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Draughts · Tavla & Dama

How to Play Checkers

Checkers, also called English draughts, is the classic diagonal game on the dark squares of an 8×8 board. Men move forward, kings move both ways, and if you can capture, you must.

Each player has 12 men, and black moves first.

Players:
2
Board:
8×8, dark squares
Pieces:
12 each

Goal

  • Capture all of your opponent's pieces or leave them without a move. A player who cannot move loses.

Capturing

  • Capturing is compulsory: jump over an opponent piece onto the empty square behind it.
  • If the same piece can capture again, it must go on. The chosen capture is played to the end.
  • After a capture, a long-moving king must stop on a square from which it can capture again, if there is one.
  • A man that reaches the far row becomes a king.

Draw

  • The same position for the third time, 50 moves with only kings moving and no capture, or one king each.

Checkers

  • 8×8 board, played on the dark squares. 12 men each. Black starts.
  • Men move one square diagonally forward and capture forward only.
  • Kings move and capture one square diagonally in any direction.
  • If several captures are possible, choose any of them.
  • A man that reaches the far row becomes a king and the move ends.

Tips

  • Keep your back row as long as you can to stop your opponent from crowning.
  • Pieces in the centre have more moves than pieces on the edge.

Controls

  • Tap a piece and then a lit square, or drag the piece there.
  • In a multiple capture, play one jump at a time.
  • Against the bot or a friend on this phone, Undo takes your last move back.

Play Checkers in Tavla & Dama

Tavla & Dama puts backgammon and draughts in one beautiful wooden box: Tavla, Tapa and Gülbara, and eight kinds of draughts. Play smart bots anytime, even offline, or open a private room and play with a friend.

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