← Checkers

Checkers: how to play

A cosy game of classic checkers with ruby and sapphire pieces: jump your opponent's pieces until they have no moves left. Play it now or go back to the game page.

The idea

You play on an 8 by 8 board, using only the dark squares. Each side has 12 pieces. You win when your opponent cannot move any more, either because all their pieces are captured or because the ones left are blocked.

Controls

• Phone, tablet or computer: tap (or click) one of your pieces to pick it up, and the squares where it can go light up. Then tap the square where you want it to land.
• For a long jump over several pieces, tap the last square of the jump.
• Your pieces are always at the bottom of the board: if you play blue, the board turns round.
• The home button at the top left goes back to the menu. Going to the menu in the middle of a round gives that round up.

The rules, step by step

1. Red moves first. Then you take turns, one move each.
2. A normal piece (a man) moves one square diagonally forward, onto an empty dark square.
3. To capture, jump diagonally over an enemy piece next to you, landing on the empty square right behind it. The jumped piece is removed.
4. Captures are compulsory. If you can capture, you must: the game says "You must capture", and only the pieces that can capture can be picked up.
5. If, after a jump, the same piece can jump again, it must keep going in the same turn.
6. A man that reaches the far row becomes a king, shown with a crown. Its turn ends there.
7. A king moves and captures one square at a time, diagonally forwards and backwards.

How a game ends

• You win when your opponent has no legal move.
• It is a draw after 40 moves each with no capture and no man moving, or when the same position comes up three times.

Opponents and levels

From the New game menu choose Play the computer and a level, or Two players to play a friend on the same device (red moves first, and each turn is announced as "Red's turn" or "Blue's turn"). Against the computer you play red or blue, and the colour alternates from game to game.

Losing pays nothing. Two-player games pay nothing either.

Coins, Undo, Hint and Restart

You start with 30 coins, and you get a gift of 30 more each day you come back. Against the computer:

• Undo, 10 coins: takes back your last move and the computer's replies, so it is your turn again.
• Hint, 15 coins: highlights the piece to move and where to put it, using the same seven-move search as Hard.
• Restart: starts the game again. It is free until you have made a second move, then it costs 5 coins.

In two-player games the tools are Free. If you do not have enough coins, the game tells you. After a game, Play again starts a new one and Menu goes back to the menu. If you lose against the computer, the end card also offers Undo (10 coins).

What is saved

Your coins, total points and record (won, drawn and lost for each level, and red wins, draws and blue wins for two players) are saved, and you find the record on the menu under Your record. A game in progress is saved after every move, so you can close the game and come back later to find it as you left it, with Undo still available.

Settings

The game follows your language, English or Italian, chosen automatically. Where the game shows a sound button at the top right, tap it to switch sound on and off.

Tips

• Check for captures first. Since they are compulsory, you can also force your opponent: offer a piece so that their forced capture leaves you a bigger jump.
• Keep your back row as long as you can. It stops the enemy from getting kings.
• Play in the centre. Pieces in the middle have more options than pieces on the edge.
• Move together. A piece with a friend right behind it cannot be jumped.
• Trade when you are ahead. If you have more pieces, swapping one for one makes your advantage bigger.
• Learn from the Hint. Use it a few times and ask yourself why that move is good.

Questions or problems? Contact us.