CHECKERS / DRAUGHTS

[Game and game rules provided by PlayPager]

GAME GUIDE

How to play Checkers and Draughts

To start a game:

Press the play icon on the startup screen.

Select game mode: Play against a friend (2 player game) or play against the computer (1 player game).

Online Checkers game basics

The game is played by two opponents who faces each other on opposite sides of the checkers gameboard. One of the players has the dark colour pieces and the other one has the light colour pieces.

The two players alternate turns in the game. It is not legal to move an opponent’s piece. A player can move a piece diagonally to an adjacent unoccupied square. If one of the opponent’s pieces occupy that adjacent square, and the square immediately beyond it is vacant, the opponent’s piece may be captured and removed from the game by jumping over it.

When one of the pieces reaches the other side of the board (the row farthest from the player), called the “kings’ row” or “crownhead”, the piece will become “king” and is marked by adding an additional piece on top of it. In this online game, the kings are marked with a crown. Kings have the ability to move and capture backwards as well as forwards.

King: A black piece has travelled to the kings’ row and turned into a king.

Checkers rules

It is only legal to move pieces on the dark squares of the checkers board. A piece may move only diagonally into an unoccupied square and capturing an opponent’s piece is mandatory in most official rules. The player without pieces remaining, or who cannot move, loses the game.

Checkers rules: Mandatory jump. It’s whites turn, and due to the black piece laying next to the marked white piece with a vacant square immediately beyond it, white is forced to jump over it and capture it.

Checkers history

A written mention of a game called Alquerque is found in the “Kitab al-Aghani”, a 10th-century encyclopedic collection of songs and poems. The Alquerque game was essentially similar to modern Draughts and Checkers games but played on a 5×5 board.

Some modern rules were added later, including the crowning of pieces to kings (13th century) and mandatory capture (16th century).