Card & board strategy match
Pentaduo is a single-player and multiplayer card-and-board strategy game for iPhone and iPad — five-in-a-row across two decks, eight jacks, and four wild corners. This page is here to answer questions and help you reach me if something goes wrong.
Yes. The single-player game, daily challenge, stats, and tutorial all work without a network. You only need a connection for Game Center online multiplayer and iCloud sync.
Sign in to the same iCloud account on both devices. The single-player in-progress match, match history, and your daily challenge streak sync automatically via CloudKit. Game Center stats sync via Game Center.
Make sure Game Center is signed in (Settings → Game Center on iOS). Then open Pentaduo → Online (or Nearby for local Wi-Fi/Bluetooth play), invite a friend or auto-match. Both players replay the same deterministic shuffle, so neither side has an advantage.
Turn an iPad — or an AirPlay-mirrored TV — into a shared parlor board while two phones act as the players' hands. The iPad shows the full board; each phone shows only that player's cards.
Four tiers. Novice plays mostly random legal moves. Apprentice uses simple run-and-block heuristics. Adept looks one ply ahead. Expert runs alpha-beta search with a richer evaluation under a 5-second time budget per move (20 seconds in the hidden Impossible Mode) — Expert plays a serious game.
That's by design. Coach Mode is meant for learning the game and for replaying tough boards — turn it off in Settings once you're comfortable. Hints ask Expert what it would do; they're available at any tier, and Expert's recommendation is never wrong by its own evaluation.
Pentaduo doesn't collect personal data for itself, and there are no accounts. The only thing that's ever shared with other players is your optional Daily Challenge winning board, and only if you win while signed into Game Center (see Privacy). To wipe local stats and match history: delete the app (touch and hold the Pentaduo icon → Remove App → Delete App — "Offload App" keeps your data), and if you use iCloud, also turn off Pentaduo under Settings → your name → iCloud → Saved to iCloud, or synced records will return on reinstall.
Found a bug, have a feature idea, or want to send praise? Email me:
I read every message. Please include your iOS version and the device model if it's a bug.
Pentaduo is private by default and has no accounts or analytics. Read the full privacy policy and the terms of use.