Checkers Rules

In checkers, two players move 12 pieces each diagonally across the dark squares of an 8x8 board, capture by jumping, and crown pieces that reach the far row. Captures are compulsory, and you win when your opponent has no legal move.

These are the rules of American checkers, also called English draughts or straight checkers, as the World Checkers/Draughts Federation sets them for tournament play. Where house rules or other countries differ, the section says so, and says what our board does.

Checkers Rules in Six Steps

1. Set up. Place the board with a dark square at each player's near left. Each player puts 12 pieces on the dark squares of the three rows nearest them.
2. Move. The dark pieces move first. On your turn, move one piece one square diagonally forward onto an empty dark square.
3. Jump. Capture by jumping an enemy piece diagonally next to yours onto the empty square beyond. Captures are compulsory, but you choose which one to make.
4. Keep jumping. If the piece that jumped can jump again, it must, until no jump is left.
5. Crown. A piece reaching the far row becomes a king and the turn ends. Kings move and jump one square diagonally, forward or backward.
6. Win. You win when your opponent cannot move on their turn, because every piece is gone or blocked. A game neither side can win is a draw.

The Board and Pieces

Checkers uses the same 8x8 board of 64 squares as chess, but only the 32 dark squares. Set it between the players so each has a dark square in the near left corner and a light square in the near right. That near-left dark square is your single corner; the pair of dark squares at your near right is your double corner.

Each player has 12 pieces, 24 in all, one set dark and one light. The dark side is called Black in every rulebook, whatever its real colour: in many US sets it is black against red, and tournament sets use red against white, with red as the dark side. For recording games, the dark squares are numbered 1 to 32, starting in Black's double corner with Black at the top of the diagram.

Black's pieces start on squares 1 to 12 and White's on 21 to 32, leaving squares 13 to 20 empty. The step-by-step setup with a full diagram is on our main checkers page.

Moving

The dark pieces move first, then the players take turns. A turn is one move by one piece, and passing is not allowed.

• A man moves one square diagonally forward, to the left or right, onto an empty dark square.
• Men never move backward. Only kings do.
• Pieces never leave the dark squares, because a diagonal step always lands on a square of the same colour.
• A jump replaces the move. If any of your pieces can capture, you must capture instead of making a plain move.

Jumping and Capturing

A jump is the only way to capture. When an enemy piece sits on a square diagonally next to yours and the square directly beyond it is empty, jump over it to the empty square and remove the enemy piece from the board.

• Capturing is compulsory. If you can jump, you must, even when the jump walks into a worse capture in reply.
• You choose between captures. With two or more captures available, make any one of them. You do not have to take the most pieces.
• Finish what you start. If the piece that jumped can jump again from its landing square, it must keep going until no jump is left. A multiple jump may change direction.
• Men jump forward only; kings jump both ways.
• Any piece can capture a king, man or king alike.
• Each piece can be jumped only once in a multiple jump, and you can never jump your own pieces.

The double-jump diagram on our checkers page shows a piece taking two in one turn, 10 to 19 to 28.

Crowning and Kings

A man that reaches the far row, its king row or crown head, becomes a king. It is crowned with a second piece of the same colour placed on top, traditionally by the opponent and often using a piece already captured. Reaching the king row ends the turn, whether the man arrived by a plain move or by a jump, so a newly crowned king cannot jump again until your next turn.

A king moves one square diagonally in any direction and jumps forward or backward, and it can mix directions within one multiple jump. It cannot fly across open squares: that rule belongs to other versions of the game, covered under variants below.

How to Win

You win when your opponent has no legal move on their turn. Usually that is because every one of their pieces has been captured, but a player whose remaining pieces are all blocked loses too, with pieces still on the board. A player can also resign at any time. Our board has no resign button: press New Game to start again.

Draws

A game is drawn when neither side can force a win and the players agree to stop. The tournament rules add two automatic endings:

• Threefold repetition. The same position, with the same player to move, arises for the third time.
• The 40-move rule. Both players have made 40 moves each with no piece captured and no uncrowned man moving forward. Kings shuffling back and forth make no progress, so the count keeps running while only kings move.

Our board applies both automatically and shows a countdown during the last 20 moves each before the 40-move draw. You can offer a draw on your turn, though not in the middle of a multiple jump. Against the computer the answer is instant: it accepts only when it judges its own position to be the worse one. In a two-player game the other player can press Accept Draw, and the offer lapses once the next move is made.

Illegal Moves and the Huff

The tournament rules list the moves that are illegal, among them moving a man backward, missing a capture, stopping a multiple jump before it is finished, carrying on jumping after crowning, moving onto the wrong square, and moving out of turn. A player who touches a playable piece on their turn must move it. The first illegal move is taken back with a caution; a second one in the same game loses it.

Older home rules let the opponent "huff" a piece that failed to capture, removing it from the board as a penalty. The huff made capturing optional in practice, and it is not in the official rules, though some rules sheets in game boxes still print it. On our board the question never comes up: while a capture is available, no other move is offered.

Tournament Rules

Colours for the first game are decided at random, and players swap colours after that. Many top events start each game from a balloted opening: the first three moves are drawn at random from a list of accepted openings, and each opening is played twice so both players get each side. The three-move ballot has been used in US championships since 1934, because it cuts down the draws that free openings produce between experts. Games without a ballot are called go as you please, or GAYP. Tournament clocks usually require 30 moves in the first hour. Our board always starts from the normal position with a free choice of opening.

