Checkers (Cont.)

How to Play Checkers

Checkers is played by two people on the same checkered board that is used for Chess, but there all similarities end. The pieces that make up your army are also called checkers (or simply men), and each army has 12 of them. The checkers of each army are the same color. Whichever colors are used, the side with the darker pieces is called Black and the side with the lighter pieces is called White.

The board is placed so that each player has a light-colored square in the corner on the right. The pieces move only on the dark-colored squares.
To begin a game, set your pieces up on the 12 dark squares of the first 3 rows of the board. Your opponent does the same.
By tradition, Black moves first. Moves alternate after that. You lose the game if your turn comes and you can't make any moves. This usually occurs because all of your pieces have been captured, but sometimes because the ones you have left have been immobilized by your opponent. If neither you nor your opponent has enough of an advantage to win, you can agree to a draw.

The pieces move one square at a time, always forward and always diagonally to an adjacent dark square. The exception to the one-square-at-a-time rule is when you are capturing, or jumping, an enemy piece. You can jump if your piece occupies a square adjacent to the enemy, and if there is an empty square on the other side of the enemy. That empty square is the one your piece will jump to. The enemy piece is then removed from the board. If, after capturing an enemy piece, you find yourself next to another enemy and the square beyond that one is empty, you can capture that second piece, too. And so on. You can change direction in these multiple captures, so long as you keep moving forward.


King Me

The row of squares farthest from each player is that player's King row. On reaching the King row, your piece is crowned and becomes a King. Now it can move backward as well as forward. (If by jumping over one or more of your enemies you land on the King row, your new King can't continue jumping in the same turn even if the opportunity is right there. The act of being crowned requires that the new King end its turn on the King row.)


-- Coming up next, "Checkers Strategies and Tips".