How the Checkers board works
Checkers is played entirely on the dark squares, which is why every move travels on a diagonal. You start with twelve pieces lined up along your side, your opponent with twelve along theirs, and you take turns sliding a single piece one square forward into an empty dark square. That is the whole of the ordinary move. What turns those quiet slides into a contest is what happens when two pieces meet.
When an opponent piece sits directly in front of yours on a diagonal and the square beyond it is empty, you leap over it, land on that square, and take the jumped piece off the board. Jumps are not optional: if one is available you must take it, and a piece that lands next to another capture keeps leaping in the same turn. Carry a piece all the way to the far edge and it is crowned a king, marked with a gold ring, free to slide and jump in either direction. The game ends when one side has no pieces left, or no legal move to make.
Reading a jump before you take it
The strongest players are not the ones who capture the most, but the ones who see what a capture leaves behind. Because jumps are forced, a piece dangled in front of you can be bait: take the free capture and your opponent leaps your now-exposed piece straight back, sometimes two of them. So before every jump, look at the square you will land on and ask what the other side can do from there. Keeping your pieces side by side makes them awkward to pick off, and holding your back row a little longer denies your opponent the squares it needs to crown a king.
The habit Checkers quietly builds
Under the plain rules, Checkers is a game about consequences. Every trade costs something, and a child who learns to pause and trace one move into the next is rehearsing the same if-this-then-that reasoning that turns up in arithmetic and in weighing a choice before making it. It is unhurried and forgiving, and a lost game only ever means resetting the pieces and trying a sharper plan.
Frequently asked questions
How do you play Checkers?
Each player has 12 pieces on the dark squares. You move one piece at a time, one square diagonally forward. When an enemy piece sits next to you with an empty square just behind it, you jump over it and take it off the board. If you can jump, you have to. Reach the far row and your piece becomes a king that can move both ways. You win when the other side has no pieces left, or no moves left.
Do you have to jump in Checkers?
Yes. If one of your pieces can jump an opponent, you must take that jump, and if the same piece can keep jumping over more pieces in the same turn, it has to keep going. This forced-capture rule is what makes Checkers a thinking game, because a tempting jump can be a trap that opens up a bigger capture for the other side.
How do you get a king in Checkers?
Move one of your pieces all the way to the far row, the one closest to your opponent, and it is crowned a king. A king is stronger because it can move and jump both forward and backward, while an ordinary piece can only go forward. Getting the first king is often what turns the game.