Section 1: Introduction
Checkers — draughts outside North America — is a two-player abstract strategy game on an 8×8 board. Pieces move diagonally, capture by jumping, and are crowned as kings on reaching the far row.
The English-rules game is governed internationally by the World Checkers/Draughts Federation (WCDF), whose harmonised rules were implemented in 2008. In the United States the American Checker Federation (ACF), founded in 1948, governs competition, maintains ratings and runs the National Tournament.
A note on citations. The WCDF Rules of Draughts is organised into six named Sections whose individual rules carry headings but no rule numbers. Citations below therefore resolve to the section, which is the most precise reference the document supports. The ACF tournament rules do use Roman-numeral subsections and are cited exactly as printed.
- The rules explicitly do not attempt to cover every situation, leaving the tournament controller room for a fair judgement in unforeseen cases (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- The role of the tournament controller is defined separately (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section Six).
- At ACF national events, WCDF standards apply with precedence given to the tournament rules (ACF National Tournament Rules, Section Three, I).
- This is the 8×8 English game. The 10×10 international game is governed by the FMJD and is catalogued separately on this site.
Section 2: Components
- The draughtboard is composed of 64 squares, alternately light and dark, in an 8×8 array bounded by a neutral border (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- The official board colours are green and white (or off-white/cream) (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- Squares measure 44–51mm per side (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- The board is oriented with a green square at the player's near left (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- Each player has 12 pieces, in the official colours red and white (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- Pieces are cylindrical, 31–38mm in diameter and 5–9mm thick, and must contrast distinctly with the squares (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- At ACF national events, players must use red and white pieces on a green and buff board (ACF National Tournament Rules, Section One).
Section 3: Setup
- Each player's twelve pieces are placed on the dark squares nearest them, following the board arrangement specified in the rules (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- Red moves first (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- National tournaments use the three-move ballot drawn from the 156 standard openings officially approved (ACF National Tournament Rules, Section One, III.D).
- Matched players ballot for their openings by random draw from an approved three-move deck (ACF National Tournament Rules, Section One, VIII.A).
Section 4: Gameplay
- An ordinary move of a man is its transfer diagonally forward, left or right, to an immediately neighbouring vacant square (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- All capturing moves are compulsory, whether offered actively or passively — the single rule most often played wrong casually (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- Multiple jumps must be completed; a player may not stop part-way through a capture sequence (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- A man reaching the king-row becomes a king, and this completes the turn of play — a newly crowned king cannot continue jumping until its next turn (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- Kings move and capture diagonally both forward and backward (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- A player who cannot move loses the game (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- Clock use is governed separately, with a first period of 30 moves per hour and subsequent periods of 15 moves per half-hour (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section Two).
- In the Master Division, matches use clocks set to 90 minutes, or 80 minutes plus a 10-second increment (ACF National Tournament Rules, Section One, X.A.a).
- Major and Minor divisions may use clocks or the five-minute rule, with "one minute per move" as the fallback (ACF National Tournament Rules, Section One, X.B).
- Games are recorded on a score-sheet under defined conditions (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section Three).
- Player conduct is regulated separately (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section Four), as is spectator conduct (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section Five).
Section 5: Scoring & Winning
There is no running score within a game. A player wins by capturing all enemy pieces, or by leaving the opponent with no legal move.
- A player who loses all their pieces to captures loses the game (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- A player unable to move also loses (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
Draws
- A game is drawn by mutual agreement (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- A draw may be claimed when the same position occurs for the third time (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- A draw may also be claimed after 40 moves by both players without advancing an uncrowned man or removing a piece (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- A referee may declare a game drawn if the position is even with little winning chance (ACF National Tournament Rules, Section Three, IV).
- Tied match points at national events are resolved by Honor Points (ACF National Tournament Rules, Section One, XIII.A).
Section 6: Variants & House Rules
- International draughts: the 10×10 game with 20 pieces per side, flying kings and backward capture for men. Governed by the FMJD, catalogued separately here.
- Casual "go as you please": free opening choice, rather than the three-move ballot required at national events (ACF National Tournament Rules, Section One, III.D).
- Huffing: an obsolete penalty in which failing to make a compulsory jump forfeited the piece. Superseded — the modern rule simply requires the capture (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
- Suicide / giveaway: the win condition is inverted, so losing all pieces wins. Not a sanctioned form.
- Where a situation is not precisely regulated, the controller is expected to reason by analogy rather than apply a fixed rule (WCDF Rules of Draughts, Section One).
