Checkers
Checkers is played on the dark squares of an 8x8 board, twelve men a side. Men move one square diagonally forward and capture by jumping an adjacent enemy piece into the empty square beyond — forward only, never backward. Capturing is mandatory, and a piece that can keep jumping must continue in the same turn. Reach the far row and a man is crowned a King, moving and capturing in all four diagonal directions. Capture every enemy piece, or leave them with no legal move, to win.
New game deals a fresh 12-a-side board with you playing Red and moving first. Click one of your pieces, then a highlighted square to move it — when a capture is available anywhere on the board it must be taken, and a piece that jumps again keeps jumping in the same turn.
Your statistics
- Played
- 0
- Won
- 0
- Win rate
- 0%
- Streak
- 0
- Best streak
- 0
- Best time
- —
Keyboard
- Arrows
- Move the focus cursor
- Enter / Space
- Select or play a move
- Escape
- Deselect
- N
- New game
- F
- Full screen
- Board
- 8x8, dark squares only
- Pieces
- 12 men per side
- Captures
- Mandatory, forward-only for men
- Win by
- Capturing all pieces, or a block
How do you play checkers?
Twelve men per side start on the dark squares of the first three rows on each end of an 8x8 board, leaving the middle two rows empty. A man moves one square diagonally toward the opponent's edge of the board, onto an empty square. It captures by jumping diagonally over an adjacent enemy piece into the empty square immediately beyond, removing the captured piece from the board.
Men may only ever capture forward, never backward — this is the rule almost every casual browser version of checkers gets wrong, and it is the real difference between American checkers and international draughts. A man that lands on the far row is crowned a King, which can then move and capture one square at a time in any of the four diagonal directions, forward or back.
Is capturing mandatory in checkers?
Yes. If any capture is available to you anywhere on the board, you must make a capturing move — no other move is legal that turn, even if a different, non-capturing move looks better. You are not required to choose the capture that takes the most pieces (there is no "huffing" penalty in the official rules for failing to spot the biggest jump, either). If a capture leads to a further capture with the same piece, that chain must continue in the same turn — the one exception is a piece that reaches the king row mid-chain, which is crowned and stops immediately even if the new King could keep jumping.
How is checkers different from international draughts?
| Checkers (this game) | International Draughts | |
|---|---|---|
| Board | 8x8 | 10x10 |
| Men per side | 12 | 20 |
| Man captures | Forward only | Forward and backward |
| King movement | One square, four directions | "Flying" — any distance along a diagonal |
Was checkers ever solved?
Yes. In 2007, Jonathan Schaeffer's Chinook research program proved that checkers is a draw with perfect play by both sides — a nearly two-decade computational effort published in the journal Science. That does not make the game pointless to play: perfect play is a vastly higher bar than any human reaches, and a single slip is still enough to lose against an opponent, human or computer, that does not.
How do you get better at checkers?
- Keep pieces on your own back row as long as you canYour back row is the opponent's king row — every piece you leave there is a square their men cannot be crowned on. Move your back-row pieces only when you must.
- Control the centerPieces in the middle columns and rows have more replies available and are harder to trap against an edge, which matters more the deeper the game goes.
- Never move a piece into a square where a mandatory jump takes itBecause captures are compulsory, walking a piece one square away from an opponent's man that can now jump it is often a forced loss of material, not a maybe.
- Watch for a two-for-one before you take a one-for-oneA capture that only trades one piece for one piece is rarely as good as a line, even a slower one, that sets up taking two pieces for one a move or two later.
Checkers questions people ask
- Can a regular checkers piece capture backward?
- No. An uncrowned man may only move and capture diagonally forward, toward the opponent's side of the board. Only a crowned King can move and capture in all four diagonal directions.
- Do you have to capture if you can in checkers?
- Yes — capturing is mandatory whenever any capture is available to you, from any of your pieces. You are free to choose which capture to make, but you cannot decline to capture at all.
- What happens when a piece reaches the last row?
- It is crowned a King immediately, and its turn ends there even if the new King could technically make a further jump.
- How do you win a game of checkers?
- By capturing every one of your opponent's pieces, or by leaving your opponent with no legal move on their turn. A long stretch with no capture is ruled a draw.
The rules in six lines
- 1Set up 12 men per sideEach side's pieces fill the dark squares of their nearest three rows. The middle two rows start empty.
- 2Move one square diagonally forwardA man may move to an adjacent empty dark square, toward the opponent's side of the board only.
- 3Capture by jumpingJump diagonally over an adjacent enemy piece into the empty square beyond, forward only for a man, removing the captured piece.
- 4Capturing is mandatoryIf any capture is available anywhere on the board, only a capturing move is legal that turn.
- 5Continue a multi-jump in the same turnIf a capture leaves the same piece able to jump again, it must keep jumping — unless it was just crowned, which ends the turn immediately.
- 6Crown a King on the far rowA man reaching the opponent's edge becomes a King, which moves and captures one square at a time in any of the four diagonal directions.
The long version, with worked examples and the questions beginners actually ask, is on how to play checkers.
Put Checkers on your own site
The board runs in an iframe with no tracking, no cookies and no sign-up. Paste this wherever you want it. See all the embeddable games for the rest.
<iframe src="https://www.cardgamenook.com/embed/checkers" width="100%" height="620" style="border:0;border-radius:10px;max-width:900px" title="Checkers — free online" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p style="font:14px system-ui;margin:6px 0 0"><a href="https://www.cardgamenook.com/checkers">Play Checkers</a> at Card Game Nook</p>