Play Checkers Online - 2 Player Board Game

Checkers is a true classic among strategy games. The 2-player game has its origins in southern Europe around the 12th century, when it was first played on a chessboard with pieces from the board game backgammon.

Since then, different rule sets have developed in various countries. Here you can play the American variant of Checkers online with friends. This uses an 8x8 board and forced jumps for captures. Have fun!

Checkers Rules

The American variant of Checkers described here is played on an 8x8 checkerboard. Each player has 12 pieces at the start, colored black or white. They are placed on the dark squares and may only move on those squares.

The goal of the game is to be the last player with legal moves. That happens when all of the opponent's pieces have been captured, or the opponent has no legal moves because their pieces are blocked.

Board Setup

The board is a standard chessboard (also called checkerboard). Each player's 12 pieces are placed on the last or first three rows at the start. From there they may only move diagonally on the dark squares.

The following image shows the board in its starting position:

The purple rings on the black pieces indicate that those pieces (and only those) can be moved next.

Types of Moves

The first move of the game is made by Black. In general, pieces move only on the dark squares. There are two types of moves:

• Simple move: The piece moves diagonally to an adjacent dark square.
• Jump: The piece jumps diagonally over an opponent's piece. The opponent's piece is removed from the board. The landing square must be empty.

In addition, Checkers has a mandatory capture rule. A player must always move a piece that can make a capture.

Furthermore, as many captures as possible must be made in a single turn. That means a player can perform multiple jumps in one move.

The following GIF shows an example of a move with multiple jumps:

How the Game Can End

As already mentioned, the player who has legal moves when the other does not wins. That concludes the following game endings:

1. A player loses when all of their pieces have been captured.
2. A player also loses when they have no legal moves (all remaining pieces are blocked).
3. If the same board position occurs three times without any captures, the game is a draw (threefold repetition).
4. If 100 moves (50 per player) are played without a capture, the game is also a draw (50-move rule).

Pieces

In Checkers there are two types of pieces:

Man

Men can only move forward. Otherwise the usual rules for simple moves and jumps apply. Each player starts with 12 men. The following image shows the move options of a man:

King

A man is promoted to a King when it reaches the opponent's back row. A King can move diagonally in any direction—including backward. The following image shows the move options of a King:

Tips and Strategy

There are many strategies to win the game. Here are three of them.

1. Play offensively

Play actively and aggressively rather than defensively. Many beginners keep their pieces on the edge and avoid contact with the opponent. Instead, focus on capturing the opponent's pieces rather than only defending your own. Losing some of your own pieces is acceptable if you capture more of the opponent's.

2. Keep your back row intact

As long as your back row stays occupied, the opponent cannot promote a piece to a King. So try to keep your back row closed as long as possible.

3. Move pieces as a group

A single piece advanced too far is easy to capture. Keep your pieces in a compact group and advance them together. In the center you can position several pieces so they support each other. That makes it harder for the opponent to capture and gives you a counter-capture when attacked.

Comparison to International Draughts

Besides the American variant supported here, there are many other variants of the game. One of them is International Draughts. The main differences are:

• International Draughts uses a 10x10 board (Checkers: 8x8).
• Each player has 20 pieces (Checkers: 12).
• In International Draughts White moves first (Checkers: Black).
• In International Draughts, men can capture backward (Checkers: forward only).
• In International Draughts, Kings can "fly" and move multiple squares diagonally (Checkers: one square per move).

Questions and Answers