What is Checkers?
With two players it's the 8 × 8 board, 12 men each on the dark squares of their own three back ranks. 3 player checkers is every player for themselves on a hexagon of 8 × 4 home areas; four play free-for-all on an octagon, or 2v2 on a 16 × 8 board.
Two rule sets. Russian checkers, the default, is shashki as Russia and Ukraine play it. English draughts is what the US calls American checkers.
How a match goes
Men step diagonally forward and capture by jumping an enemy piece to the empty square beyond. Capturing is mandatory: you choose the sequence, with no rule to take the most, but you finish it.
Russian rules: men capture backward too, kings fly any distance, and a man crowned mid-capture carries on as a king. Captured pieces leave only when the sequence ends. English rules: men go forward only, kings step one square, and crowning ends the move.
With two, no pieces or no legal move loses. A position repeated three times is a draw, and so are 15 moves each (Russian) or 40 (English) with no capture and no man moved. Resigning takes two taps.
Clocks are optional: 15, 30 or 60 seconds a move, after which a random legal move is played for you, or 5, 10 or 15 minutes each.
What you need
Phones or tablets, iPhone and Android together, one per player; a short intro says how to lay them, and checkers on two phones splits the board in half. Or two people share one device, on a board that never turns.
A friend somewhere else can join with the table's link or code, as How it works explains; every device then shows the whole board. On your own, play checkers vs the computer.
Modes
- Home areas
- The default with one player on each device: every device shows its own player's part, and together they make the board.
- Whole board
- Every device shows the full board, turned to its own player.
- Four players
- 4 player checkers is two against two on the 16 × 8 (the default), or every player for themselves on the octagon.
Why it's fun at a table
Only the pieces that can move light up, a forced capture is pointed out, and a multi-jump draws its path as you go, so nobody reads the rules aloud first.
With the board split across the devices, a long jump really crosses the table and lands on another player's screen. Chess splits its board the same way; both are among the board games for 2 players.
Checkers: questions and answers
Is draughts the same as checkers?
Yes, draughts is the British name for checkers, and English draughts is one of the rule sets here.
Are Russian checkers the default rules?
Yes, and English rules are the other choice in the lobby.
Can four people play checkers?
Yes, as two teams of two, or every player for themselves.
Can we play on one device?
Yes, two people share the board on one phone or tablet and take turns.
Is it Chinese checkers?
No, it's checkers: men jump and capture on dark squares, with no star and no marbles.