How Our Board Plays the Rules

• Against the computer by default. You play the dark pieces, which start at the top of the board and move down, and you move first. The computer plays at one strength. Press 2 Players and two people take turns at one screen.
• Only legal moves. Select a piece and green dots mark where it can go. When a capture is available, only pieces that can capture will select, and a piece partway through a multiple jump stays selected until it is finished.
• Crowning ends the turn, exactly as in the official rules. Kings are marked with a gold K.
• Draws by agreement, by threefold repetition, and by the 40-move rule, the last two automatic.
• Your game is saved in this browser, so you can close the tab and pick up where you left off.

Checkers Variants

Every version of checkers shares diagonal moves and captures by jumping. They differ on four points: the size of the board, whether kings fly any distance, whether men may capture backward, and whether you must choose the capture that takes the most pieces. American checkers answers no to the last three.

International draughts

The main game in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Suriname, and parts of Africa and eastern Europe: a 10x10 board with 20 pieces each. Kings fly, men capture backward, and you must take the most pieces available. A man is crowned only if it ends its move on the far row, not if it passes through. Two kings cannot beat one here; it usually takes four. The world federation for this game was founded in 1947.

Brazilian draughts

International rules on the 8x8 board with 12 pieces each: flying kings, backward captures by men, and the rule of taking the most pieces.

Russian draughts (shashki)

Played across Russia and the former Soviet Union, with official rules printed in 1884. Kings fly and men capture backward, but you may choose any capture. Its signature rule: a man that reaches the far row in the middle of a capture is crowned at once and keeps jumping as a king. White moves first.

Pool checkers

The American game of the southeastern and mid-Atlantic United States, long a tradition among African American players. It uses our board, pieces, and setup, with the dark side moving first, but kings fly, men capture backward, and any capture sequence may be chosen. A man that crosses the far row mid-capture is crowned only if it has no further jump. Three kings against one must win within 13 moves or the game is drawn.

Italian draughts

A close cousin of American checkers, with short kings and men that capture forward only. The board is turned so the double corner is on each player's left, men may not jump kings, and captures follow a strict order: most pieces first, then a capture by a king, then the most kings. Italian players have won the world title in American checkers.

Spanish and Czech draughts

Both use an 8x8 board with 12 pieces each, flying kings, and men that capture forward only. Spanish draughts requires the capture that takes the most pieces, then the most kings. Czech draughts makes a king capture before a man capture, then allows any choice.

Turkish draughts (dama)

A different branch of the family, played in Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and across the Middle East. Each side has 16 pieces on the second and third rows, and all 64 squares are used. Men move one square straight forward or sideways, never diagonally; kings slide any distance in straight lines, like a rook. You must take the most pieces, and each captured piece comes off as it is jumped. Armenian draughts (tama) adds diagonal moves for men and kings.

Canadian checkers

International rules on a 12x12 board with 30 pieces each, first played by French settlers in Quebec as the grand jeu de dames.

Giveaway checkers

Also called anti-checkers or losing checkers: normal rules, reversed goal. You win by losing all your pieces or by having no move left, and compulsory capture becomes the weapon, since your opponent must take whatever you offer.

Checkers Glossary

Blocked

A side is blocked when none of its remaining pieces has a legal move. A blocked player loses, even with pieces left on the board.

Bridge

Two men kept on squares 1 and 3 (for Black) or 30 and 32 (for White) after the rest of the back row has moved. Breaking it takes three attacking pieces lined up.

Crown, crowning

Turning a man into a king when it reaches the far row, by stacking a second piece of the same colour on top. Crowning ends the turn.

Double corner

The corner at each player's near right, where two dark squares sit side by side: squares 1 and 5 for Black, 28 and 32 for White. A lone king runs here to defend.

Dog hole

In some books, the single-corner squares 4 and 29. A piece stuck there has little room to move, so crowning there is a last resort.

Draw

A game with no winner: by agreement, when a position comes up for the third time, or after 40 moves each with no capture and no man moving forward.

Exchange

A trade in which each side loses the same number of pieces. An even exchange helps the side that is already ahead.

First Position

A classic ending of two kings against a king and a man on square 3. The side with two kings wins by first driving the lone king out of the double corner.

Flying king

A king that moves any distance along an open diagonal, like a bishop in chess. Used in international, Russian, and pool checkers, but not in American checkers.

GAYP (go as you please)

Play from the normal starting position with a free choice of opening moves, as opposed to the three-move ballot.

Huff

An old penalty: when a player missed a capture, the opponent could remove the piece that should have jumped. It is not part of the official rules.

Jump

A capture: moving a piece over a diagonally adjacent enemy piece onto the empty square beyond, then removing the enemy piece.

King

A crowned piece. It moves and jumps one square diagonally in any direction and can be jumped by a man or a king.

King row (crown head)

The row farthest from a player, where that player's men are crowned. It is the opponent's back row: squares 29 to 32 for Black, 1 to 4 for White.

Man

An uncrowned piece. A man moves and jumps diagonally forward only, one square at a time.

Multiple jump

Two or more captures by one piece in a single turn, landing after each jump and jumping again. Once started it must be finished.

Notation

The system for recording games. The dark squares are numbered 1 to 32 from Black's side; 11-15 is a move and 15x22 a capture.

Shot

A combination that gives away one or more pieces to force a capture and win more in return, as in the two-for-one shot.

Single corner

The corner at each player's near left, where one dark square sits alone in the corner: square 4 for Black and square 29 for White.

The move (opposition)

In a simplified ending, the side that controls the last move and can force the other side to give ground. You can lose just because it is your turn.

Three-move ballot

The tournament system that draws the first three moves at random from a list of accepted openings. Each opening is played twice, once with each colour.

Quick Reference