Checkers
NEWWorks on both desktop and mobile. Tap or click to play.
About This Game
Play Checkers free online against the computer. Tap to move, capture by jumping, crown your kings. Easy, Medium, and Hard AI. Works on mobile and desktop.
How to play Checkers
Objective: You win when the computer, playing black, has no legal move left, its pieces all captured or boxed in.
You control the red pieces at the bottom of the 8x8 board and the computer controls black at the top, twelve pieces each on the dark squares. Tap a red piece to select it, then tap a green dot to move. Green dots mark every legal destination for that piece. A regular piece slides one square diagonally forward, toward the top row.
Capturing is done by jumping. When your piece sits diagonally next to a black piece with the square just beyond it empty, you jump over and remove it. Captures are mandatory: if any piece can jump, the game only offers jumping moves and hides the quiet ones. Multi-jumps chain automatically, so one move can take two or more black pieces in a single diagonal run.
Reach the top row and your piece is crowned a king, shown with a crown symbol. Kings move and jump in all four diagonal directions instead of forward only. One quirk to plan around: if a piece is crowned in the middle of a jump sequence, that turn ends at once. A freshly crowned king cannot keep capturing on the same move.
Pick Easy, Medium, or Hard with the three buttons. They set how many moves ahead the computer searches, so Hard looks deepest and defends sharpest. Choosing a difficulty starts a fresh board. Your running win total sits by the status line and is saved in your browser, surviving a reload. Use New Game to reset at any time.
Tips and strategy
Force the jumps
Because captures are mandatory, you can steer the computer. Offer a piece so its jump lands next to two of yours. It must take the bait, and then you capture back, winning material in the exchange.
Hold the back row
Keep your bottom row pieces in place as long as you can. While they guard the far edge, the computer cannot crown a king there, and one enemy king moving all four diagonals outvalues an ordinary piece.
Chain your jumps
Multi-jumps count as one move and take every piece in the run. Lining up two black pieces one square apart on the same diagonal lets one red piece capture both at once, so trace the full path first.
Trade when ahead
Once you have more pieces, offer even trades. Each swap shrinks the computer's options and pushes it toward having no legal move, the losing condition. Avoid trades when behind, since fewer pieces favor the side that is up.
The history of Checkers
Checkers, also called draughts, took its modern form in Europe several centuries ago on an eight by eight board, the same size as a chessboard. The version played here, with pieces moving diagonally forward, jumping to capture, and being crowned as kings on the far row, is the standard English draughts rule set. It was also among the first games a computer program learned to play well, and was later solved, with perfect play known to end in a draw.
Frequently asked questions
How do I actually win?
You win the moment the computer has no legal move on its turn, which happens when you have captured all its black pieces or blocked those that remain so none can slide or jump. The status line then shows You win and your counter rises by one.
Do I have to capture when I can?
Yes. When any red piece can jump, the game shows only jumping moves as green dots and will not let you make a quiet slide. If several jumps exist you may choose which to take, but you cannot skip capturing.
How does a piece become a king?
Move a regular red piece to the top row and it is crowned a king, marked with a crown symbol. Kings move and jump both forward and backward along all four diagonals, while regular pieces only go toward the opponent.
What do the difficulty buttons change?
Easy, Medium, and Hard set how many moves ahead the computer looks before choosing its reply. Hard searches deepest and defends best, while Easy makes shallower, more forgiving choices. Switching difficulty resets the board, so pick your level first.