Rules

Checkers

Checkers, also known as draughts, is one of the oldest strategy board games, with origins that can be traced back thousands of years to early civilisations in Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. Over time, it evolved from a game called Alquerque and took a form closer to the one we recognise today in medieval France, where it began to be played on an 8×8 board. Today, checkers is not a single fixed game but a whole family of related games played around the world, including versions such as English draughts, international draughts on a larger 10×10 board, and other regional styles like Russian, Turkish, and Canadian variants. Although the rules and board sizes may vary, all versions share the same core idea: two players take turns moving pieces and capturing their opponent’s pieces by jumping over them, creating a game that is simple to learn but rich in strategy and enjoyed across many cultures and generations.

Rules

Goal: Capture all your opponent’s buttons or block them so they cannot move.

Setup

2 players
8×8 board
Each player has 12 buttons in the same colour.
Place your buttons of one kind on the indicated squares – dark squares only.

How To Play:

Movement

Buttons move one square diagonally forward.
Buttons move only on dark squares.

Capturing (Jumping)

To capture, jump diagonally over an opponent’s button.
Land on the empty square immediately behind it.
Remove the captured button from the board.
If a capture is available, you must take it.
If another capture is possible with the same button, continue jumping in the same turn.
You cannot jump if there is no empty square to land on.
You cannot jump over your own button.

Kings

If a button reaches the opposite side, it becomes a king button.
Put another button on top to show it is a king.
Kings can move diagonally forward and backward
Kings can be captured like regular buttons.

Winning: You win if you capture all your opponent’s buttons, you also win if your opponent cannot make a legal move.

Outros jogos