How to play Checkers
Checkers is a board game for two, played here against a computer opponent called Carol. Each of you starts with twelve pieces, and the aim is to capture all of the other player's pieces, or leave them with no moves at all. You play the dark pieces at the bottom of the board and move first; Carol plays red.
Moving
- The game is played on the dark squares only, and pieces always move diagonally.
- An ordinary piece moves one square diagonally forward to an empty square. Tap your piece, then tap one of the marked squares.
- You and Carol take turns, one move each.
Capturing
- To capture, jump diagonally over one of Carol's pieces to the empty square just beyond it. The piece you jumped is taken off the board.
- If you land where you can jump again, keep going: you can capture several pieces in one turn. Tap each landing square in turn.
- Capturing is compulsory. If any of your pieces can jump, you must make a jump that turn. If there's more than one, you can choose which.
Kings
When one of your pieces reaches the far row, it's crowned a king and wears a gold crown. Crowning ends your move. From then on it can move and jump backwards as well as forwards, which makes kings very powerful, especially near the end of the game.
Winning and drawing
You win when Carol has no pieces left, or none that can move. If eighty moves go by in a row without a capture and without any ordinary piece moving, which usually means only kings are left chasing each other, the game is a draw.
Tips
- Keep your back row. Pieces on your own back row stop Carol from crowning kings. Move them last.
- Take the center. Pieces in the middle of the board have more moves and are harder to trap.
- Move in pairs. A piece with a friend behind it can't be jumped from that side.
- Use the forced capture. Because jumps are compulsory, you can offer Carol one piece to set up a double jump of your own.
- Ask for a hint. It suggests a move looking several moves ahead and says why: a jump, a crown, or a safe square.
Questions
Is this the same as draughts?
Yes. Checkers is the American name for the game called draughts in Britain, played on an 8 × 8 board with these same rules. Other countries play versions on bigger boards, or where ordinary pieces can capture backwards.
How good is Carol?
You choose in Settings. On Easy, Carol looks only a move or two ahead and makes plenty of mistakes; on Hard, Carol looks several moves deeper and is a real challenge. In our own tests, Hard beat Medium in eleven games out of twelve, and Medium beat Easy in most games too. Each game number gives Carol a slightly different style, so no two games play quite the same.
Is any money involved?
No. Checkers here is played just for fun: there's no betting, no prizes and no real money, and nothing to buy.
Can I take back a move?
Yes. Undo takes back your last move and Carol's reply, as often as you like. Your game saves itself after every move.