Checkers

Goal

Capture all of your opponent's pieces by jumping over them, or leave the opponent with no legal move.

Find your way around the board

You play Coral, moving toward row 8. Select a checker, then its destination. Use the mouse, touch, or Tab and Enter. Arrow keys move keyboard focus across the board.

Move diagonally forward

Practice example: Move the Coral checker from C3 one square diagonally forward. B4 and D4 are the empty forward diagonal neighbors of C3.

Jump an opposing checker

Practice example: Jump from C3 over D4 and land on E5. E5 was empty and D4 held an opponent, so the jump removed that opponent.

Captures come first

Practice example: A second checker could step forward, but a capture is required. Find the jump. You took the available capture; a normal step is forbidden while any capture exists.

Finish the jump chain

Practice example: Capture twice with the same checker: C3 to E5, then E5 to G7. The first jump left another capture available to the same checker, so the turn continued until that second jump was finished.

Choose a legal capture route

If several captures are possible, you may choose any legal one. This English-style game does not require the route taking the most pieces. Once you begin, finish all available jumps on your chosen route.

Reach the back row

Practice example: Move the checker from C7 to B8. Reaching row 8 crowned your checker as a king.

Crowning ends a capture turn

When a regular checker reaches the back row by jumping, it becomes a king and its turn ends. It does not immediately turn around to continue jumping as a new king.

Kings can move backward

Practice example: Move the king backward from D4 to E3. Kings can use either forward or backward diagonals, one square at a time.

Kings jump in both directions

Kings also capture forward or backward by jumping an adjacent opponent into the empty square beyond. Mandatory capture and repeated jumps still apply.

Capture the final checker

Practice example: Jump C3 to E5 to remove the final opposing checker. The opponent has no checker left and therefore no legal move. You won immediately.

Blocking also wins

You also win if the opponent still has pieces but cannot move any of them. There is no point total to chase; legal moves and remaining pieces decide the result.

A repeated position can draw

The engine declares a draw when the same board and player to move occurs three times. Repeating a position can prevent either player from making progress.

The quiet-move limit

This version also draws after 40 consecutive king moves without a capture. A capture or a regular checker move resets that count. This is the shipped rule, rather than a tournament claim procedure.

Choose your opponent in normal play

Normal play offers a computer opponent or two people sharing the board. Difficulty changes the computer search, not the movement rules. In this course the staged positions wait for you.