Draughts (British English), or Checkers (American English), is a group of strategy board games for
two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping
over opponent pieces.
The most popular forms are English draughts, also called American checkers, played on an 8×8 checkerboard. There are many other variants played on 8×8 boards.
Rules
- Men
- Uncrowned pieces (men) move one step diagonally forwards, and capture an opponent's piece by moving two consecutive steps in the same line, jumping over the piece on the first step. Multiple enemy pieces can be captured in a single turn provided this is done by successive jumps made by a single piece; the jumps do not need to be in the same line and may "zigzag" (change diagonal direction)
- Kings
- When a man reaches the kings row (also called crownhead, the farthest row forward), it becomes a king, and is marked by placing a star on top of the first man (crowned), and acquires additional powers including the ability to move backwards and (in variants where they cannot already do so) capture backwards. Like men, a king can make successive jumps in a single turn provided that each jump captures an enemy man or king.