Checkers game rules
Checkers, also known as English Draughts or American-English Draughts, is the most popular draughts game in english speaking countries, particularly in UK and USA.
Board and pieces
- It is played on the dark squares of a 8x8 checkerboard.
- Both sides have 12 men (dark and light), initially placed on the 3 lowest ranks of the board.
- The player with dark (usually red, or black) pieces starts the game.
Moves and captures
- Pieces are moved always diagonally.
- Men move one cell forward. They can never move backward.
- Men capture by jumping over the opponent piece and landing on the next square behind, that must be empty. The opponent piece is removed from the board.
- Several captures can be made in the same move, provided that the same piece may continue jumping over opponent pieces from the destination square.
- Whenever is possible, it is compulsory to play a capturing move.
Promotion and kings
Men promote, becoming kings, when they reach the last row.
The difference between kings an men is that kings can move also backward.
End of the game
The goal of the game is to capture all the opponent pieces.
The game ends in a draw in these cases:
- By agreement between both players.
- The same position occurs for the third time, with the same player having to move.
- 80 successive king moves are played without any capture.
Checkers in Ludoteka
You can play Checkers in Ludoteka to one game. The color of the pieces is decided randomly.
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