English draughts (checkers) rules
English draughts (American checkers) is played on an 8×8 board with 12 pieces each. Men never capture backwards and kings move only one square.
Board and starting position
The board has 8×8 squares, and only the dark squares are used. Each player starts with 12 men on the 3 rows nearest to them. White moves first.
How ordinary pieces move
A man moves one square diagonally forward onto an empty square. It never moves backward without capturing.
Compulsory capture
If you can capture, you must.
A man captures by jumping over an adjacent enemy piece onto the empty square directly behind it, forward only.
If the capturing piece can capture again, it must continue until no capture is left.
If there is a choice, you may pick any capture, but you must complete the sequence you start; it does not have to be the one that takes the most pieces.
Kings
A man that reaches the far row becomes a king. If this happens during a capture, the move ends there, even if more pieces could be taken.
A king moves one square diagonally, forward or backward.
A king captures like a man, but in every direction.
Winning and drawing
- You win when the opponent has no pieces left or cannot make a legal move.
- The game is drawn if the same position occurs three times.
- The game is drawn if 40 moves by each side pass with only kings on the board and no capture.