Checkers

Overview

Diagonals decide everything here. Checkers, or draughts as it is known in much of the world, strips two-player strategy down to forward-only pieces on the dark squares of an eight-by-eight board. The rules are famously simple — move diagonally, jump an adjacent enemy when you can, reach the back rank to crown a king — but the play has real teeth because captures are mandatory. That single rule turns what looks like a children's pastime into a game of forced sequences and material sacrifice, where setting up a double or triple jump can swing the balance in a single turn. This version plays full standard rules against the computer, with kings that move and capture in both directions and a clean board that highlights every legal move the moment you select a piece.

How to Play

Click a piece and the legal squares glow; click the destination to slide or jump. On touch screens, the same flow is a tap on the piece then a tap on the target square. Because captures are mandatory, the highlights will steer you toward any jump that is on the board, and multi-jumps chain automatically as long as a further capture is available after each landing. A piece that reaches the opponent's back rank is crowned a king, marked so you can tell it apart, and from then on it moves and captures both forward and backward. The computer handles its own turns, so you just keep clearing the board.

Tips & Strategy

Control the center early, since a piece in the middle has more diagonal lines open and more jump options in both directions. Hold your back rank — the row your pieces start on — for as long as you can, because those rear pieces are what stop an enemy king from walking in once it is crowned. When a capture is forced, look one move deeper before committing: sometimes giving up a piece on purpose sets up a bigger multi-jump in reply. Trade evenly when ahead on material, because every exchange chips away at the computer's options. Push a piece all the way to the back rank whenever the lane is clear; a king is worth far more than the man that became it.