English Draughts

How to play

Win by capturing every opposing piece or leaving the opponent without a legal move; threefold repetition and the versioned quiet-king move limit produce a draw.

• Each player begins with twelve men on the dark squares of the nearest three rows of an eight-by-eight board. The first side moves toward the opposite back rank and all light squares remain unused.
• A man moves one dark-square diagonal step forward and captures by jumping an adjacent opponent into an empty square beyond; kings move and capture one step in either diagonal direction. Captures are compulsory and a capturing piece must continue while another jump is available. Reaching the king row during a man's capture ends that turn and crowns it.
• Win by capturing every opposing piece or leaving the opponent without a legal move; threefold repetition and the versioned quiet-king move limit produce a draw.

Strategy tips

• Keep a connected back line until promotion threats are controlled, offer exchanges that improve your move tempo, and examine the full forced jump sequence before presenting an apparently free piece.
• A quiet move is illegal whenever any capture exists anywhere in the army, and a newly crowned man may not continue jumping backward during the same English-draughts turn.
• Use opposition to escort a man toward promotion, keep kings on diagonals that restrict multiple exits, and track repeated positions before a winning maneuver turns into an avoidable draw.