows the same position resolving differently under each set, so the historical debate becomes something you can feel rather than only read about. THE PUZZLE GAUNTLET 60 bundled problems, graded in tiers, each with a stated objective such as "win a soldier in three", a hint, and a solution you can step through one move at a time. THE CAMPAIGN 12 scenarios with historical briefings and asymmetric starting positions, from the narrow pass at Thermopylae to the plain of Mantinea — each with a star rating to improve. LEARN BY DOING The interactive tutorial builds every lesson as a forced-move exercise: movement, flanking captures, chain captures, safe squares, zugzwang and the corridor finish. ANALYSIS BENCH Build any position by dragging stones from the tray or pasting a short position code, then read the engine's evaluation, the stones currently under threat and the best available replies. TWO PLAYERS, ONE DEVICE Pass-and-play with automatic board flip between turns — keep the board level or let it rotate to face whoever is on turn. THE LIBRARY A sourced rulebook with the antique passages quoted in translation, three board sizes (7x7, 8x8 and 12x8) laid out for direct comparison, and a 30-term Greek glossary with pronunciation. YOUR PLAY, CHARTED Statistics drawn with Swift Charts: matches won per difficulty tier, puzzles solved per tier, average match length and the openings you reach for most. DAILY PUZZLE Solve it on the home screen or from the optional home-screen widget, switch on a reminder only if you want one, and collect Game Center achievements that also work offline as local badges. MADE FOR EVERY PLAYER Board themes (marble, terracotta and black-figure), sound and haptics, a colour-blind-safe palette, VoiceOver board narration such as "your soldier on c4", Dynamic Type sizing and reduced-motion support. COMPLETELY OFFLINE Everything is bundled. No account, no network calls, no purchases, no ads, and no camera, microphone or location permission is ever requested. The first screen renders instantly from local seed content — handy on a plane, in a classroom, or anywhere the signal is not. Whether you came from classics, from abstract strategy, or from a club that wants a real two-player game without a table or a set of pieces, Petteia is the lost game you can actually play.