How to Play Checkers
Checkers — draughts in the UK — is a two-player board game of diagonal moves and forced jumps. Capture all your opponent's pieces, crown kings, and set up multi-jumps to win.
By the Multiplayer Games team · Updated · Rules checked against the sources below
Objective
Capture all of your opponent's pieces or leave them with no legal move.
Setup
Each player has twelve pieces on the dark squares of the three rows nearest them. The darker side usually moves first.
Checkers rules, step by step
- Move diagonally. Pieces move one square diagonally forward onto an empty dark square.
- Jump to capture. Jump diagonally over an adjacent enemy piece onto the empty square behind it to capture it.
- Captures are compulsory. If you can capture, you must. If you land where you can jump again, you keep jumping in the same turn.
- Crown a king. Reach the far row and your piece becomes a king, which can move and capture backwards too.
- Win. Take every enemy piece, or leave your opponent with no legal move.
Checkers variants, and the rules we use
Checkers is played slightly differently from place to place. These are the variants you're most likely to meet:
- International draughts. A 10×10 board, men capture backwards and kings 'fly' any distance.
- Russian and Brazilian. 8×8 boards with flying kings and backwards captures.
- Casual 'no forced capture'. A common family rule, though not an official one.
How Checkers works in Multiplayer Games:
- English draughts: men move and capture forward only; kings move one square in any diagonal direction.
- Capturing is compulsory, and multi-jumps must be finished.
- A man crowned during a jump stops there; an existing king keeps jumping.
- A player with no legal move loses.
Checkers strategy for beginners
- Keep your back row filled as long as you can — it stops your opponent getting kings.
- Move pieces in groups; lone pieces are easy to trap.
- Use forced captures against your opponent: offer one piece to set up a double jump.
- Kings are powerful — use them to hunt from behind once you have one.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Forgetting that captures are mandatory, and walking into a forced multi-jump.
- Rushing pieces forward alone along the edges.
Checkers terms explained
- Man
- An uncrowned piece.
- King
- A crowned piece that can move backwards.
- Multi-jump
- Several captures in one turn with the same piece.
- Back row
- Your home row — keeping it filled stops enemy kings.
A short history of Checkers
Checkers, called draughts in Britain, comes from older games such as alquerque; the modern form on a chessboard was being played in Europe by the 1500s. English draughts — the version we play — is the standard in the UK and the US.
In 2007 a team led by Jonathan Schaeffer at the University of Alberta announced that their program Chinook had solved checkers: with perfect play from both sides, the game is a draw.
