Checkers Rules

The complete rules of checkers — a clear reference · Updated August 9, 2026

This is the complete rule set for checkers, in the version played on Checkers Arena — English draughts (also called American checkers). It is written as a concise reference. If you would prefer a friendlier step-by-step walkthrough with more diagrams, start with our how-to-play guide — then play free on Checkers Arena.

Objective

Checkers is a game for two players, Red and Black. Each starts with twelve pieces. You win by capturing all of your opponent's pieces, or by leaving them with no legal move. It is a game of trades and traps: the last player able to move wins.

The board and setup

Checkers is played on an 8×8 board of 64 squares. Play uses the dark squares only — every move is diagonal. On Checkers Arena the files are lettered a–h and the ranks numbered 1–8. Each player places twelve pieces on the dark squares of their three nearest rows:

Red occupies ranks 1–3 (the bottom) and moves up the board.
Black occupies ranks 6–8 (the top) and moves down the board.
Ranks 4 and 5 start empty.

The checkers starting position on an 8×8 board: twelve red pieces on the bottom three rows and twelve black pieces on the top three rows, all on the dark squares. — The standard starting position. Twelve pieces per side on the dark squares of the three nearest rows.

Starting the game

Red moves first, then the players alternate turns. On each turn you make exactly one move — either a simple move or a capture (which may be a chain of jumps; see below).

Moving the pieces

An ordinary piece (a man) moves one square diagonally forward to an empty dark square — forward means toward the opponent's side.
Red men move up the board; Black men move down. Men cannot move sideways, straight, or backward.
You cannot move onto an occupied square. A piece directly in front of you with an empty square beyond it must instead be captured.

Capturing and the forced-jump rule

You capture by jumping diagonally over an adjacent enemy piece onto the empty square immediately beyond it. The jumped piece is removed.
Captures are mandatory. If a capture is available, you must take it — you may not make a quiet move instead. If several captures are available, you may choose which one.
A capture that can continue must continue: if the same piece can jump again after landing, it keeps jumping, all in the same turn (a multi-jump).

A red man jumps diagonally over an adjacent black man (circled) and lands on the empty square beyond it, capturing it. — A capture: jump diagonally over the adjacent enemy piece and land on the empty square beyond. Captures are compulsory.

Kings

When a man reaches the far row — the opponent's back rank, the king row — it is crowned and becomes a king. A king moves and captures diagonally in all four directions, forward and backward. Reaching the king row ends the turn; a newly crowned king does not jump again on the same move. In English draughts a king still moves one square at a time — it does not fly across empty squares.

A red king crowned on the back row shown with a gold crown, and a second red king with arrows pointing diagonally in all four directions. — A crowned king (gold crown) moves and captures in every diagonal direction — unlike a man, which only moves forward.

How much that extra direction is worth is easiest to feel on a board: this endgame has one red king and one red man against two black men. Equal in number, not in value. Open it in the checkers move analyzer and see who the engine thinks is better.

Winning the game

You win if your opponent:

has no pieces left, or
still has pieces but cannot make a legal move on their turn — every piece is blocked.

A checkers position where Black's only man (circled) is trapped: red pieces block both squares in front of it and the squares beyond, so Black has no legal move and loses. — Winning by a block: it is Black's turn, but the circled black man has no move — both forward squares and the squares beyond are blocked. Black loses even though it still has a piece.

Draws

A game can end in a draw when neither side can force a win. Either player may offer a draw at any time. To stop a dead position dragging on, Checkers Arena also declares a draw automatically on threefold repetition of the position, or after 40 moves with no capture and no man advancing toward promotion.

Those two rules are practical stand-ins for a question that has an exact answer near the end of a game. Our endgame database holds every position with four pieces or fewer — all 6.4 million — with the result already worked out, so "is this actually drawn?" stops being a judgement call. Two thirds of king-against-king placements really are drawn; two kings against one wins from all but 34 of the placements it can arise in. With best play from both sides checkers as a whole is a draw, which was proved in 2007 — but that says nothing about the position in front of you, and the table does.

How the rules are enforced

Every move is validated by the server against this rule set, so an illegal move cannot be played by either side.
Forced captures are enforced — when a jump is available, only jumping moves are offered, and a multi-jump must be completed.
Each turn has a server-run time limit, so no one can stall the game forever.

Quick rules summary

Two players, twelve pieces each, on the dark squares of an 8×8 board.
Red moves first; players alternate. Men move one square diagonally forward.
Capture by jumping an adjacent enemy piece to the empty square beyond — captures are forced, and chains must be finished.
Reach the far row to be crowned a king, which moves and captures in all four directions.
Win by capturing all enemy pieces or leaving the opponent with no legal move.
Draws happen by agreement, threefold repetition, or the 40-move rule.

Start playing

The rules click into place once you play. On Checkers Arena the board highlights every legal move and enforces the rules for you — play the computer on three levels, or friends and online opponents, free with no signup.

▶ Play checkers now

Learn more with our step-by-step how-to-play guide and the checkers strategy guide.

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