Setup
Checkers uses an eight-by-eight board, but only the dark squares. Each player starts with twelve pieces on the dark squares of the three rows nearest them, leaving two empty rows in the middle. Light moves first.
Because play is confined to one colour of square, the game is really played on 32 squares, not 64. Every piece stays on dark squares for the entire game.
How pieces move
An ordinary piece — a man — moves one square diagonally forward to an empty square. It cannot move backwards and it cannot move sideways or straight ahead, because those squares are the wrong colour.
Capturing
If an enemy piece sits diagonally adjacent and the square directly beyond it is empty, you jump over it, landing on that empty square, and the jumped piece is removed. Men jump forwards only.
Captures are compulsory. If any capture is available anywhere on the board, you must make one. You may choose which capture if there are several, but you may not decline.
This single rule is what turns checkers from a simple race into a tactical game. Because your opponent is forced to take, you can offer a piece knowing exactly what they must do next — and set up a bigger capture in reply.
Jump chains
If, after landing, the same piece can jump again, it must. The chain continues until no further jump is available from that piece. All captured pieces are removed at the end of the sequence.
A multiple jump counts as a single move. Three pieces taken in one turn is common and five is not unusual.
Kings
When a man reaches the far row — the opponent's back rank — it is promoted to a king and marked with a crown. A king moves and jumps diagonally in all four directions, forwards and backwards.
A piece that reaches the back rank by a jump stops there; the promotion ends the move, even if further jumps would be available. It can continue the chain on a later turn as a king.
Winning
You win when your opponent has no pieces left, or no legal move. The second condition matters more than beginners expect — a player with pieces that are all blocked loses, so trapping is a real winning method.
Draws happen when neither side can make progress, usually with few pieces left and kings unable to force anything.
Compulsory capture is a weapon
Because your opponent must take, you can predict their move exactly. Offering one piece to win two is the most common tactic in the game and it is available from the opening.
Playing here
- Click a piece to see its legal moves, then click a destination.
- If a capture is available, only capturing moves are offered — the board enforces the rule.
- Jump chains are played as a single move; just click the final destination.
- Undo steps back past the computer's reply as well as your own.
- Two-player mode turns the computer off for a game on one device.
Four opening principles
- Keep your back row intact as long as you reasonably can. It stops the opponent kinging.
- Advance in connected groups rather than pushing single pieces forward.
- Control the centre — pieces there have more available moves.
- Before every move, check what the opponent is forced to do if you move there.