Checkers

How to play Checkers

Checkers — known as draughts outside North America — is played on an 8×8 board using only the dark squares. Each player starts with 12 pieces. You are red and move first, sending pieces diagonally forward one square at a time onto an empty dark square. The aim is to capture all of your opponent's pieces, or to leave them with no legal move.

You capture by jumping: if an opponent's piece sits diagonally in front of yours with an empty square directly beyond it, you leap over it and remove it. Captures are compulsory — if you can jump, you must, and if more jumps are available with the same piece, you must keep going in one turn. When a piece reaches the far row it becomes a king, which can move and capture in any diagonal direction. Here, click one of your pieces and the legal destinations light up; click a highlighted square to move.

Strategy tips

• Control the centre. Central pieces have more options and are harder to trap against the edge.
• Use the edges defensively. A piece on the side wall can't be captured from that side — handy for safe development.
• Think in trades. Because captures are forced, you can often set up an exchange that wins you a second piece.
• Race for kings. A king is far stronger than a man; getting the first one is a real advantage.
• Keep your back row intact. Holding your home row late stops the opponent from crowning easy kings.

A little history

Checkers is ancient — boards resembling it date back thousands of years, and the modern form on a chess board emerged in 12th-century Europe. It's also a landmark in computer science: in 2007, researchers announced that checkers had been solved — with perfect play by both sides, the game is a draw. The computer opponent here plays a fair, beatable game across three difficulty levels.

Frequently asked questions

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