Checkers
- Category
- Board
- Players
- 1-2
- Controls
- Click / Tap
- Board
- 8 x 8
About this game
Checkers, or draughts depending on where you learned it, is played on the dark squares of an eight by eight board. Pieces move diagonally forward one square, capture by jumping over an opponent piece into the empty square beyond, and become kings when they reach the far side. Kings move both directions, which is what turns a stalled game around.
It looks gentler than chess and plays anything but. Because captures are chained, a single well-placed piece can trigger a sequence that removes three of your opponent pieces in one move. Games are frequently decided by a sacrifice that looks like a blunder and turns out to be the opening of a multi-jump.
Controls
| Click or tap a piece | Select it and highlight its legal moves. |
| Click a highlighted square | Move or jump there. |
| New game | Reset the board. |
| Mode | Play the computer or share the device with a friend. |
Tips & strategy
Hold your back row as long as you reasonably can. Those squares are the only thing stopping an opponent piece from being crowned, and every king they gain is worth far more than the tempo you spend keeping the row intact. Advance from the middle instead.
Move pieces in connected pairs rather than sending single men forward. A piece with a friendly piece diagonally behind it cannot be jumped without the jumper landing on a square you can immediately recapture from. Isolated pieces are what feed multi-jumps.
Count the whole capture sequence before you accept an offered piece. The most common way to lose this game is taking a free-looking piece and discovering that the jump lands you on a square where two of yours come off in reply. If a capture looks too generous, it usually is.
Aim to control the centre columns. A piece in the middle has four diagonal directions available and can threaten both sides of the board, whereas a piece hugging the edge has half the options and is easily trapped against the wall.
Questions
Are captures compulsory?
In this version you take the capture when one is available, which is the standard tournament rule and the reason chained jumps are so dangerous.
How do kings work?
A piece that reaches the opposite back row is crowned and can then move and jump both forwards and backwards.
Can I jump more than one piece per turn?
Yes. If landing from a jump gives you another jump, the sequence continues in the same move.
How does the game end?
You win by capturing all opposing pieces, or by leaving your opponent with no legal move.