Checkers is a classic board game where players try to jump over and capture their opponent's pieces. A player wins when their opponent has no more pieces left. Checkers is a timeless game because it's strategic, yet simple enough that it's fun for almost all ages.
Objective
The goal of checkers is to capture all of your opponent's pieces, so that they have none left on the board. Although less frequent, players can also win if they trap their opponent so that there are no moves available.
Number of players
Checkers is a two player game.
Age
Checkers is good for all ages, but kids start understanding the moves and strategies around four years old.
What you need to play checkers
- A checkers board: 8x8 checkers board (same configuration as a chess board).
- 24 checkers: 12 checkers of one color and 12 of another color.
Playing online? You don't need any of that. The game at the top of this page has the board and pieces built in.
Skills
- Social skills: Players take turns, communicate with the other player, and learn sportsmanship.
- Strategy: Checkers is a game of strategy and players can improve to become good players.
Why we like it for kids and families
Checkers is one of the earliest strategy games that kids can play (and get good at) and is still fun as adults too. It's a great family game for all ages. It's also popular so it's a game that's possible to play with anyone.
Set up and play, step by step
- Grab a board and 2 players. All you need is two players, a checkers board, and the 24 checkers that come with it.
- Decide who goes first. One player hides a red disc in one hand and a black disc in the other; the opponent picks a hand, and whatever color they pick is their color. Black goes first. Any method works: rock paper scissors, a coin flip, etc.
- Set up the board. The game is played only on the dark squares, with a light corner square to each player's right. Each player puts their pieces on the dark squares of the three rows closest to them.
- Play the first turn. The starting player (black) moves any piece forward, diagonally, in their front row.
- Alternate turns. The other player takes their turn, also moving one piece diagonally forward.
- Keep alternating, following the rules below. As the game develops, new moves open up: jumps, double jumps, and forced moves. Pieces can also be promoted to kings.
- Declare a winner. A player wins when they capture all of their opponent's pieces, or when their opponent has no legal move left.
How the pieces move
Single checkers
- Move forward only, diagonally, one square at a time for normal moves.
- Capture an opposing piece by jumping it when it sits in an adjacent diagonal square with an empty square directly beyond. The jumped piece is removed from the board.
- Can capture multiple pieces in one turn. If the landing square sets up another jump, you must keep going, and every jumped piece is removed.
- Become a king on reaching the opponent's back row.
King checkers
- A single piece is promoted to a king when it reaches the opponent's back row (on a physical board, by stacking a second checker on top of it).
- Move diagonally in any direction: forward or backward.
- Capture the same way a single piece does, but forward or backward, and can change direction during a multi-jump.
Winning, losing and draws
A player wins when they capture all of their opponent's pieces, or when their opponent has no legal move available. A draw is declared when neither player can force a win. Players usually agree on a draw when they're both down to two or fewer pieces, unless one side has a clear advantage like two kings against two singles. In tournament play, a game is a draw if 40 moves pass with no capture, or the same move is repeated three times in a row.