How to play Checkers
American checkers, also known as English draughts, is played on an 8×8 board. These are the official rules used on Turnpan.
The board and setup
Only the 32 dark squares are used. Each player starts with 12 pieces on the dark squares of the three rows closest to them. Black moves first, and then the players take turns.
Moving
A regular piece, called a man, moves one square diagonally forward onto an empty dark square. Men never move backward.
Capturing is compulsory
If an enemy piece is on a diagonally adjacent square and the square directly behind it is empty, you can jump over it and remove it. If you have any capture available you must make one, but you choose which. There is no rule to take the most pieces.
Try it: tap the marked piece, then where it lands.
Multiple jumps
If the piece that just jumped can capture again from where it lands, it must keep going, and the whole sequence counts as one move. A man can only capture forward.
Try it: tap the marked piece, then where it lands.
Kings
A man that reaches the far row is crowned a king, and its move ends there even if another jump would be possible. A king moves and captures one square in any diagonal direction, forward or backward.
Try it: tap the marked piece, then where it lands.
Winning
You win by capturing all of your opponent's pieces, or by leaving them with no legal move because every piece is blocked.
Draws
The game is drawn if both players agree, if the same position occurs three times, or if each side makes 40 moves without a capture or a man move.
Square numbers
The 32 dark squares are numbered 1 to 32 from Black's side of the board: 1 to 4 on the top row, down to 29 to 32 on the bottom row. A move is written 11-15, a capture 14x23, and a multi-jump lists every landing square: 5x14x23x30.