INTERNATIONAL DRAUGHTS

Introduction

International Draughts is a strategy board game with many different names, like Polish draughts or International checkers, but they all have something in common: it's a blast to play! The first thing that will catch your attention is the gameboard: it's a 10×10 squares board in alternating dark and light colours, of which only 50 dark squares will in use. Each player has 20 pieces, light for one player and dark for the other, on opposite sides of the board.

How to play

The first rule of International Draughts is that all moves and captures are made diagonally. There are many different similarities with classic English Draughts: the size of the board (10×10), pieces can also capture backwards, the movements of the kings...

Each player starts with 20 pieces and the player with the light pieces moves first.

Enemy pieces can and must be captured by jumping over the enemy piece, two squares forward or backwards to an unoccupied square immediately beyond. If a jump is possible, it must be done, even if doing so incurs a disadvantage.

Kings, crowned pieces, are the standout pieces of the game. A piece is crowned if it stops on the far edge of the board at the end of its turn. Careful with them! Crowned pieces, called kings, can move freely multiple steps in any direction, jump over and capture an opponent piece some distance away and choose where to stop afterwards. Don't take kings lightly!

A player with no valid move remaining loses. A game is a draw if neither opponent can win the game. A king-versus-king endgame is automatically declared a draw.