Draughts

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"Checkers" redirects here. For other uses, see Checkers (disambiguation).

Draughts
Image:International draughts.jpg starting position on a 10×10 draughts board.
Players	2
Age range	Recommended 5 years and up.
Setup time	30-60 seconds
Playing time	6 minutes - 1 hour
Rules complexity	Low
Strategy depth	Medium
Random chance	None
Skills required	Tactics
{{{footnotes\|}}}

Checkers or draughts (drafts or /dɹɑfʦ/ (UK)), is a group of abstract strategy board games between two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over the enemy's pieces.

The most popular forms are international draughts, played on a 10×10 board, followed by English draughts, also called American checkers that is played on an 8×8 board, but there are many other variants.

1 General rules
2 Variants
3 Computer draughts
4 See also
5 External links
- 5.1 Draughts/Checkers info
- 5.2 Internet servers
6 References

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General rules

Draughts is played by two people, on opposite sides of a playing board, alternating moves. One player has dark pieces, and the other has light pieces. The player with the dark pieces makes the first move unless stated otherwise. Pieces move diagonally and pieces of the opponent are captured by jumping over them. The playable surface consists only of the dark squares. Capturing is mandatory. A piece that is captured is removed from the board. In all variants, the player who has no pieces left or cannot move anymore has lost the game unless otherwise stated.

Uncrowned pieces ("men") move one step diagonally forwards and capture other pieces by making two steps in the same direction, jumping over the opponent's piece on the intermediate square. Multiple opposing pieces may be captured in a single turn provided this is done by successive jumps made by a single piece. In English draughts men can only capture forwards, but in international draughts they may also capture (diagonally) backwards.

When men reach the crownhead or kings row—the farthest row forward—they become kings, marked by placing an additional piece on top of the first, and acquire additional powers including the ability to move backwards (and capture backwards, in variants in which they cannot already do so).

In international draughts, kings can move as far as they want in diagonals like a bishop in chess. However, they cannot capture like a bishop, but jump over the captured piece, moving over as many empty fields as the player wants but jumping over only a single, opposing piece in each jump. (As with men, a king may make successive jumps in a single turn provided that each is a capture.) This rule, known as flying kings, is not used in English draughts, in which a king's only advantage over a man is the ability to move and capture backwards as well as forwards.

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Variants

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National and regional standard rules

International draughts - The board size is 10×10 with 20 pieces on each side and has flying kings. If there are many sequences to capture, one has to capture the sequence that has the most pieces. If a man touches the kings row from a jump and it can continue to jump backwards, it has to jump backwards, but it is not kinged. It is mainly played in the Netherlands, France, some eastern European countries, some parts of Africa, some parts of the former USSR, and other European countries. This is the most popular variant of draughts.Image:Draughts.png
English draughts - Also called American checkers or "straight checkers". It is played on an 8×8 board with 12 pieces on each side. Black (the darker color) moves first. Men (the uncrowned pieces) can only move and capture forward. When there is more than one way for a player to jump, one may choose which sequence to make, not necessarily the sequence that will result in the greatest number of captures. However, one must make all the captures in that sequence.
Brazilian checkers - Exactly the same rules as international draughts, but it is played on an 8×8 board. It is mainly played in Brazil.
Canadian checkers - Exactly the same rules as international draughts, but it is played on a 12×12 board with 30 pieces on each side. It is mainly played in Canada.
Pool checkers - Exactly the same rules as Brazilian checkers but when there is more than one way for a player to jump, one may choose which sequence to make, not necessarily the sequence that will result in the greatest number of captures. However, one must make all the captures in that sequence. Another different rule between Brazilian checkers is in which black moves first, instead of white. It is mainly played in the South-Eastern states in the United States.
Spanish checkers - Also called Spanish pool checkers. Men cannot jump backwards. Exactly the same rules as Brazilian checkers, but if there are many sequences to capture, one has to capture the sequence that has the most pieces. If there are still more sequences, one has to capture the sequence that has the most kings. The board is mirrored (the left side is flipped to the right side and vice versa). It is mainly played in some parts in South America and some Northern African countries.
Russian checkers - Also called shashki checkers or Russian shashki checkers. Exactly the same rules as Brazilian checkers, but if a man touches the kings row from a jump and it can continue to jump backwards, it has to jump backwards as kings, not men. It is mainly played in some parts in Russia, some parts of the former USSR, and Israel.
Italian checkers - Men cannot jump kings and men cannot jump backwards. If there are many sequences to capture, one has to capture the sequence that has the most pieces. If there are still more sequences, one has to capture with a king instead of a man. If there are still more sequences, one has to capture the sequence that has the most kings. If there are still more sequences, one has to capture the sequence that has a king first. The board is mirrored (the left side is flipped to the right side and vice versa). It is mainly played in Italy, and some Northern African countries.
In Turkish draughts (a common form of checkers in the Middle-East, known as Dama), pieces move straight forward or sideways, with kings (or Damas) moving like a rook in chess, so that both light and dark squares are used. Each player starts with 16 pieces on the second and third rows. It is played in Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and several other locations of the Middle-East, as well as the same locations as Russian checkers.

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Invented variants

Suicide checkers - Also called anti-checkers, giveaway checkers or losing draughts. One has to give away all of one's pieces or block all of your pieces to win; that is, stop oneself from having a legal move.
Lasca is a checkers variant on a 7×7 board, with 25 fields used. Jumped pieces are placed under the jumper, so that towers are built. Only the top piece of a jumped tower is captured. This variant was invented by Emanuel Lasker.
Cheskers is a variant of checkers invented by Solomon Golomb. Each player begins with a bishop and a "knight" (which jump with coördinates (3,1) rather than (2,1) so as to stay on the black squares), and men reaching the back rank promote to a bishop, knight or king.

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Games sometimes confused with checkers variants

Halma is a game in which pieces can move in any direction and jump over any other piece, friend or enemy. Pieces are not captured. Each player starts with 19 (2-player) or 13 (4-player) pieces all in one corner and tries to move them all into the opposite corner. Halma is actually very different from checkers.
Chinese checkers is based on Halma, but uses a star-shaped board divided into triangles. Contrary to its name, this game is not of Chinese origin, nor is it based on checkers.

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Computer draughts

Portable Draughts Notation is the standard format to store draughts games. Computers checkers programs, like Chinook (created in 1989), play 8×8 English draughts stronger than top living human players.

In the period of 1952–1962 Arthur Samuels (IBM) wrote, for draughts, the first game-playing program. It was much weaker than is generally believed and had no chance against top human players. Nevertheless, it is a milestone in AI programming.

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