How to Play Draughts

The goal of the game

Draughts is a two-player game of diagonal movement. You win by leaving your opponent with no legal move: either every one of their pieces has been captured, or the pieces they still have are completely blocked.

Every rule below describes how the game works inside Draughts World. Other clubs and federations may play slightly differently, so if you join an outside event, check its rulebook first.

Board setup

Play happens only on the dark squares. On the 8x8 variants each player starts with 12 pieces placed on the dark squares of the three rows nearest to them, leaving two empty rows in the middle. International draughts uses a 10x10 board with 20 pieces each on the first four rows.

The app sets the board up for you, so you never need to arrange pieces by hand. It still helps to know the shape: the empty middle rows are where the first contact and the first exchanges happen.

Moving a man

An ordinary piece, called a man, moves one square diagonally forward onto an empty dark square. It never moves straight ahead or sideways, and it cannot step backward when it is simply moving.

Tap or click a piece to select it; the app highlights where it may go. If nothing highlights, that piece has no legal move right now, often because a capture is required elsewhere.

Capturing

A man captures by jumping diagonally over an adjacent enemy piece onto the empty square directly behind it. In every variant in this app, men may capture both forward and backward, even though they can only move forward.

Capturing is compulsory. If any capture is available, you must take one; the app will not let you make a quiet move instead. If, after landing, the same piece can jump again, it must continue, and the chain you choose has to be completed to the end.

Some variants let you pick any available capture, while others require the sequence that removes the most pieces. The variants guide explains which is which.

• Example: your man is on a square with an enemy man diagonally in front and an empty square beyond it. You must jump, removing that piece.
• Example: after that jump, another enemy piece sits diagonally behind your man with an empty square beyond. You must keep jumping, backward this time.

Crowning and kings

When a man reaches the far row, it is crowned and becomes a king. Kings in this app are flying kings: they move any number of empty squares along a diagonal, forward or backward.

A king captures by travelling along a diagonal, jumping a single enemy piece at a distance, and landing on any empty square beyond it, as long as the path is clear. It may then continue capturing from its landing square.

Exactly when a man becomes a king during a capture chain differs by variant. Read the variant comparison before playing a new ruleset.

Beginning strategy

Most beginner losses come from forced captures, not from slow play. Because you must capture, an opponent can offer you a piece specifically to drag your man onto a square where it is then taken along with others.

• Before every move, ask what captures your opponent will have after it. A loose piece with an empty square behind it is a target.
• Keep pieces connected in small diagonal groups. A piece supported from behind cannot be jumped from the front.
• Hold your back row for as long as practical. Those pieces stop enemy men from crowning cheaply.
• The centre squares give your men more options and restrict your opponent. Edge pieces are safe from capture on one side but move less.
• When you are ahead in material, exchange pieces. Simpler positions make an advantage easier to convert.
• Count before you sacrifice. If a sacrifice forces a long chain for you afterwards, it can be strong; if you are only hoping, it usually is not.

Playing the computer

The computer opponent is the fastest way to learn the rules without pressure. Easy is suited to learning legal moves, Medium punishes loose pieces, and Hard searches further ahead. No account is needed for computer games.

Fair online play and clocks

Online games use a chess-style clock. The first number is your starting time in minutes and the second is an increment in seconds added after each move you make. If your clock reaches zero, you lose on time, so in short games plan to move steadily rather than think for a long time on one turn.

Fair play means playing your own moves. Using an engine, another person, or a second account to help you in a rated game is not fair to the opponent. Be courteous, resign lost positions rather than abandoning the game, and offer draws when the position is genuinely level.

• Shorter clocks reward simple, safe moves. Longer clocks give time to calculate capture chains.
• A stable connection matters: your clock keeps running while you are disconnected.
• If the board shows a forced capture, there is no need to spend time looking elsewhere.