Checkers Rules — Complete Guide to American Checkers

Everything you need to know about the rules of checkers — from board setup and basic moves to kings, mandatory jumps, and winning strategies.

Checkers (also called Draughts) is one of the oldest and most widely played board games in the world. Whether you are learning how to play checkers for the first time or settling a rules dispute with a friend, this guide covers every rule in American Checkers with clear explanations and practical examples. For a step-by-step walkthrough aimed at total beginners, see our beginner's guide to playing checkers.

Quick Reference: All Checkers Rules at a Glance

Before diving into the details, here is a summary of every rule in American Checkers. Use this table as a quick reference any time you need to look something up during a game.

1. Checkers Board Setup

Checkers is played on a standard 8×8 board with alternating light and dark squares — the same board used for chess. Only the 32 dark squares are used during the game; pieces never touch the light squares.

• Each player starts with 12 pieces, for a total of 24 pieces on the board.
• Pieces are placed on the dark squares of the first three rows closest to each player.
• The two middle rows (rows 4 and 5) start empty — this is the initial battleground where pieces first meet.
• The board should be oriented so that each player has a dark square in the bottom-left corner.

In our online game, you play as Red (bottom three rows) and the AI plays Black (top three rows). The setup is handled automatically when you start a new game.

Getting the checkers board setup right matters because placing pieces on the wrong squares changes the game entirely. If you are playing on a physical board, double-check that every piece sits on a dark square and that the bottom-left corner square is dark.

2. Basic Moves

Understanding movement is the foundation of the rules of checkers. Regular pieces (those that have not been promoted to Kings) follow strict movement rules.

• Direction: Regular pieces move diagonally forward only — one square at a time. "Forward" means toward your opponent's side of the board.
• Destination: A piece can only land on an empty dark square. You cannot move onto a square occupied by any piece, whether yours or your opponent's.
• No backward movement: Regular pieces cannot move backward. This restriction is one of the key reasons strategic positioning matters so much — once a piece advances, it cannot retreat.
• One square at a time: Unlike Kings in International Draughts, pieces in American Checkers always move exactly one square per turn (captures excluded).

A common question for beginners is whether pieces can move sideways. They cannot — all movement in checkers is strictly diagonal. Pieces never move horizontally or vertically.

3. Capturing (Jumping)

Captures are the heart of checkers. Jumping over your opponent's pieces is the only way to remove them from the board, and mastering captures is essential to winning.

To capture (jump) an opponent's piece, three conditions must all be true:

1. Your piece is diagonally adjacent to an opponent's piece.
2. The square directly beyond that opponent's piece, continuing in the same diagonal direction, is empty.
3. The jump direction is legal for your piece type (forward only for regular pieces; any diagonal direction for Kings).

When you make a capture, your piece "jumps" over the opponent's piece and lands on the empty square beyond it. The opponent's piece is then removed from the board permanently.

Keep in mind that you cannot jump over your own pieces, and you cannot jump over two pieces in a single hop. Each individual jump clears exactly one opponent piece. To capture multiple pieces in one turn, you need a multi-jump sequence (covered below).

4. The Mandatory Jump Rule

The mandatory jump rule is one of the most important — and most frequently debated — rules in checkers. Here is how it works:

• If any capture is available on your turn, you must make a capturing move. You cannot choose a non-jumping move when a jump exists.
• If you have multiple pieces that can each make a jump, you may choose which piece to jump with. The rule requires a jump, not a specific jump.
• The mandatory jump rule applies equally to regular pieces and Kings.

This rule creates many of the tactical opportunities in checkers. Skilled players use the mandatory capture rule to force their opponent into unfavorable positions — offering a tempting jump that actually sets up a devastating counter-capture. You can read more about these tactics in our checkers strategy guide.

In casual games, some players adopt a "huff" rule where a player who fails to make a mandatory capture loses the piece that should have jumped. This is not used in official American Checkers tournament rules, where the correct procedure is simply to require the player to take back their move and make the jump.

5. Double Jump and Multi-Jump Rules

Multi-jumps (also called double jumps, triple jumps, or chain captures) are one of the most exciting parts of checkers. The checkers double jump rules are straightforward:

• After completing a jump, if the same piece can immediately jump another opponent piece from its new landing square, it must continue jumping.
• This chain continues until the piece reaches a square from which no further captures are possible.
• Each jump in the chain can change direction. For example, a piece might jump forward-left, then forward-right in the same turn.
• A regular piece performing a multi-jump is still restricted to forward jumps only during the chain — it cannot jump backward mid-sequence.

