How to Play Checkers
American checkers — English draughts — is played on an 8 × 8 board with twelve pieces each. Here is everything you need to play, and the first ideas that win games — try each rule on a board as you read, all the way to the classic shots.
Checkers onlineOn this page, 5 exercises to play on the board — 0 solved.
The board and the pieces
The board has sixty-four squares; only the thirty-two dark ones are used. Each player has twelve pieces on the dark squares of the three rows nearest them. Black moves first, then players alternate.
The dark squares are numbered 1 to 32 from Black’s side, which is how moves are written (11-15, 22x15).
Moving
A man moves one square diagonally forward to an empty square. It never moves backward.
Black opened with 11-15. Your move: slide one of your men one square diagonally forward, onto an empty square. Touch it, then its landing square.
Your turn.
Jumping
A man captures an enemy piece next to it by jumping over it to the empty square just beyond — forward only. If it can jump again from where it lands, it must keep going: a double or triple jump. Jumped pieces are removed.
Jumping is mandatory. When several jumps are possible, you may choose which one to make — but once started, a multiple jump must be completed. That is what makes shots possible: by giving up a piece, you decide your opponent’s reply.
A black man sits right next to your man on 22, with an empty square behind it: jump it. Try another piece first — the board will tell you why it can’t move.
Your move: capture is mandatory
Two of your men can jump. Take as many black men as you can.
Your move: capture is mandatory
Kings
A man that reaches the far row is crowned king (another piece is stacked on it), and its move ends there. A king moves and jumps one square in any diagonal direction, forward or backward.
Your king — the crowned piece — moves and jumps backward too. Jump the black man behind it.
Your move: capture is mandatory
Winning and drawing
You win when your opponent cannot move: no pieces left, or all of them blocked. The game is drawn when forty moves each go by without a jump or a man’s move, or when the same position repeats three times.
First winning ideas
Control the center and advance in groups, pieces backing each other up: a lone piece gets jumped. Keep your back row as long as possible so your opponent can’t crown.
And look for shots: give one or two pieces, let the forced jump happen, then take back more with a multiple jump. The daily puzzle offers one every morning.
Classic shots
Checkers players have names for the classic tactics, the shots: the two for one, the three for two, the in-and-out shot… All of them rely on the mandatory jump: give up a piece, and you decide your opponent’s reply.
Play them below: you make White’s moves, and Black replies as the rules force them to. Every morning, the daily checkers puzzle has a new one.
White to play and win: find the shot.
Your move: find the shot.
Frequently asked questions
Can a man jump backward?
No, not in American checkers: men move and jump forward only. Only kings jump backward.
Do I have to take the jump that captures the most?
No. Jumping is mandatory, but you choose among the available jumps. A multiple jump, once started, must be completed.
How does a king move?
One square diagonally, forward or backward, and it jumps the same way. Kings do not fly across the board as in international draughts.
What is the difference with international draughts?
International draughts uses a 10 × 10 board with twenty pieces each; men jump backward too, kings fly along the diagonals, and you must take the jump that captures the most pieces.