What the Shell vs Loki's Leikr

You both move at the same time, in secret. Only when the turtles land do you find out whose plan just fell apart. Oh no — this ain't your traditional five-in-a-row. What the Shell is the one you reach for when you and a friend are bored on the couch: "Wanna play What the Shell?" A game between two beginners can be over in three minutes, and somehow you're still at it two hours later, laughing every time your minds collide and another egg turns up on the board. "Simultaneous play boosts the fun of this intuitive, yet surprisingly deep board game." — Matthias Titze, Clarc producer (German Computer Game Award winner) There's no taking turns, and nobody goes first — so nobody gets the first-player edge. You lock in your move, your friend locks in theirs, and the board resolves both at once. Strategy still wins games, but you're up against a mind you can't see, and you never know where she just played. Sandwich two of their turtles and they're gone. Both reach for the same square and your turtles crash into an egg — and an egg is a curious thing: you can capture it, or hatch it. One bold move flips a game you'd already written off. Capture at the right moment and a chain reaction can tear through the position your friend spent the whole game building. It's never won or lost until the last move. Made for two: • Sit down together, each on your own phone or tablet, and battle it out face to face — best enjoyed in the same room • Or play online at your own pace, whether your friend's across town or across the world • No one around? Tap Quick Match for a random opponent, or take on the panda offline, from an easygoing Newcomer to a tough Expert • Got a controller? Connect it to your iPad or iPhone and play however you want Read the board, then read your friend. Capture a couple of turtles, deal with the eggs, line up five in a row — and enjoy the look on his face when it all comes together.

Loki's Leikr brings together eight classic board games in one beautiful app, unified by a Norse-inspired aesthetic. THE GAMES • Ludo - the classic Norwegian Ludo with two named rule sets ("Hoenir" from Norway and "Røros" with extra attack rules), plus a custom mode where you can toggle 10 individual rule settings yourself. • Backgammon - three variants (Standard, Hypergammon, Acey-deucy), an optional doubling cube, and match play to 1, 3, 5, or 7 points. • Hnefatafl - the Viking board game where attackers try to surround the king and defenders help him escape to a corner. Three board sizes: Tablut 9×9, Hnefatafl 11×11, and Alea Evangelii 19×19. • Nine Men's Morris (Mylna) - two variants (9-piece and 12-piece, the latter with extra diagonals and four extra mills), with an optional flying phase when one side has only three pieces left. • Draughts (Dam / Checkers) - five international variants: English, Russian, International (10×10), Canadian (12×12), and Turkish (with orthogonal rather than diagonal movement). • Alquerque - the medieval Iberian ancestor of modern draughts, played on a 5×5 graph with 12 pieces per side. • Gomoku - five in a row. Two rule sets (Free Gomoku and Standard Gomoku) and two board sizes (13×13 and 15×15). • Chess - classic FIDE chess with three AI difficulty levels (Easy, Normal, Hard), optional time controls (5+0, 10+0, 15+10, or unlimited), an undo button, on-board legal-move hints, algebraic notation, and full draw-offer and resignation flows. SHARED FEATURES • Play solo against the AI or with a friend on the same device (hot-seat). • Optional "pass the device to next player" hand-off screen. • Statistics overlay that logs all your solo games with per-game drill-down (variant, side, AI level, settings) and a 12-week time-series chart. • iCloud sync across devices - statistics, settings, and game setups follow you automatically. • Five languages: Norwegian, English, Old Norse (reconstructed orthography), Greek, and Portuguese. Switch live inside the app. • Animations, sound effects, and haptic feedback for satisfying piece movement. • Built-in rules tutorial for every game - no external manual needed. PRIVACY Loki's Leikr collects no personal information. No accounts, no email, no advertising, no tracking, no analytics, no third-party SDKs. Everything runs offline. iCloud sync (optional) goes directly between your own devices via Apple - we never have access to the data. DESIGN The boards are drawn in a warm, woodgrain-inspired palette with soft gold details. The background is a midnight-indigo starfield with a subtle aurora at the bottom. Norse runes and typography decorate the screen without dominating - the tone is playful and saga-tinged, not dark or grim. Suitable for the whole family - variants and AI difficulty levels are adjustable so beginners and experienced players alike can find their challenge. Built by Okeanos AS for Hoenir.ai.