Checkers

How to play

Men move one square diagonally forward and capture by jumping over an enemy piece into the empty square beyond. Captures are compulsory, and if a jump can continue from the landing square you must keep jumping. Reach the far row and your man is crowned a king, which may move and capture backwards as well. You win by taking every enemy piece or leaving your opponent with no legal move. Legal moves are marked whenever it is your turn.

Tips

• Because captures are compulsory, offering a piece can force a jump that opens a bigger capture for you.
• Keep your back row intact as long as you can. It denies your opponent easy kings.
• Advance in connected blocks. A lone man on an open board is usually a lost man.
• Trade pieces when you are ahead. Every swap makes your extra piece worth more.
• Kings are worth far more than men. Racing one home often beats grabbing a single piece.

A solved game

Checkers, or draughts, is one of the oldest board games still played, with ancestors going back thousands of years, and it holds a particular place in computing history. In 2007 a team at the University of Alberta announced that they had solved it: with perfect play from both sides, checkers is a draw. The proof took eighteen years of computation. That does not make it easy to play, only that no first move wins by force.

The version here uses the standard English rules. Men move forward, kings move both ways, captures are compulsory, and multiple jumps must be completed. The compulsory capture is the rule that shapes everything, because it lets you force your opponent's move by offering a piece.

Ideas that win games

• Forcing moves. Because captures are compulsory, offering a piece dictates your opponent's next move. Set up a jump that lands them where you want.
• The two for one. Sacrifice one man so the compulsory capture puts an enemy piece in position to be jumped twice.
• Hold the back row. Men that reach it become kings, and a full back row denies every crowning square.
• Trade when ahead. Each even exchange makes your extra piece a larger share of what is left.
• Kings are worth roughly twice a man. Do not spend two men to stop one crowning unless the alternative is worse.

Common questions

Are captures really compulsory?

Yes. If a capture is available you must take one, and the game only offers you moves that obey that rule.

Do I have to complete a multiple jump?

Yes. If a jump can continue from the landing square, it must.

Can I win with perfect play?

Not against a perfect opponent. Checkers was proven in 2007 to be a draw with best play from both sides. Against the computer here, mistakes still decide games.