Are captures really compulsory in Checkers?

Yes. If a jump is available you must take it. This single rule is the source of most of the game’s depth, because it lets you force your opponent’s hand by offering a piece they cannot refuse.

Do I have to take the jump that captures the most pieces?

No. When several jumps are legal you may choose any of them, even one that captures fewer pieces. Taking the smaller capture is often correct if the larger one leaves you exposed.

Move a piece all the way to your opponent’s back row. It is crowned immediately and can then move and jump both forwards and backwards.

Can a new king keep jumping backwards straight away?

No. If you reach the back row by jumping, your turn ends there. The new king can only use its backward movement from your next turn onwards.

How can a game of Checkers be drawn?

Two ways: the same position occurring three times with no capture in between, or fifty moves by each player with no capture at all. Both rules exist to stop endless chases with a few pieces left.

Is Checkers a solved game?

Yes. In 2007 the Chinook project proved that English draughts is a draw if both sides play perfectly. That has no practical effect on human games, since perfect play is far beyond anyone.

Checkers

Checkers has one piece type and one move, and it has been solved by computers to a mathematical certainty. It is also considerably harder than its reputation, because the compulsory capture rule means your opponent can force you into a sequence you can see coming and cannot escape.

Click a piece then its destination. If a capture is available anywhere, you must take it.

Players	2
Deck	8×8 board, 24 pieces
Play time	10–20 minutes
Difficulty	Simpler than chess, deeper than it looks

How to play Checkers

The board is the same eight-by-eight grid as chess, but only the dark squares are ever used — the light squares play no part in the game at all. Each player starts with twelve pieces on the dark squares of the three rows nearest them.

Moving and capturing

An ordinary piece moves one square diagonally forward. It cannot move backwards and cannot move onto an occupied square.

If an enemy piece sits diagonally in front of you and the square immediately beyond it is empty, you jump over it and capture it. And here is the rule that defines the game: captures are compulsory. If a jump is available, you must take it — you do not get to decline.

If your landing square offers another capture, you must continue jumping in the same turn. A single move can therefore take several pieces. When two different jumps are available you may choose freely between them, even if one captures more pieces than the other.

Kings

A piece reaching the opponent's back row is crowned and becomes a king, which may move and jump both forwards and backwards. Kings are substantially more powerful, and getting one is usually the turning point of a game.

One restriction: if you become a king by jumping, your turn ends there. You cannot immediately continue jumping backwards with your new king — you must wait until your next turn.

How the game ends

A player with no pieces left loses.
A player who cannot move at all — every piece blocked — loses.
The same position occurring three times with no capture in between is a draw.
Fifty moves each with no capture is a draw.

Strategy

Almost all of Checkers strategy follows from one fact: your opponent must capture when they can, so you can decide what they do.

Use compulsory capture as a weapon

This is the whole game. Offering a piece is not a sacrifice, it is an instruction — your opponent has no choice but to take it, and that means you know exactly where their piece will be. Setting up a position where their forced jump lands them in front of a double capture of yours is the standard winning pattern, and it is why "two-for-one" trades decide most games.

Keep your back row intact as long as you can

The two pieces on your back row guard the squares where an enemy piece would be crowned. Advancing them early feels productive and hands your opponent a king. Hold them until the position genuinely demands otherwise.

Advance in connected groups, never alone

A lone piece pushed forward has no support and is trivially captured. Pieces that defend one another — so that any capture can be recaptured — can advance safely. A solid phalanx moving up the board is close to unbreakable; four scattered pieces are food.

Control the centre, and take trades when ahead

Central pieces have two directions to move; edge pieces have one, which makes the edges weak rather than safe. And when you are up on material, every even trade increases your relative advantage — the fewer pieces on the board, the more a one-piece lead matters.

You are not required to take the biggest jump

New players assume they must capture as many pieces as possible. They must capture, but when multiple jumps are legal they may choose any of them. Taking one piece instead of two is frequently correct if the two-piece jump leaves you exposed.

Variants

International Draughts — a 10×10 board with twenty pieces each, and kings that move like chess bishops. The dominant competitive form in Europe.
Three-move restriction — tournament English draughts opens with a randomly drawn set of three moves, because so many openings had been analysed to a draw.
Flying kings — used in International and several other national versions, letting kings travel any distance diagonally.
Turkish Draughts — pieces move orthogonally rather than diagonally, using all sixty-four squares.
Suicide (Anti-)Checkers — the first player to lose all their pieces wins, which inverts every principle above.

Where Checkers came from

Board games of this type are ancient — Alquerque, played on a five-by-five grid, is documented in the Middle East and appears in the Spanish Libro de los juegos commissioned by Alfonso X in 1283. The move to a chess-sized board happened in southern France around the twelfth century, producing the game the French call jeu de dames. Compulsory capture was a later addition; for a long period taking was optional, and the stricter version was distinguished by the name jeu forcé.

The game's most remarkable chapter is recent. In 2007, a team led by Jonathan Schaeffer at the University of Alberta completed Chinook, a project that proved English draughts is a draw with perfect play from both sides — the largest game ever solved at the time, requiring roughly eighteen years of computation. Chinook had already fought a world championship match against Marion Tinsley, the strongest human player of the twentieth century, who lost only a handful of games in his entire career. Being solved has not damaged the game's appeal, since no human can play anywhere near perfectly.

Questions people ask about Checkers

Are captures really compulsory in Checkers?: Yes. If a jump is available you must take it. This single rule is the source of most of the game’s depth, because it lets you force your opponent’s hand by offering a piece they cannot refuse.
Do I have to take the jump that captures the most pieces?: No. When several jumps are legal you may choose any of them, even one that captures fewer pieces. Taking the smaller capture is often correct if the larger one leaves you exposed.
How do I get a king?: Move a piece all the way to your opponent’s back row. It is crowned immediately and can then move and jump both forwards and backwards.
Can a new king keep jumping backwards straight away?: No. If you reach the back row by jumping, your turn ends there. The new king can only use its backward movement from your next turn onwards.
How can a game of Checkers be drawn?: Two ways: the same position occurring three times with no capture in between, or fifty moves by each player with no capture at all. Both rules exist to stop endless chases with a few pieces left.
Is Checkers a solved game?: Yes. In 2007 the Chinook project proved that English draughts is a draw if both sides play perfectly. That has no practical effect on human games, since perfect play is far beyond anyone.