How to play Checkers: rules and strategy

Checkers takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master. This guide covers the complete rules, then the ideas strong players use to win: protecting the back row, controlling the centre and setting up jumps your opponent can’t refuse.

The board and the pieces

Checkers is played on an 8×8 board, but only the 32 dark squares are used. Each player starts with 12 pieces, called men, on the dark squares of the three rows nearest them. The two middle rows start empty. The row nearest each player is their back row, and it’s the row the other player is trying to reach.

The version on BoardGameSite follows the standard American and English rules, sometimes called English draughts. Other countries play variations on bigger boards or with different king rules, and those are noted below where they differ.

How pieces move

Players take turns moving one piece. A man moves one square diagonally forward, onto an empty dark square. Men can never move backwards, so every move you make with a man commits it a little further up the board.

Capturing

If an opponent’s piece is on a square diagonally in front of yours, and the square directly beyond it is empty, you can jump over it. The jumped piece is removed from the board.

• Captures are compulsory. If you have a capture available anywhere on the board, you must take one. You can’t make an ordinary move instead.
• Multiple jumps. If your piece lands on a square from which it can jump again, it must keep jumping in the same turn. One move can capture two, three or even more pieces, and the path can change direction along the way.
• Choosing between captures. If you have several different captures, you can pick any of them. You don’t have to choose the one that takes the most pieces, but once you start a chain of jumps you must finish it.
• Men capture forwards only. An ordinary piece can’t jump backwards. Kings can.

Kings

When a man reaches the far row, it is crowned and becomes a king. A king moves and captures one square diagonally in any direction: forwards or backwards. That freedom makes a king worth far more than a man.

If a man reaches the far row in the middle of a chain of jumps, it is crowned and its turn ends there. It has to wait until the next turn to use its new powers.

In some countries, kings can “fly” across any number of empty squares, like a bishop in chess. In the standard rules used here they can’t: a king moves one square at a time.

Winning, losing and draws

You win when your opponent has no legal move. Usually that’s because you’ve captured all of their pieces, but you can also win by blocking every piece they have left so none of them can move.

Games between equal players often end with a few kings each and no way to make progress. On BoardGameSite, if both sides make 40 moves in a row with only kings moving and nothing captured, the game is a draw.

Strategy: the opening

Head for the centre. A piece in the middle of the board can move in two directions and can support its neighbours. A piece on the edge of the board can’t be jumped, but it has only one way forward and does little to control the game.

Keep your back row. As long as your back row is occupied, your opponent can’t crown a king. You don’t need all four pieces there: many players keep a bridge, two back-row pieces with one empty dark square between them. Together they make it very hard for a lone enemy man to slip through and be crowned. Move these pieces late, when there’s nothing better to do.

Move in groups. A piece is safe from capture if the square behind it is occupied, because the attacker has nowhere to land. Pieces that advance side by side, backing each other up, are much harder to break than a single piece racing ahead on its own.

Strategy: the middle game

Use compulsory captures against your opponent. Because a capture must be taken, you can give away one piece on purpose to force your opponent’s piece onto a square where you then jump two or three. These forcing combinations are called shots, and they win more games than anything else. Before every move, look at each capture your move would allow and check what happens next.

Check the computer’s forced replies too. The same rule applies to you. If your opponent leaves a piece hanging, ask why before taking it: it may be bait for a double jump.

Trade when you’re ahead. If you’re a piece up, swapping one for one is good for you: 6 against 5 becomes 3 against 2, which is a much bigger advantage. If you’re behind, avoid trades and keep the position complicated.

Don’t run out of safe moves. In checkers you have to move, even when every move hurts you. Keep a few “spare” safe moves in reserve, such as a back-row piece you can bring up later, so you’re never forced into a bad one.

Strategy: the endgame

Get kings first. Once the middle of the board opens up, the first player to crown a king or two usually takes control. A king can hunt down men that can’t turn around to defend themselves.

Use your kings together. A single king is hard to trap, especially in the double corner, the corner of the board with two dark squares next to each other, where it can shuffle back and forth. To win against a lone king you’ll usually need two kings working together to drive it out of the corner and pin it against the edge.

Count before you trade. In the endgame every piece matters. Before you swap, count what’s left on both sides and make sure the result still wins.

Common beginner mistakes

• Moving the back row early and letting the opponent crown a king.
• Pushing one piece far ahead on its own, where it’s easy to capture.
• Leaving gaps in a line of pieces that allow a double jump.
• Grabbing a free piece without checking what the forced reply sets up.
• Crowding pieces on one side of the board and running out of moves.

Checkers words to know

• Man: an ordinary piece that moves forwards only.
• King: a crowned piece that moves forwards and backwards.
• Jump: capturing by leaping over an opponent’s piece.
• Multi-jump: two or more jumps in a single turn.
• Back row (king row): the row nearest you; the row your opponent wants to reach.
• Shot: a sacrifice that forces your opponent into a bigger loss.
• Double corner: the corner with two dark squares side by side, a safe spot for a lone king.