Play Checkers

Checkers game info

A popular classic in the United States, Checkers (also known as draughts) is a strategy game played between two players. The name arose from the 8x8 checkered chess board, with light squares and dark squares, that the game is played on. Play the classic board game and enjoy the fun brain-teaser!

Goal

The goal of the checkers game is to be the last player standing. To do so means capturing as many of the opponent pieces as possible, or when the opponent has no moves left (achieved by blocking their game pieces).

Gameplay

To play the checkers game, players take turns moving their allocated game pieces (12 pieces each). One player controls the light-colored pieces while the other uses dark-colored pieces, and each occupies opposite sides of the game board.

During their turn, players can move one piece only, and pieces can only move diagonally onto adjoining unoccupied spaces. In doing so, only the dark squares of the game board are used.

Players can capture their opponent’s game pieces using a jump move if the game piece is adjacent to one of the players’ own pieces. Captured pieces are removed from the game and the player would now occupy the space beyond where the captured piece should have been (as though the player had taken two diagonal steps). This way the player will be moving up the game board to their opponent’s side of the board.

Practice this in-game with our handy indicators - click on a game piece to show available moves! Additionally, successive moves are allowed - a player can capture multiple opponent pieces in one turn.

Beware though - if your enemy presents a situation where you can capture their piece, you must take it during your turn. This is called a forced move.

Regular game pieces are called 'men' and become 'kinged' pieces when they reach the opponent's end of the board. Men follow the same movement rules as mentioned before and can only advance forward, while kings can move backwards as well as forward. Kings can therefore capture pieces behind them too.

Multiplayer

Our current version features two game modes - players can choose between playing versus the computer (or local multiplayer) or against other online players. To play against online players, simply customize your nickname and browse from the available game rooms.

You can also create your own private game room, sharing the password to this with friends to play together online. 

Strategies

• Make use of forced moves: Because of the rule of forced moves, it is more beneficial to play offensively to avoid your opponent dictating the game. The opponent could also use such moves to force you into tight spaces, increasing the chances of them blocking you and limiting your available moves. 
• Move with purpose: Always have a plan for the moves you make. This may not come immediately upon playing the game, but will develop with practice. 
• Aim to upgrade game pieces to kinged pieces: The ability to move backwards is highly advantageous, so make it a priority to reach your opponent's side of the board to king your pieces.
• It's okay to make necessary sacrifices: Sometimes sacrificing a piece is necessary, particularly when the enemy is forced to take the move. Other situations to consider are ones that lead to the player taking the enemy’s kinged pieces, as well as paving a way to make your own kings.

The game is developed by Code This Lab, who also developed our Nine Men's Morris board game.

System requirements

Checkers can be played in all modern browsers, on all device types (desktop, tablet, mobile), and on all operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, ...).