Checkers & Draughts

How do you play checkers?

Each player starts with a set of pieces on the dark squares of their side of the board. You take turns moving one piece diagonally forward to an empty dark square. If an enemy piece is next to yours on a diagonal and the square directly behind it is empty, you can jump over it and remove it from the board. You win by capturing every enemy piece or by leaving your opponent with no legal move.

A piece that reaches the far edge is crowned and becomes a king. Kings are stronger because they can move backwards as well as forwards. Pick your rule set and opponent on the start screen and press Play. The board highlights the pieces that can move, and shows where a selected piece can land.

Is checkers the same as draughts?

Mostly, yes. Checkers is the American name and draughts is the British one, and the standard 8x8 game with one-step kings is called American checkers in the United States and English draughts in the UK. The rules are the same. But draughts is also a family name: it covers International draughts on a 10x10 board, Russian draughts, Italian dama and many more, each with its own rules. This page covers the whole family in one game.

So the honest answer to checkers vs draughts is: the same game for the basic 8x8 version, and a wider family when you use the word draughts. If you only want the classic game, choose American / English on the setup screen.

What are the rules of American and English checkers?

The board is 8x8 and each side has 12 pieces. Men move one square diagonally forward and can only capture forwards. Kings move and capture one square at a time in any diagonal direction. Captures are compulsory: if you can jump, you must. If a jump leads to another jump with the same piece, you must keep jumping until it ends, which is a multi-jump.

If a man reaches the back row during a capture, it is crowned and its turn ends at once, even if a further jump would be possible for a king. You may choose any capture sequence, so you are not forced to take the longest one. This is the version most people mean when they search for checkers rules.

What are the rules of International draughts?

International draughts, also called Polish draughts or 10x10 draughts, is played on a 10x10 board with 20 pieces each. It is the version used in world championships and the one most people mean by dames in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Senegal and parts of Eastern Europe. Men move forward one square but can capture backwards as well as forwards.

Kings are flying: they move any number of empty squares along a diagonal, and can capture a piece from a distance and land on any empty square beyond it. The key rule is the majority capture: when you have a choice of captures, you must take the sequence that removes the most pieces. A man only becomes a king if it ends its turn on the last row, not if it merely passes through it.

How is Russian draughts different?

Russian draughts uses an 8x8 board with 12 pieces each, men that capture backwards, and flying kings. Two things set it apart. First, you must capture, but you may choose any capture, so there is no majority rule. Second, if a man reaches the back row in the middle of a capture, it becomes a king straight away and carries on capturing as a king in the same turn.

That promotion rule makes the game very sharp. A single combination can turn a man into a king and win several pieces at once, so Russian draughts is loved for its tactics and shots.

What is Brazilian draughts?

Brazilian draughts is International draughts played on the 8x8 board. You get the same rules: 12 pieces each, men capture backwards, flying kings and a compulsory majority capture. It is the common game in Brazil and is also popular on many online draughts sites because it combines the quick 8x8 board with the deeper international rules.

It is a good bridge if you play International draughts and want shorter games, or if you know Russian draughts and want to see how the majority rule changes the tactics.

What is Italian dama?

Italian dama, or dama italiana, is played on 8x8 with 12 pieces each, and it is the most restrictive of the family for men. Men move and capture forwards only, and a man cannot capture a king. Kings move one square at a time in any direction, but they can capture backwards and forwards.

Capture is compulsory and you must take the maximum number of pieces. If two sequences take the same number, you must prefer the one that uses a king, and after that the one that captures more kings. These precedence rules make Italian dama a careful, positional game where attacking a king with a man is useless.

What is Turkish dama?

Turkish dama, or dama, is quite different from the other five. Each side has 16 pieces, on the second and third rows, and every piece moves in straight lines rather than diagonally: forward or sideways for men, never backwards. Men capture by jumping forward or sideways over an adjacent enemy to the empty square beyond.

