How to Play

Checkers is a game for two players. It is played on an 8x8 checkered board, with a dark square in each player's lower left corner. In checkers, pieces move only on dark squares.

Moves

Starting with Red, the players take turns moving one of their own pieces. A piece means either a man (an ordinary single checker or a king which is what a man becomes if it reaches the last rank, see Kings section below). A man may move one square diagonally only forward, toward the opponent onto an empty square.

Captures

Captures or jumps are mandatory. If a square diagonally in front of a man is occupied by an opponent's piece, and if the square beyond that piece in the same direction is empty, the man may jump over the opponent's piece and land on the empty square. The opponent's piece is captured and removed from the board.

If in the course of single or multiple jumps the man reaches the last rank, becoming a king, the turn shifts to the opponent. No further continuation type jump is possible.

The Kings

When a single piece reaches the last rank of the board by reason of a move, or as the completion of a jump, it becomes a king; and that completes the move, or jump. A King can move in any direction and jump in any direction one or more pieces, as the limits of the board permit. The King can only jump diagonally over one adjacent piece at a time, in any of the four diagonal directions. Multiple jumps are possible. Below the Blue player has promoted a man to a king.

Winning

The game is won by the player: