How to play checkers: the rules, kings and how to win

Checkers in a nutshell

Checkers (called draughts in Britain) is a two-player game of diagonal moves and jumps. You move your pieces forward, jump over your opponent's pieces to capture them, and turn your pieces into kings by reaching the far side. You win by capturing every enemy piece or by leaving your opponent with no legal move.

The rules fit on a postcard, but the game is deep enough to keep you learning for years. This guide covers the rules exactly as they work in PlayTrova's free Checkers, then the strategy that turns beginners into winners.

How to set up a checkers board

Checkers is played on an 8×8 board, and only the dark squares are used. Each player starts with 12 pieces on the dark squares of the three rows nearest them, leaving two empty rows in the middle.

On PlayTrova the pieces are coral and teal, and coral always moves first. Your own pieces are always shown at the bottom of the screen, so you are always moving up the board.

Short on time? The 6×6 Quick board gives each player 6 pieces in two rows. Games take a few minutes, which makes it a great way to teach younger kids.

Checkers rules: how pieces move and capture

1. Move: slide one piece one square diagonally forward onto an empty dark square.
2. Jump: if an enemy piece is diagonally next to yours and the square just beyond it is empty, jump over it and land on that square. The piece you jumped over is captured.
3. Keep jumping: if your piece lands where it can jump again, it carries on. Two, three or more captures can all happen in a single move.

The rule that surprises most beginners: jumping is compulsory. If any of your pieces can capture, you must capture. When you have more than one jump available, you choose which one to take, and it doesn't have to be the one that captures the most. But once you start a jump, you must finish every jump in that chain.

On PlayTrova, any piece that must jump glows, so you will never miss a forced capture by accident.

Kings, winning and draws

When one of your ordinary pieces reaches the far row, it is crowned a king. Kings move and jump one square diagonally in any direction, forwards or backwards, which makes them far more useful than ordinary pieces.

• Kings move one square at a time. They don't fly across the board like in some other draughts games.
• If a piece is crowned in the middle of a jump, the move ends there. The new king waits until your next turn.
• You win by capturing all of your opponent's pieces, or by blocking them so they have no legal move on their turn.
• The game is a draw after 40 moves each with no capture and no ordinary piece moved, or if the same position comes up three times.

Checkers played perfectly by both sides ends in a draw. That is why, on the full 8×8 board, holding Grandmaster Owl to a draw is enough to earn its star.

How to win at checkers: 5 strategy tips

1. Guard your back row. While your back row has pieces on it, your opponent can't crown a king there. Keep a couple of back-row pieces at home for as long as you can.
2. Head for the centre. A piece in the middle has two ways forward and can support its neighbours. Pieces on the side edges can't be jumped, but they only have one way to go and get stuck easily.
3. Move in pairs. A lone piece is easy to jump. A piece backed up by friends on the squares diagonally behind it can't be jumped from the front, because there is nowhere to land.
4. Trade when you are ahead. Swapping one piece for one piece makes your lead count for more. Being 8 against 7 is a small edge; 3 against 2 is often a win.
5. Get a king, then use it. Kings can attack from behind, so in the endgame a king is worth much more than an ordinary piece.

One endgame idea to remember: two kings beat one, but a lone king will run for a double corner (the corner where two dark squares touch). Work your kings together to squeeze it out, rather than chasing it with one king at a time.

The two-for-one shot (and how to avoid it)

The most exciting move in checkers is the shot: you give away one piece on purpose so that your opponent is forced to jump, then you jump two of theirs back. Here is how it typically works:

1. You step a piece forward next to an enemy piece, leaving an empty square behind your piece.
2. Your opponent must jump it (jumping is compulsory), and their piece lands on that empty square.
3. That square is right in front of another of your pieces, with an empty square beyond it. You jump their piece, and from where you land you jump a second enemy piece too.

Result: you lose one piece and take two. Before you try it, check that their jump really lands where you planned and can't carry on into a multi-jump of its own.

Defending against shots is the same idea in reverse. Whenever your opponent offers you a free piece, ask why. Look at where your piece will land after the jump and which of their pieces can reach it. Rookie Robo often misses these tricks, but Sly Fox loves to set them up.

The daily Jump puzzles in solo mode are the perfect training ground: five positions a day where you find the biggest multi-jump or the clever move that wins a piece.

Common checkers mistakes

• Moving your back-row pieces early and letting your opponent crown kings.
• Taking the first jump you see without checking whether another jump is better.
• Leaving a piece with an empty square diagonally behind it, where it can be jumped.
• Running to the side edges, where pieces are safe but have only one way forward.
• Wandering around with kings at the end and forgetting the 40-move draw rule. PlayTrova shows a countdown when a draw is getting close.

Practise checkers online

The quickest way to improve is to play lots of games against opponents who are a little better than you. PlayTrova's four computer characters make a ladder: Rookie Robo loves jumping, Clever Cat never leaves its back row empty, Sly Fox sets traps and Grandmaster Owl sees every jump many moves ahead. You take turns playing first, and you get an Undo button and three hints per game.

Prefer a real person? Play a friend on the same device, or choose vs Friend and send an invite link with no sign-up. Browse more games to play against the computer and our list of the best 2 player games for kids.

If you enjoy checkers, try the corner battles of Reversi with our Reversi strategy guide, or the counting puzzles of Mancala in how to play Mancala.

Frequently asked questions