How to Play Checkers

Directions courtesy of Future Aids, The Braille Superstore.

We have Travel Checkers Set (Tactile) in stock, delivered with free shipping. Click below to order.

Travel Checkers Set (Tactile)

Compact Game, Uses Pegs with Dots and Notches

Item Number: 2023

$14.95

Tell Me More

The origin of the Checkers board game is rather uncertain. There are 13th century paintings that depict a checkered board, which leads historians to suspect that checkers may have been invented around 1000 AD. Most people think the baord game probably originated in the south of France and Spain, though there are also traces of checkered games in the middle east.

The game of Checkers, also called Draughts, is played on a board of sixty-four squares of alternate colors, usually referred to as black and white. Twenty-four pieces, called men, also of opposite colors, are located on the game board. The game is played by two persons, and each player takes a set of twelve men.

The object of the game is to capture all of the opponent's men, or block them so they cannot be moved. The person whose side is brought to this state loses the game.

The checker board must be placed between the two players in a position where the bottom-left square is black. The players toss a coin at the beginning of the match, and the winner has the choice of taking the black or white pieces. Then each player places his twelve men on the black squares of the first three rows of his end of the board. The player with the black men must move first.

Players alternately take turns, each moving one piece of their own color. The checkers are moved diagonally forward, left or right, one square at each turn. An opponent's piece is capture or taken when the player is able to diagonally jump forward one of his men over an opponent's piece and land on an empty square behind. The player may continue jumping and capturing pieces with the same man during the same move if possible.

When a piece reaches the last row on the opposite side of the Checkered Board, it is crowned and becomes a "King." A King can move diagonally forward and backward, and also has the power of capturing pieces in both directions. Our Classic Checkers set has four wider, taller pieces to serve as kings. If you're playing with our Travel Checkers set, just flip over your peg to crown it: the other side has a tactile notch and a different color.

A Draw occurs when neither of the players can force a win.