How to play checkers: rules and beginner tips

Checkers is a two-player game on an 8×8 board. Each player has twelve pieces that move diagonally, jump over the other side's pieces to capture them, and become kings on the far row. You win by capturing every enemy piece or by leaving your opponent with no legal move.

This guide covers the rules of American checkers, also called English draughts, the version most people mean by "checkers" in the United States. Every rule here is the one used in the game on Checkerso, so you can read a section and try it right away.

Checkers rules at a glance

• Two players, an 8×8 board, twelve pieces each, played only on the dark squares.
• Black moves first. Players take turns, one move each.
• A piece moves one square diagonally forward onto an empty dark square.
• To capture, jump over an adjacent enemy piece into the empty square directly beyond it. The jumped piece is removed.
• If you can jump, you must. When you have several jumps to choose from, you may pick any of them.
• A piece that reaches the far row becomes a king and can move and jump both forward and backward, one square at a time.
• You win by capturing all the enemy pieces or blocking them so they have no legal move.

The goal of checkers

The goal is to leave your opponent unable to move. Most games end because one side has lost all its pieces; some end because a player's remaining pieces are all blocked.

Checkers set-up: the board and the pieces

The board has 64 squares in two colors, and all play happens on the 32 dark ones. Turn the board so that each player has a dark square in their lower-left corner.

Each player places twelve pieces on the dark squares of the three rows closest to them. The two middle rows stay empty at the start. Black moves first, then you alternate.

How pieces move

An ordinary piece, called a man, moves one square diagonally forward onto an empty dark square. Men never move sideways or backward.

On Checkerso you tap a piece and then tap one of the highlighted squares. The dots show where the piece can go.

• 1 · Move

  Tap a piece, then a marked square. Men step one square diagonally forward.

• 2 · Capture

  Jump an enemy man to the empty square beyond. Captures are mandatory.

• 3 · King

  Reach the far row to crown a king. Kings move and jump both ways.

How to capture: jumping

You capture by jumping. If an enemy piece is on a diagonal next to your piece and the square directly behind it is empty, your piece jumps over it and lands there. The jumped piece is removed from the board.

If your piece can jump again from where it lands, it keeps going in the same turn. A run of jumps like this is a multi-jump, and it counts as one move.

Jumps are mandatory. If any jump is open, you cannot make an ordinary move instead. When there is more than one jump to choose from, you may pick any of them; you are not forced to take the longest.

Men can only jump forward. Only kings jump backward.

Kings

When a man reaches the far row, the row where the opponent started, it becomes a king. A king moves and jumps one square diagonally, forward or backward.

In American checkers a king cannot "fly" across the board; that is a feature of Pool checkers and International draughts. If a man reaches the far row in the middle of a jump, it becomes a king and the turn ends there; it cannot continue jumping as a king on that same move.

How a checkers game ends

You win when your opponent has no pieces left, or has pieces but none of them can legally move.

A game is a draw if forty consecutive moves pass with no capture and no man moved, or if the same position appears three times.

Checkers strategy for beginners

Hold the center

Pieces on the middle squares have more moves and can jump in more directions than pieces on the edge.

Keep your back row as long as you can

A piece left on your starting row stops the opponent from crowning easily. Move those pieces last.

Stay connected

Keep your pieces in diagonal pairs and chains. A piece with a friend right behind it is hard to attack, because the square behind it is not empty to jump into.

Use forced jumps to your advantage

Because your opponent must jump, you can offer one piece so that their forced capture lands them where you can jump two or three of theirs back.

Trade when you are ahead

If you have more pieces, swapping one for one leaves you a bigger share of what is left and brings the win closer.

Count every jump before you move

Before each move, check which of your pieces can be jumped afterward and whether a capture you allow becomes a multi-jump.

Common beginner mistakes

• Missing a forced jump. If a jump is open you must take it, so check for jumps first, for yourself and for your opponent.
• Moving the back row early, which lets the opponent crown a king.
• Leaving a piece with an empty square behind it next to an enemy piece, so it can be jumped.
• Playing only on one edge and leaving the center to the opponent.

Play a game of checkers

The fastest way to learn is to play. Play checkers online for freeagainst the computer on Easy, or start a game with a friend from New game. There is no account and nothing to download.

Other kinds of checkers

The rules above are American checkers. Other games in the same family change a few rules: Pool checkers lets men jump backward and kings fly, International draughts uses a 10×10 board, and Anti checkers reverses the goal. Chinese checkers is a different game on a star-shaped board.

Checkers variants rules comparison

Frequently asked questions