How to play draughts
Called checkers in America and चेकर्स by many in Nepal, and written ड्राफ्ट्स in Nepali. This is English draughts, played on 8 by 8 squares.
Draughts, called checkers in America, is a game for two on a board of 64 squares, with twelve pieces a side on the dark squares. On your turn you move one piece a square diagonally forward, or jump an enemy piece next to it into the empty square beyond and take it, and when a jump is open you must take one. You win by taking every enemy piece or leaving the other side with no legal move.
A man that reaches the far row is crowned a king, and a king moves and takes backwards too. Red moves first here, and the colours swap after every game.
Set the table up with your own house rules
- Players
- 2
- What you need
- A board of 64 squares and 12 pieces a side
- How long
- A game takes five or ten minutes
At a glance
| Rule | Here, by default | As a house rule |
|---|---|---|
| Must you take? | Yes, any jump you choose | No, taking is optional |
| A king moves | One square, any diagonal | The whole diagonal |
| A man takes | Forwards only | Backwards too |
Either way, a piece that can jump again keeps jumping in the same turn, and a man crowned on the far row stops there.
The same table on one card, to keep on your phone or send to the family group. Tap to open it.Rules checked 20 October 2026. How these rules are written
What draughts is
Draughts is a two-player game played on a chequered board of 64 squares. Known as checkers in many parts of the world, each player starts with 12 pieces placed on the dark squares of the three rows closest to them.
A piece moves one square diagonally forward. You capture an opponent's piece by jumping over it into the empty square immediately beyond, removing the jumped piece from the board.
You win by either capturing all of your opponent's pieces or blocking them so they have no legal moves left. Both count as a victory, and blocking happens more often than beginners might expect.
The board
Eight squares by eight, in two colours, with a dark square in the corner nearest your left hand. Only the dark squares are used, which is why every move in the game is diagonal.
Twelve pieces a side fill the dark squares of the three rows nearest each player, and the two rows in the middle are left empty. Red moves first.
Setting up
- Turn the board so that each player has a dark square in the corner on their left.
- Put twelve pieces on the dark squares of the three rows nearest each player.
- Red moves first. Here, the colour you pick on the game page is yours for the first game and the two of you swap after it.
- Keep the pieces that come off the board where both of you can see them. The count is how a game is read.
Moving
On your turn you move one piece. An uncrowned piece is called a man, and a man steps one square diagonally forward onto an empty dark square.
Forward means towards the other player. Red walks up the board and white walks down it, and neither may take a step back until it has been crowned.
That is the whole of moving. Everything else in this game is taking.
Taking
If a piece of the other colour is diagonally next to yours and the square directly beyond it is empty, you may jump over it. Your piece lands on that square and the piece you jumped is taken off the board.
A man only ever jumps forward, the same way it walks. A jump is not blocked by anything except what is standing on those two squares.
If the piece you have just jumped with can jump again, it must, and the whole sequence is ONE turn. A piece can clear three or four in a row this way, which is the best thing that happens in this game.
And a take is compulsory. If you have a jump available anywhere on the board you have to make one, which means a player can be steered into giving a piece away. You can turn that off on the game page.
Kings
A man that reaches the far row is crowned and becomes a king. On a real board you take one of the captured pieces and put it on top, which is where the double disc comes from.
A king moves and jumps in all four directions instead of two. That makes it worth a good deal more than a man, and most games are decided by who gets the first one.
Crowning ends your turn, even in the middle of a sequence of jumps. A man that jumps into the far row is crowned and stops there, however much it could still have taken.
How a game ends
You win by taking every piece the other side has. You also win by leaving them with no legal move, which is just as good and often easier: a side with pieces shut in behind their own has lost.
A game can be drawn. Two kings chasing each other round an empty board never finishes, so a long stretch with nothing taken and no man moved is called a draw, and so is the same position coming round three times.
Between two players who both know what they are doing, draughts draws often. That is not a fault in the game, and it is why a match here is several games rather than one.
Playing here
The rail above the board says whose turn it is. The rail below counts the pieces each of you has left, with a crown and a number beside it for the kings.
Tap a piece to pick it up and the squares it may go to are marked. Tap one of those to move, or tap the piece again to put it back. Dragging works too, and does the same thing in one gesture.
Mid-sequence the game picks the jumping piece up for you, because it is the only piece that may move. Where it has one jump left it simply plays it: a tap that can only be made one way is not a decision.
