It is played on an 8×8 checkerboard with 12 pieces per side. The pieces move and capture diagonally forward, until they reach the opposite end of the board, when they are crowned and can thereafter move and capture both backward and forward.
Players take turns to move a piece of their own colour. Any piece that reaches the far edge of the board is immediately crowned and is thereafter known as a "King". The act of crowning is a physical one - another piece of the same shade is placed on top of the piece in order to distinguish it from an ordinary piece.
A player wins the game when his opponent can no longer make a move. This happens when all his opponent's pieces have been captured or when all of his opponent's pieces are blocked in. Each player begins with 12 pieces placed on the game board as shown.
King. No "flying kings" - similarly to American checkers a king can only move one square and capture forwards as well as backwards. A unique feature of the Italian variant of draughts is that a regular piece is not able to capture a king.
A win is scored when an opponent's pieces are all captured or blocked so that they cannot move. When neither side can force a victory and the trend of play becomes repetitious, a draw game is declared. Games similar to checkers were played in the days of the early Egyptian pharaohs (c.
Play Un-crowned pieces can only move diagonally forwards but can capture diagonally forwards AND backwards. A Queen moves by diagonally traversing any number of unoccupied squares. Capturing is compulsory and where there is a choice, the move that captures the greatest number of pieces must be made.
Usually, this is because all of the opponent's pieces have been captured, but sometimes it is because the opponent has no space to move onto (he is “blocked” from moving). In checkers, stalemates don't exist as they do in chess. The rules stipulate that if a player cannot make a move, they automatically lose the game.
Captures are mandatory. All 64 squares are used, dark and light. Men move one cell diagonally forward and capture in any of the five cells directly forward, diagonally forward, or sideways, but not backward.
The King can only jump diagonally over one adjacent piece at a time, in any of the four diagonal directions.