Checkers Rules and Tips

The checkers rules date back thousands of years making this one of the oldest games ever played by man. Below are the exact rules to playing and some checker tips as well.

Set Up

The checkers board is 8 squares by 8 squares for a total of 64 squares. 32 of these squares are red and 32 are black.

Each player gets 12 pieces and puts them on the squares on their side of the board. All pieces must be on the red squares.


The player with the black pieces moves first and the play alternates back and forth.

On your turn you may move 1 piece diagonally and forward so that you always remain on red and you are moving towards your opponents pieces. You can only move forward 1 space at a time.

The exception is if you can jump. If your piece can jump diagonally over your opponent’s piece you may do so as long as you are moving forward. You can jump over as many pieces as you can on 1 turn as long as it is done with the same piece and is moving forward.

Each piece you jump over is captured and removed from the board.

King me!!!

When your piece gets to the other side you can say king me! In this case your opponent puts one of the checkers pieces he captured from you on top of the piece that made it to the other side. This new piece must still move diagonally, but can move both forward and backward.

(Note if your opponent does not have a piece to king you with he can flip over your piece so that the crown is showing)

Winning, Checkers Rules

The first player who is unable to move (either because they lost all their pieces or their pieces are blocked) is the loser. The other player wins.

Checkers Tips

Here are some checkers tips to help you win

1. Don’t Move Your 4 pieces off the end

Try not to move your pieces off of your end of the table. This way your opponent cannot get a king. (Getting Kings are the key to winning)

2. Keep Pieces together

If you keep your pieces together it is harder for your opponent to jump you because you will always have a piece blocking them.

3. Watch the Board

Watch the board very carefully. If your opponent messes up and gives you a number of pieces to capture make sure you take advantage of it. Also make sure you are not giving your opponent some of your pieces to capture.

4. Trade Offs

If your opponent is set to jump over one of your pieces try to move another piece so that if your opponent does capture one of your pieces you will be able to capture his piece. Make sure that your opponent cannot jump over your new piece.

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