The piece that moved last is ringed and the square a piece was taken from is marked, so the other side’s turn can be read after it has happened.
Playing better
- Count before you take. A take that is compulsory for you is a take your opponent chose to offer.
- Keep your back row for as long as you can. It is the row the other side has to cross to be crowned.
- Pieces on the edge cannot be jumped, because there is nothing behind them. They are also slow.
- Trade pieces when you are ahead. Two against one is a much bigger lead than eight against seven.
- The first king usually wins the endgame. Getting one is worth giving a piece up for.
Settings
Everything on the game page, before you press Play. All three house rules default to the game as it is written down.
| Setting | Standard | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Who is playing | With bots | With bots sets you against a bot. On this phone seats two people who pass the phone between turns, and the colours swap after every game. Red always starts on the near rows, which suits two people sitting either side of a phone on a table. Watch the bots, the link under the button, sets two bots against each other. |
| Your colour | Red | Red moves first. The colours swap after every game. |
| Difficulty | Medium | How far ahead the bot looks. Easy throws moves away on purpose. |
| Taking | A take must be made | The real rule, and the one that changes the game most. Turn it off and a player can no longer be steered into losing a piece. |
| Kings | One square at a time | The English king steps one square. Most of the rest of the world lets it slide the whole diagonal, which makes a king far stronger. |
| Men jump back | Off | A kitchen table rule. It lets an uncrowned man jump backwards, which quietly makes a man half a king. |
| Speed | Normal | How quickly the pieces move. It does not change how well the bot plays. |
The words
- Draughts
- The British name. Checkers is the American one and they are the same game.
- Man
- An uncrowned piece. It moves and takes forwards only.
- King
- A crowned piece. It moves and takes in all four directions.
- Crown
- What happens to a man that reaches the far row. It ends the turn.
- Jump
- Going over a neighbouring piece into the empty square beyond, and taking it.
- Double
- Two jumps by one piece in one turn. Three is a triple, and so on.
- Forced take
- The rule that you must jump if you can. It is what lets a piece be offered as bait.
- Shut in
- Having pieces left and no legal move, which loses the game.
- Long king
- A king that slides the whole diagonal, as it does outside Britain and America.
- Trade
- Giving up a piece to take one back. The player who is ahead wants them.
How other families play it
Every family plays it a little differently. These are the ways we know of. The ones with a button are house rules this table can play.
Taking is optional
Plenty of kitchen tables play without the compulsory take. You jump when you want to, so nobody can be steered into giving a piece away. It is a setting here.
Flying kings
Outside Britain and America a king usually slides any distance along a diagonal, takes a piece from far off and lands on any empty square beyond it. That makes a king far stronger. It is a setting here.
Men take backwards
A house rule some tables play: an uncrowned man may jump backwards as well as forwards, which quietly makes it half a king. It is a setting here.
International draughts
Played on a board of 10 by 10 with 20 pieces a side, and a different game with rules of its own. The table here does not have it.
Questions people ask
Do you have to jump in draughts?
Yes. Here a jump is compulsory by default: if any of your pieces can take, you must take with one of them, though you choose which. That is the written rule of English draughts. Many kitchen tables play without it, and you can turn it off on the game page.
Do you have to take the most pieces in draughts?
No. When several jumps are open you may pick any of them, even one that takes fewer pieces. What you must do is finish the jump you start: a piece that can jump again keeps jumping, in the same turn.
Can you jump backwards in draughts?
Only with a king, by default. A man moves and takes forwards only. Some tables let a man take backwards too, and that is a setting on the game page.
How does a king move in draughts?
One square diagonally in any of the four directions, and it takes the same way, over a neighbour into the empty square beyond. Outside Britain and America kings usually fly the whole diagonal, and the game page has that as a setting.
What happens when a piece reaches the end of the board?
It is crowned and becomes a king, and your turn ends there, even in the middle of a run of jumps.
Who moves first in draughts?
Red, here. The colours swap after every game, so neither player keeps the first move.
How do you win at draughts?
Take every piece the other side has, or leave them with no legal move. A side shut in with pieces still on the board has lost.
Can a game of draughts be a draw?
Yes. Here a game is drawn when 25 moves each go by with no piece taken and no man moved, or when the same position comes round three times with the same side to move.
Every rule on this page is the one the app plays by. Change any of them on the game's own page before you start.