All captured pieces are removed from the board after the entire multi-jump sequence is complete, not one at a time during the chain. In practical terms this rarely matters, but it means you cannot jump the same piece twice in a single sequence since it remains on the board until the chain finishes and it would still be blocking its square.

Multi-jumps can be devastating — a well-planned chain capture can remove three or even four opponent pieces in a single turn, completely swinging the balance of the game.

6. Checkers King Rules

Promotion to King is the most significant upgrade a piece can receive. Here are the complete checkers king rules:

How promotion works

• When a regular piece reaches the far edge of the board (your opponent's back row), it is promoted to a King.
• Kings are visually marked — on a physical board with a second checker stacked on top; in our online game with a crown symbol.
• The turn ends immediately upon promotion. In American Checkers rules, a piece that becomes a King during a multi-jump sequence stops on the back row. It cannot continue jumping until its next turn. (Note: some casual players skip this rule, but it is the official American Checkers standard.)

King movement and capturing

• Kings can move one square diagonally in any direction — forward-left, forward-right, backward-left, or backward-right.
• Kings can capture in all four diagonal directions, including backward. This answers the common question "can you jump backwards in checkers?" — yes, but only with Kings.
• Kings follow the same mandatory capture and multi-jump rules as regular pieces.
• A King performing a multi-jump can freely mix forward and backward jumps in the same chain.

Because Kings are so much more versatile than regular pieces, gaining a King advantage is often the turning point in a game. Controlling the center of the board and advancing pieces safely toward promotion are core elements of good checkers strategy.

7. How to Win a Game of Checkers

There are two ways to win a game of checkers:

1. Capture all of your opponent's pieces. If your opponent has zero pieces remaining, you win immediately.
2. Block all of your opponent's pieces. If it is your opponent's turn and none of their remaining pieces can make a legal move (all are trapped), you win.

The second condition is sometimes called a "stalemate win" or a "block." It happens most often in the endgame when one player has more Kings and uses them to pin the opponent's remaining pieces against the edges of the board.

There is no time-based win condition in casual play, though tournament games may use clocks. If both players are playing with clocks and one player runs out of time, that player loses.

8. Draws and Stalemates

Not every game of checkers produces a winner. A draw occurs when neither player can force a victory. Common draw scenarios include:

• Mutual agreement: Both players agree that neither can win and accept a draw.
• Repeated position: The same board position occurs three times with the same player to move (in tournament play, this typically results in a draw).
• No progress: In tournament rules, if 40 moves pass with no capture and no piece promotion, the game is declared a draw.
• Insufficient material: Certain endgame positions are known draws — for example, one King vs. one King, since neither side can force a capture.

In 2007, researchers at the University of Alberta mathematically proved that checkers, played perfectly by both sides from the starting position, always ends in a draw. This makes checkers the most complex game ever "solved," though the vast majority of games between human players still produce a winner because perfect play is extraordinarily difficult to achieve.

Checkers Rules Comparison: American vs International

American Checkers and International Draughts are the two most popular versions of the game worldwide. The international draughts rules differ from American Checkers in several important ways. Here is a side-by-side comparison:

If you are looking for what are the rules for checkers as played in most of North America and the United Kingdom, American Checkers (also called English Draughts) is the standard. International Draughts is dominant in continental Europe, parts of Africa, and in world-championship tournaments.

9. Other Checkers Variants

Beyond American Checkers and International Draughts, several other regional variants are played around the world:

• Brazilian Checkers: Uses International Draughts rules on an 8×8 board with 12 pieces per side, combining the smaller board with flying-king mechanics.
• Russian Checkers (Shashki): Similar to Brazilian Checkers, but with a notable difference — a piece that reaches the back row during a multi-jump is immediately promoted and can continue its chain as a King.
• Turkish Checkers (Dama): Played on all 64 squares of an 8×8 board. Pieces move horizontally and vertically (not diagonally), creating a very different tactical feel.
• Canadian Checkers: Played on a 12×12 board with 30 pieces per side, using International Draughts-style rules on the largest standard board.
• Italian Checkers (Dama Italiana): Similar to American Checkers, but regular pieces cannot capture Kings, and when multiple captures are available, specific priority rules determine which capture must be taken.
• Chinese Checkers: Despite the name, this is a completely different game. It is played on a star-shaped board with 2 to 6 players and involves moving marbles into the opposite triangle. It is not related to standard checkers.

