Hexagonal draughts rules
Hexagonal draughts is played on a hexagon-shaped board of 91 cells, six cells along each side. Each player has 13 men. Men capture in all six directions, kings fly, and the largest capture is compulsory.
Board and starting position
The board is a hexagon with 91 cells, six cells along each edge, and every cell is playable. Each player starts with 13 men on the two rows nearest to them (6 and 7 cells). White moves first.
How ordinary pieces move
A man moves one cell to either of the two neighbouring cells in front of it (forward-left or forward-right) onto an empty cell. It never moves backwards or sideways unless it captures.
Compulsory capture
If you can capture, you must.
A man captures by jumping over an adjacent enemy piece onto the empty cell directly behind it, in any of the six directions: forward, backward, or along the row. Captures are compulsory.
If the capturing piece can capture again, it must continue. Captured pieces are removed only after the whole move, and no piece can be jumped twice.
If there is a choice, you must play the sequence that captures the most pieces (a king counts as one piece).
Kings
A man becomes a king when its move ends on the far edge row (the 6-cell row at the opponent's side). If it only passes over that row during a capture and continues capturing, it stays a man.
A king moves any number of free cells along any of the six straight lines.
A king captures at a distance: it jumps over an enemy piece on its line and may land on any free square behind it. If a landing square allows another capture, the king must choose such a square and continue.
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 30 moves by each side pass with only kings on the board and no capture.