Draughts is the pre-cursor to modern
checkers.Although modern checkers is
played on an 8x8 “chequered pattern” board, draughts was commonly played on a
10x10 or 12x12 board.The board is
arranged so that a “black” (or the darker of the colored) square is in the lower
left corner as viewed by the players. Draught pieces called “men” were
made of various materials, including bone, wood, or stones.Although the color of the pieces and the
board do not necessarily need to be black and white, they are normally referred
to as black and white, regardless. Pieces are arranged on the dark
colored squares, one piece to a square in the three rows closest to the players.
The white squares are not used at all in the game.Depending on the size of the board, 12-18 men
per player are required. The objective of the game is to take all of the
opponent's pieces or to produce a position such that the opponent is unable to
move.
Play Black always
plays first. Players take turns to move
a piece of their own color. All pieces move and attack only on the
diagonal.Until crowned, any man may
move only one space at a time (unless attacking, noted below).When a piece reaches the far edge of the
board is immediately crowned and is thereafter known as a “King”. The act of
crowning is a physical one - another piece of the same shade is placed on top
of the piece in order to distinguish it from an ordinary piece. Once a piece is
“crowned”, it can move as many squares empty on a diagonal to capture an opponent’s
man. Whenever a piece has an opponent's
piece adjacent to it and the square immediately beyond the opponent's piece is
vacant, the opponent's piece can be captured. If the player has the opportunity to capture
one or more of the opponent's pieces, then the player must do so. A piece is taken by simply jumping over it
into the vacant square beyond and removing it from the board. Unlike an
ordinary move, a capturing move can consist of several such jumps - if a piece
takes an opponent’s piece and the new position allows it to take another piece,
then it must do so straight away. The
move finishes only when the position of the capturing piece no longer allows it
to take any more pieces or when an uncrowned piece arrives at the far edge of
the board and is crowned.Both crowned
and uncrowned men may attack either forwards or backwards. If more than one piece can capture,
then the player is entirely free to choose which of those pieces to move. Likewise, if a capturing piece is able to
capture in more than one direction, the player is free to choose which
direction to move in. It is not required to move the piece or take the route
that will result in the maximum number of captures. If no capturing moves are available, then an
ordinary move is made by moving a piece one square diagonally. If a player notices that the
opponent failed to capture when the option was open (even if the offending
piece had already captured one or more pieces that turn), the player can “huff”
the offending piece before the next move is made and it is removed from the
board.