We’re Jumping Over Each Other to Tell You About Checkers
Checkers isn’t just more basic chess. It’s a respected strategy game with its own surprisingly ancient history and legacy.
It seems like one of the most basic board games a person can have on their shelf. But this game has a much longer history than you may thing, having been played for thousands of years, and even being found in pharaohs tombs.
What is Checkers?
Checkers, also known as draughts, is a two player, strategy board game. The game is named for the square checkered board that the game is played for. Many variants of checkers are played on 8 x 8 boards, but Canadian, and Malasysian or Singaporean checkers are played using 12 x 12 board, while Russian and Turkish versions are played with a 10 x 10 board.
Checkers is a relatively ancient game, which has had many variations over the years. But it remains one of the most well known and most popular strategy board games to this day.
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How Do You Play?
Checkers begins when both players pick their color pieces—usually black and red, and usually black goes first- and take turns moving their pieces around the board. Players move one of their pieces in a forward diagonal direction to an unoccupied square. Once that player’s one pieces has been moved, the other player moves one of their own pieces, also forward diagonally. Checkers pieces can move forward across the board in a zig-zag pattern. In American checkers, regular pieces can only move forwards, while in some International versions pieces can move both backwards and forwards.
When opposing checkers pieces meet, one piece can capture an enemy piece by jumping over it to the next spot. If there are multiple pieces in a row, a jump will be blocked. The game is won when one player has successfully captured all of their opponents pieces.
If a pieces successfully reaches the farthest row on the enemy’s side of the board, they become a “king.” A king piece is “crowned” by stacking another piece on top. Kings have extra powers, such as the the ability to move both backwards and forwards. They can also make successive jumps in a single turn. This can happen when there is an enemy piece followed by a blank space, followed by an enemy piece, and another black space. The king can jump the first and second enemy pieces in succession, capturing both of them in one turn.
Other versions of checkers give the king even more abilities, including the ‘flying king.’ This basically gives the king a much greater command over the board and even greater mobility.
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The Surprisingly Long History of Checkers
Checkers is a shockingly old game. Versions have been found in the Mesopotamian city-state of Ur dating back to 3000 BC. The British Museum currently holds a version of checkers from ancient Egypt that was found in the burial champers of Pharaoh Hatshepsut. Plato and Homer both mention a game with Egyptian origins called petteia with rules very similar to that of checkers. In fact, petteia was said to have been played during the Trojan War.
An Arabic gamed called quirkat or al-qirk, also with striking similarities to modern checkers, was mentioned in writing as far back as the tenth century. al-qirq was brought to Spain by the Moors where it became known as Alquerque and was adapted to be more like the Roman “latrunculi”- or ‘Little Soilders’ and include leaping and capturing.
These ancient version of checkers varied from game to game, some played on boards as small as 5 x 5, others using different rules to jump or capture opposing pieces. But the core of checkers as a strategy game is ancient.
Championships & Federations
Like chess, there is competitive checkers federations, and championships. World Draughts Federation was founded in 1947 by France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland, and has 70 member countries. The International Draughts Federation was founded in 2021 in Bulgaria.
Championships include the World Checkers / Draughts Championship, Draughts World Championship, Women’s World Draughts Championship, and Draughts-64 World Championship.
What Games are Similar to & Confused With Checkers?
There are a few games that are similar to and often confused with, but distinct and different from modern checkers.
Halma is a strategy game that similarly involves a checkered board as well as jumping over pieces. But halma doesn’t have any captures. Instead, two or four players attempt to move all of their pieces from one corner of the board to the opposite corner diagonally before any of the other players successfully move all of their pieces.
Chinese checkers is a similar game to halma; players must move all of their piece across the board first. In Chinese checkers though, the game can be played by two to six players and the board is arranged in a six pointed star.
Kōnane is a similar Hawaiian and Polynesian game. Players take turns jumping over and capturing each others pieces and all moves must be capturing moves. The first player unable to capture one of their opponent’s pieces is the loser.
Is Checkers Harder Than Chess?
Generally speaking, chess is a harder game to play than checkers. This is largely due to how many more rules chess has than checkers and how each of the pieces has a different job and can make different moves. Additionally, there’s no ‘checks’ or ‘checkmates’ to set up in checkers. That said, both game is rooted in strategy and either would be difficult to master at their highest playing level.
Can Any Checker Jump a King?
Yes. Anyone can take your king down. So use them strategically and protect them.
Who is the Best Checkers Player of All Time?
Marion Franklin Tinsley was an American mathematician and checkers player who is still regarded as the greatest checkers player ever. He held the title of world champion from 1955 to 1958 and from 1975 to 1991. Tinsley never lost a world champion match.
Happy adventuring!
