Learn the Essential Rules of Checkers Game for Checkers Gamers

Checkers is at least 5,000 years old, making it one of the most ancient board games to be still played in modern civilization. It’s one of those games that never gets old, thanks to simple rules and many ways to enjoy it. Despite being incredibly old, many of you may need to brush up on your checker's skills by understanding how to play the game, what the goals are, and so on.

That’s why we created this guide to walk you through all the necessary steps in playing a game of checkers! Discover the key game rules, plus a handful of tips to develop a winning strategy.

How To Play Checkers: The Basic Rules & Aims

Checkers is a two-player game where each player has 12 pieces, and it’s played on a board of 64 squares in alternating colors. Regardless of which specific colors are used for the board, there should be light and dark squares for you to play on. The game begins with each player putting their pieces on all of the dark squares across the first three rows on their side of the board. The board should be angled so there’s a dark square in the bottom left corner and a light square in the bottom right corner for both players.

From here, play will go along as follows:

• One player goes first by moving a piece diagonally forward (either to the left or right) into an empty dark square.
• The second player then makes their move, and play continues in this order until the game ends.
• The aim of the game is to capture all of your opponent's pieces before they capture all of yours.
• If one of your pieces makes it to your opponent's side of the board, this piece becomes a “King,” which allows it to move both forwards AND backward.

Those are the basic rules of checkers, as well as the game’s aim. It’s extremely simple: every piece can only move one diagonal place per term - apart from when you’re capturing an opponent’s piece. We’ll talk more about this in the next section.

Capturing Pieces In Checkers

Your goal is to capture all of your opponent’s pieces and remove them from the board. Capturing a piece means you jump diagonally over the piece into an empty dark space behind it.

The image above demonstrates what this looks like on a board during a game. The highlighted black piece can move diagonally over the red piece into the highlighted empty spot. This would “capture” the red piece and remove it from the board.

However, this move would then mean that the red piece diagonally to the right of the highlighted red square can jump over the black one and capture it. This is sometimes the case in checkers - you have to sacrifice one of your pieces to claim one of your opponents. But, it’s always best to try and capture pieces while ensuring your piece can’t be captured straight after. That’s how you stay ahead of your opponents and win the game.

There’s also a tactic known as double jumping, which is demonstrated below:

The highlighted black piece can jump over two red pieces in one turn. Why? Because there’s a free space diagonally behind the second red piece, allowing the black piece to do a double jump. In theory, you could make triple or quadruple jumps, though this is almost impossible in a game of checkers - at least, from a normal piece (more on that in a moment).

Keep in mind you can double-jump to the right and then to the left, as well. It depends on where the pieces are on the board. In the screenshot, the black piece highlighted in white could jump diagonally to the right to take the red piece and then diagonally to the left to take the second red piece.

Kinging Your Pieces In Checkers

“Kinging” is the act of getting your piece to the end of the board. You can see the screenshot above also shows this in action, as the black piece gets to the other side of the board. It now becomes a King, which lets it move forwards and backward one diagonal space each turn.

This opens up a wave of possibilities, as your opponent must defend against attacks from the front and the back. A King can capture pieces by jumping over them, and this makes them capable of double jumps both forwards and backward - as shown below:

Here, the King piece (highlighted in yellow) can jump over one red piece into the red square, then back over the other red piece into the second empty red square. It’s the perfect move; two pieces are captured, and the King remains in an uncapturable position!

Best Strategies & Tactics For Winning Checkers

You might think that checkers is a game of chance and luck - though 77% of players agree that it’s more to do with strategy than anything else. The right tactics and moves will influence your chances of winning, so here are some of the best ideas to try in your next games:

• Keep your back row full to prevent “Kinging.” This means your pieces stay at the back to stop your opponent from creating Kings.
• Focus on moving pieces to the side of the board - pieces on the sides can’t be taken as there’s no space behind them.
• Sacrifice one piece to open up multiple jumps. Try to create situations where your opponent takes one of your pieces, but that means you can double or triple jump to take two or three of theirs.
• Work on getting as many Kings as possible to attack your opponent from both sides.
• Try the “Old Faithful” move to open every game of Checkers. If you’re going first, you move the second checker from the left diagonally to the right. If you’re going second, move the second checker from the right diagonally to the right. These moves set you up well for success and limit your opponent’s early options.

Find The Best Online Checkers Platforms

Don’t have a checkers board to play at home? Or, maybe you don’t have anyone to play with. Either way, playing checkers online gives you an easy way to enjoy this game. Explore the best online checkers platforms for free and infinite gameplay. 247Checkers is the best place to go; choose from a range of difficultly levels and play as much checkers as you want without spending a penny!

DISCLAIMER: The games on this website are using PLAY (fake) money. No payouts will be awarded, there are no "winnings", as all games represented by 247 Games LLC are free to play. Play strictly for fun.