The rules of the game of checkers are not complicated, so even the youngest players will quickly learn them. This simple, but extremely exciting game will not only quickly draw you in and make every social gathering more pleasant. Thanks to it, you will also learn healthy competition and the ability to create effective tactics.

The game takes place on a special board called a checkerboard. It has the shape of a square divided into 64 fields - 8 for length and width. They were painted alternately dark and light colors. Each of them is marked with a number and a letter, which makes it easier to move pieces around the board.

Two players enter the game. At the beginning, each of them has twelve pieces. One person has white figures and the other one is red. First, they are placed in the starting position - on both sides of the board, in three rows on dark fields. The first move is made by the one who controls the white pieces. Then both players take turns moving around the board.

The gameplay consists in capturing all of the opponent's pieces or blocking them in such a way that he cannot make any other move. The figures only move one place, always diagonally, and you can only place them on dark squares. You take a capture when you jump over an adjacent piece of your opponent - but there must be an empty space behind him. Then you remove the figure from the game by taking it off the board.

You are allowed to capture more than one piece in one move. If your opponent's pieces are properly positioned, you can jump over several of them - both from the front and back. However, it is not allowed to bypass one pawn or a queen again. It is also important to remember that capturing is obligatory - whenever there is such an opportunity, you must immediately perform all available moves.

When you manage to reach the last row of the board - that is, the first row of your opponent - and stand on one of the last squares, your piece becomes a queen. However, if you only go through them, for example during multiple capturing, and then end your move on one of the previous rows, your pawn will not turn into a queen.

The mentioned figure is a great variety to the game, because it guarantees many additional privileges - among others, it is allowed to move diagonally through any number of squares. This rule applies to both forward and backward movement. You can also use it to capture your opponent's piece from any distance. However, behind it - as in the case of ordinary capturing with a pawn - there must be at least one empty space. The queen may jump to any of these squares and then continue to capture.

The game of checkers does not always end with the victory of one of the playmakers. The result of the game can also be a draw. It comes to him when both people will make fifteen queens moves and will not capture any opponent's pieces. An interesting fact is that if none of the players makes a mistake in a classic game, it will be a draw every time.

The main differences between the various types of drafts result primarily from the size of the board - it can be from seven to even twelve fields in width and length. Players can also have a different number of pieces at their disposal - from eight to thirty.

In some variants of the game, the rules of capturing and the way the queen moves also change. Such modifications can significantly change the course of the game and the tactics used by players. There are also differences in playing time - the most popular are games with a normal pace (a player has up to an hour and a half to play) and blitz tournaments, which usually last a few minutes.