Each player starts with 12 pieces on the dark squares. Pieces move diagonally forward one square at a time. You capture an opponent's piece by jumping over it diagonally. If a jump is available, you must take it. Multiple jumps in one turn are allowed.
How does kinging work in Checkers?
When one of your pieces reaches the far side of the board (your opponent's back row), it becomes a king. Kings can move and capture both forward and backward diagonally, making them much more powerful than regular pieces.
What are good Checkers strategies for beginners?
Control the center of the board to give your pieces the most mobility. Keep your back row pieces in place as long as possible to prevent your opponent from getting kings. Try to trade pieces when you have a material advantage.
How is Checkers different from Chess?
Checkers uses uniform pieces that all move the same way (diagonally), while Chess has six different piece types with unique movements. Checkers is played only on dark squares, and captures are mandatory. Chess is generally considered more complex, but Checkers has deep strategic depth of its own.
Is Checkers a solved game?
Yes, in 2007 researchers at the University of Alberta proved that Checkers, played perfectly by both sides, always results in a draw. The project, called Chinook, took 18 years of computation to complete.
How many pieces are in a Checkers game?
A standard game of Checkers uses 24 pieces total, with 12 per player. The pieces are placed on the dark squares of the three rows closest to each player. The board itself is an 8x8 grid, the same size as a chess board.
Checkers, known as draughts throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, is one of the oldest strategy games ever played. Archaeological evidence suggests that a similar game existed in the ancient city of Ur around 3000 BCE, and variations have appeared in cultures across Egypt, France, and Spain over the millennia. The modern 8x8 version was standardized in the 12th century. Despite its straightforward movement rules, checkers contains roughly 500 billion billion possible board positions, which is why it took a team at the University of Alberta 18 years of continuous computation to fully solve the game with their Chinook program in 2007. PlayBrain offers three AI difficulty levels so beginners can learn the fundamentals while experienced players face a genuinely challenging opponent.
How to Play
Click one of your pieces to select it, then click a valid diagonal square to move it forward.
Jump over an opponent's piece diagonally to capture it. If another jump is available after the first, you must continue jumping in the same turn.
Move a piece all the way to your opponent's back row to promote it to a king, which can move and capture both forward and backward.
Capture all of your opponent's pieces or block them so they have no legal moves remaining to win the game.