Checkers
Jump it. Crown it. Win it.
Twelve pieces each, one board, no luck at all. Checkers is the game everyone thinks they know, until someone sets a trap. Here is everything you need to know before you sit down.
- Free practice
- No sign-up
- Play in your browser
Join a Game Room
CheckersGot a room code?
- Players
- 2
- You need
- A board and 24 pieces
- Style
- Pure strategy
- Goal
- Take or block them all
What is Checkers?
Simple moves. Sneaky traps.
Each player starts with twelve pieces on the dark squares nearest them. Pieces step diagonally forward, and jump over opposing pieces to capture them. Reach the far side and your piece is crowned a king, free to move backward too.
The twist is that jumping is compulsory. If you can capture, you must, and so must the other player. That one rule turns a simple race into a game of traps: give up one piece, and take two back.
The practice table
Try itLearn it one move at a time.
Play a full game against one bot with our Classic rules. Tap a piece, then the square it moves to. The coach looks a few moves ahead, tells you what it would play, and why.
- The coach spots jumps, traps, and safe squares, and tells you how your last move compared.
- Three bots: Easy, Normal, and Sharp.
- No account, no host, nothing saved.
A little history
Older than the chessboard it’s played on.
Games of jumping and capturing on a board go back to ancient times. Checkers as we know it took shape in medieval France, played on a chessboard, and the first book about it was printed in Spain in 1547.
It is called draughts in Britain, where these exact rules are the national game. In 2007 a computer program called Chinook proved that with perfect play from both sides, every game ends in a draw. Good thing nobody plays perfectly.
Fun facts
- The board has 64 squares, but pieces only ever sit on the 32 dark ones.
- Each player starts with twelve pieces.
- Reach the far row and your piece is crowned a king. In our rules, crowning ends your turn.
- Forty moves in a row without a capture is a draw, counting both players.
Why people love it
No luck. Just you.
Everyone already knows it.
Pull it up at any game night and nobody needs the rules explained twice.
Traps are satisfying.
Forcing the other player to jump into your double jump never gets old.
Fast games.
A game takes ten or fifteen minutes. Best of three is easy to fit in.
Deep, if you want it.
Masters study openings and endgames for years. You can just play.
How to play
Step. Jump. Crown a king.
Setup
- Players: two. Our practice table is you against one bot.
- Pieces: twelve each, on the dark squares of the three rows nearest you.
- Board: a standard 8 by 8 board, with a dark square in each player’s bottom-left corner.
- First move: decide who goes first, and take turns after that.
Winning
Capture all of the other player’s pieces, or leave them with no legal move on their turn. Forty moves in a row without a capture is a draw.
- 1
Step forward
Move one piece one square diagonally forward, onto an empty dark square.
- 2
Jump to capture
Jump an opposing piece next to you, onto the empty square beyond it. The jumped piece comes off.
- 3
Jumping is compulsory
If you can jump, you must. If you can jump again with the same piece, you must keep going.
- 4
Crown a king
Reach the far row and your piece is crowned. That ends your turn, even mid-jump.
- 5
Kings go both ways
A king moves and jumps one square diagonally, forward or backward.
These are our Classic rules, and they'll be shown in every room before the game starts. Printable rules card →
Lessons
Learn it in a few minutes.
7 quick lessons, one idea each. Make the call, see why it works, and move on. Your progress is saved in this browser.
One step forward
Your pieces are gold, at the bottom, and the dark squares are numbered. Where can your piece on 22 move?
Scoring
No points. Just the board.
There is nothing to count in Checkers. The game ends when one player can’t move, or when nobody has captured anything for a long time.
| How the game ends | Result | |
|---|---|---|
| You capture every piece the bot has | You win | |
| It is the bot’s turn, and it has no legal move | You win | |
| 40 moves in a row without a capture | Draw |
Our Classic rules: English draughts, with compulsory jumps, one-step kings, and crowning that ends the turn. The 40 moves count both players, so 20 each.
Strategy
Play it smart. Then play it feral.
Tip 1
Take the center.
Pieces in the middle of the board have the most moves and block the most of the other side’s.
Tip 2
Move in pairs.
A piece with a friend right behind it can’t be jumped from the front. Lone pieces get picked off.
Tip 3
Look for shots.
Since jumps are compulsory, you can force the bot’s move. Give one piece to set up a double jump.
Tip 4
Trade when ahead.
One piece up with twelve on the board is small. One up with three on the board usually wins.
What would you do?
One decision. Every day.
A new Checkers puzzle every day, the same for everyone. Solve it, then send it to the group chat and see who gets it right.
Want more? See today's puzzles for every game →
Your path to game night
Learn it here. Play it with friends.
Finish the lessons or win a practice game and you're ready to sit down at a real Checkers table with your people.
The Feral Worlds community
Play-testing Checkers? Tell us in Discord.
Found a bug, a rule that feels off, or a house rule your family swears by? Our Discord is where we collect play-test feedback, and where game nights are starting to happen.
Glossary
Talk like a regular.
- Man
- A plain piece. It moves and jumps forward only.
- King
- A crowned piece. It moves and jumps forward or backward, one square at a time.
- Jump
- Hop over an opposing piece onto the empty square beyond it, capturing it.
- Double jump
- Two jumps in one turn by the same piece. A piece keeps jumping while it can.
- King row
- The far row from you. Reach it to be crowned.
- Forced jump
- The rule that if you can capture, you must. It is what makes traps possible.
- Shot
- Giving a piece away on purpose to set up a bigger capture.
- Bridge
- Pieces on your 30 and 32 squares, guarding your back row from being crowned on.
- Draw
- Forty moves in a row without a capture ends the game with no winner.
The Feral twist
Still under the hat.
Every game can be played Classic. In Feral mode, the host writes the house rules: flying kings, optional jumps, pace. We'll show you what Checkers can do when it's ready.
In the Board Games pack
Checkers is on the ballot.
Backers vote on which board games join the Board Games pack. Owning the pack means every one that joins is yours too.
$9.95, one time, to host every game in it. Playing is always free. Packs go on sale when the full game launches.
Checkers is on the ballot
Save me a seat.
Hear when the Kickstarter opens so you can vote Checkers into the Board Games pack, and when you can host it with friends.