Our online game uses standard American Checkers rules. If you want to practice against a computer opponent, you can play a game right now — no account or signup needed.

Common Rules Misconceptions

Many casual players grow up with house rules that differ from the official rules of checkers. Here are the most common misconceptions:

• "Jumping is optional." Incorrect. In all official rulesets, captures are mandatory. If you can jump, you must jump.
• "You can jump backwards with regular pieces." Not in American Checkers. Only Kings can move and capture backward. Regular pieces are limited to forward movement.
• "A new King can keep jumping on the turn it is crowned." In American Checkers, a piece that lands on the back row is promoted and its turn ends immediately, even if another jump would be available. This rule is different in Russian Checkers, which may be the source of the confusion.
• "If you don't jump when you should, you lose that piece (huffing)." The "huff" penalty is a very old rule that is no longer part of official American Checkers. The correct procedure is to take back the illegal move and make the required jump.
• "Kings can jump over multiple pieces in one hop." In American Checkers, Kings jump one piece at a time, just like regular pieces. Only in International Draughts and its variants do Kings have "flying" long-range capture ability.
• "You must capture the maximum number of pieces." This is an International Draughts rule, not an American Checkers rule. In American Checkers, when multiple captures are available, you may freely choose which one to take regardless of how many pieces each sequence captures.
• "A stalemate is a draw." In checkers, if you cannot move on your turn, you lose — not draw. This is the opposite of chess, where a stalemate is a draw.

Frequently Asked Questions About Checkers Rules

Can you jump backwards in checkers?

In American Checkers, regular pieces cannot jump backwards — they can only move and capture diagonally forward. Kings, however, can jump both forward and backward in any diagonal direction. The ability to capture backward is a major reason Kings are so powerful and why earning promotions is a key part of checkers strategy.

Is jumping mandatory in checkers?

Yes. The mandatory jump rule in checkers states that if any of your pieces can make a capture on your turn, you must make a capturing move. You cannot choose a quiet, non-jumping move when a jump is available. If multiple pieces can jump, you choose which one, but a jump must happen. This rule applies to regular pieces and Kings alike.

What happens when a checker reaches the other side?

When a regular piece reaches the last row on the opponent's side, it is promoted to a King. In American Checkers, the turn ends immediately upon promotion. The newly crowned King cannot continue jumping until its next turn, even if a jump is available from its promotion square.

How many pieces does each player start with?

In American Checkers, each player begins with 12 pieces placed on the dark squares of their nearest three rows, for 24 pieces total. In International Draughts, each player starts with 20 pieces on a larger 10×10 board.

Can a King be jumped in checkers?

Yes. Kings can be captured just like regular pieces. Any piece — whether regular or King — can jump a King as long as the square beyond it is empty. Kings are not immune to capture; their advantage comes from being able to move and jump in all four diagonal directions.

What are the rules for double and triple jumps?

After completing a jump, if the same piece can immediately jump another opponent piece from its landing square, it must keep jumping. This chain continues until no more captures are possible. Each jump in a multi-jump sequence can change diagonal direction. All captured pieces are removed after the full chain is complete.

Who goes first in checkers?

In official American Checkers rules, the player with the dark-colored (Black) pieces moves first. In casual games, players often alternate who goes first between games. The first-move advantage in checkers is very slight, and with perfect play from both sides, the game ends in a draw regardless of who starts.

How does a game of checkers end?

A game ends when one player captures all opponent pieces, or when one player has no legal moves on their turn. Both result in a loss for the player without pieces or moves. Games can also end in a draw by mutual agreement, repeated positions, or the 40-move rule in tournaments. Ready to test your understanding? Play a game now and put these rules into practice.

What is the difference between American Checkers and International Draughts?

The biggest differences are board size (8×8 vs 10×10), piece count (12 vs 20 per player), and King movement. American Checkers Kings move one square at a time, while International Draughts Kings are "flying kings" that slide across multiple empty squares diagonally. International Draughts also requires players to choose the capture sequence that takes the most pieces, while American Checkers allows free choice. See the full comparison table above for a detailed breakdown.

Can you jump your own pieces in checkers?

No. You can only jump over opponent pieces. Your own pieces act as obstacles — you cannot jump over them or land on a square they occupy. If one of your pieces has all diagonal paths blocked by your own pieces, it cannot move until a path becomes available. This is why keeping your pieces spread out and mobile is an important part of the game. For more on positioning, see our how to play checkers guide.