Checkers · 6 min read

How to Play Checkers: Rules for Beginners

Setting up the board

Classic checkers, called American or English draughts, is played on the same 8×8 board as chess, but only the dark squares are ever used. Turn the board so each player has a dark square on their far left. Give each side twelve pieces, and place them on the dark squares of the three rows closest to that player. The two empty rows across the middle are where the fighting begins.

How the pieces move

An ordinary piece, called a man, moves one square diagonally forward toward the opponent. It never moves straight, sideways, or backward, and it never moves onto a light square. Because everything happens on the diagonals, a man always stays on the dark colour it started on. On a quiet turn with no capture available, you simply slide one man forward into an empty neighbouring square.

Jumping and forced captures

You capture by jumping. If an enemy man sits on a diagonal square right in front of yours, and the square just beyond it is empty, you leap over the enemy piece, land on that empty square, and remove the piece you jumped. If your landing square puts you next to another jumpable enemy piece, you must continue the same turn, chaining as many jumps as the position allows. Here is the rule beginners forget: capturing is mandatory. If a jump is available you must take it, though when several separate jumps exist you may choose which one to play.

Kinging and crowning

When one of your men reaches the far back row, the opponent’s edge, it is immediately crowned and becomes a king. Players show this by stacking a second captured piece on top. A king may move and capture diagonally both forward and backward, one square at a time, which makes it far more flexible than a plain man. Note that if a man reaches the back row by a jump, its turn ends there, even if more jumps look possible; it cannot keep jumping as a brand-new king on the same move.

How to win

You win by leaving your opponent with nothing to do. That happens in one of two ways: you capture every one of their pieces, or you block them so completely that they have no legal move on their turn. If neither side can force a win and the position repeats, the game is agreed a draw. Keep your pieces working together, watch for forced jumps in both directions, and race for that first king.