A man that reaches the far row becomes a king, and a Turkish king is a flying rook-like piece: it moves any number of empty squares in a straight line in all four directions, and can capture from a distance. Capture is compulsory and you must take the maximum number. Because both players use all the squares, the position changes very fast.

Which variant is best for beginners?

Start with American / English checkers. Men cannot capture backwards, kings move one square at a time, and the board is small, so you can see what is going on. Once you can win against Medium, try Russian draughts or Brazilian draughts to learn flying kings, and then International draughts on the large board.

Players who like unusual strategy should try Italian dama and Turkish dama. They feel very different from the others, which is part of the fun.

Can you play checkers against the computer?

Yes. Choose Vs computer, pick a rule set and a level, and choose your colour. The engine applies the real rules of the variant you pick, including compulsory capture and maximum capture.

• Easy: plays quickly and makes mistakes, including leaving pieces to be captured. Good for learning the rules.
• Medium: thinks a few moves ahead. It avoids simple losses and takes simple wins, but can be outplanned.
• Hard: alpha-beta search with iterative deepening, a transposition table and move ordering, running in a background Web Worker for about a second per move so the page stays smooth. It is a strong opponent on every board.

How do I play checkers with a friend?

For two players on one screen, choose 2 players, select a rule set and pass the phone or laptop. The board shows whose turn it is. For online play with a friend, choose Online friend, create a room and send the link or code on WhatsApp or by text. When your friend opens it, you start the game from the lobby. No account is needed on either side.

You can use the best-move hint and undo in games against the computer and on one screen. Online games have no undo, because both players are watching the same board.

How does the best-move hint work?

The hint asks the same search engine that powers Hard to look at your position and highlights the move it likes best. It is meant for learning: try to guess the move first, then check. Hints respect the compulsory capture rules, so on a forced capture the hint shows which capture is best among the legal ones. If you use hints a lot, the best way to improve is to ask why the move is good.

How do draws work?

A game is drawn when the same position occurs three times, called threefold repetition, or when a set number of moves have been played with no capture and no man moved. These rules stop endgames with kings from going on for ever. Endgames with a few kings are often drawn, which is why a clear piece lead matters so much.

In the 8x8 games, a lone king can often hold a draw against two kings if it keeps to the long diagonal. In flying-king games, three kings against one can win in some positions, so learn the main diagonal.

What is a good checkers strategy?

A few ideas help in every variant. Keep your back row for as long as you can, because it stops enemy men from becoming kings. Control the centre, since pieces there have more options. Keep your pieces connected in pairs and triangles so a jump always lands on an occupied square. Do not rush your men forward alone.

Count the exchanges before you move. A forced capture can be used as a trap: you give up one piece so the opponent must jump into a position where you take two or three. In the variants with forced capture, setting up a shot like this is how most strong players win games.

• Trade pieces when you are ahead, and avoid trades when you are behind.
• Look for forced capture tricks: the opponent must take, so you decide where their piece ends up.
• In flying-king games, try to get the first king and keep it on the long diagonal.
• Do not leave a gap behind a piece on the edge of the board.

Controls on phone, tablet and keyboard

Tap or click a piece, then tap a highlighted square to move. If a capture is compulsory, only the pieces that can capture are selectable. In a multi-jump you keep tapping the next landing square. On a keyboard use the arrow keys to move the cursor, Enter or Space to select and place, U to undo, H for a hint and M to mute.

Every square is a labelled button, so the game works with a screen reader, and the board scales from a small phone to a large monitor with large tap targets. Your last rule set and level are saved in the browser.

Where do checkers and draughts come from?

People have played diagonal capture games for centuries. The 8x8 game developed in Spain and France from earlier games played on a chess board, and the French dames spread across Europe. The 10x10 board, which gives International draughts, appeared in France in the early eighteenth century. English draughts was the game in which Marion Tinsley dominated for more than forty years, and in 2007 researchers announced that the 8x8 English game is solved as a draw with perfect play.