How to play Checkers

What checkers is

Checkers, also known as draughts, is a two-player game on the 32 dark squares of an 8×8 board. Each player starts with twelve pieces on the three rows nearest them. Pieces move diagonally forward, capture by jumping over enemy pieces, and become powerful kings when they reach the far side. You win by taking every enemy piece or leaving your opponent with no move at all.

Playing checkers on AllFun

AllFun Checkers plays the standard 8×8 rules. Against the computer, choose Easy, Medium or Hard, play as Red or White, decide who moves first, and play one game or a match of first to 3. For a different feel, the Flying kings setting lets kings move and jump along a whole diagonal, as in the international style.

Play Online finds an opponent and Play a friend gives you a room code to share. Online, you have 45 seconds for each move; if the clock runs out, a legal move is played for you.

Tap a piece and the squares it can reach glow; tap one of them or drag the piece there. When a capture is possible, the game reminds you that you must take it, and a multi-jump shows its whole path as a dotted arrow. If two captures are possible, you choose which way to jump. When you are stuck, a hint shows the best move as a gold arrow.

The rules

Moving

A piece, called a man, moves one square diagonally forward onto an empty dark square. Men never move backwards, except when they are kings.

Capturing

• If an enemy piece is diagonally next to yours and the square behind it is empty, you can jump over it and remove it.
• Captures are compulsory. If you can jump, you must, though you may choose which capture to make when there are several.
• After a jump, if the same piece can jump again, it keeps jumping in the same move. Two, three or more pieces can fall at once.

Kings

A man that reaches the far row is crowned a king, and that ends the move. A king moves and captures one square diagonally in any direction, forwards or backwards.

Winning and draws

You win when your opponent has no pieces left, or has pieces but no legal move. The game is a draw when the same position comes up three times, or when both sides make 40 moves each with no capture and no crowning.

Six tips for checkers

1. Hold the centre. Pieces in the middle of the board have more moves and support each other.
2. Keep your back row. While your last row is filled, the opponent cannot crown a king. Move those pieces last.
3. Move in pairs. A piece with a friend diagonally behind it cannot be jumped from the front.
4. Use the forced capture. Because captures are compulsory, you can offer one piece to drag an enemy piece into a spot where you jump two.
5. Look for the double jump. Before every move, check whether it opens a two-piece jump for either side.
6. Trade when you are ahead. With more pieces, even exchanges bring you closer to a won ending. With fewer, avoid them.

A short history

Games of jumping and capturing on a board are very old, and checkers on an 8×8 board has been played in much its present form for several centuries. In 2007 researchers announced that a computer program had worked out the game completely: with perfect play from both sides, checkers is a draw.

Checkers FAQ