Checkers - Knowledge (XXG)

929: 773: 499: 567: 944: 883: 762: 536:, or the game of the Little Soldiers, with a leaping capture, which, like modern Argentine, German, Greek and Thai draughts, had flying kings which had to stop on the next square after the captured piece, but pieces could only make up to three captures at once, or seven if all directions were legal. That said, even if playing al qirq inside the cells of a square grid was not already known to the Moors who brought it, which it probably was, either via playing on a 898: 979: 2045: 963: 3056: 622: 54: 327:) moves one step ahead and captures an adjacent opponent's piece by jumping over it and landing on the next square. Multiple enemy pieces can be captured in a single turn provided this is done by successive jumps made by a single piece; the jumps do not need to be in the same line and may "zigzag" (change diagonal direction). In American checkers, men can jump only forwards; in 310:

muffin), and where there are two or more such positions the player forfeits pieces that cannot be moved (although some rule variations make capturing optional). In almost all variants, a player with no valid move remaining loses. This occurs if the player has no pieces left, or if all the player's pieces are obstructed from moving by opponent pieces.

374:) move any distance. They may capture an opposing man any distance away by jumping to any of the unoccupied squares immediately beyond it. Because jumped pieces remain on the board until the turn is complete, it is possible to reach a position in a multi-jump move where the flying king is blocked from capturing further by a piece already jumped. 367:, the first man. The king has additional powers, namely the ability to move any amount of squares at a time (in international checkers), move backwards and, in variants where men cannot already do so, capture backwards. Like a man, a king can make successive jumps in a single turn, provided that each jump captures an enemy piece. 1927:, is a kind of draughts, known in Russia since the beginning of the nineteenth century, in which the game is played according to the usual rules of Russian draughts, but with the difference that the captured man is not removed from the playing field: rather, it is placed under the capturing piece (man or tower). 1115:

A sequence of capture must give the maximum "value" to the capture, and a king (called a wolf) has a value of less than two men but more than one man. If a sequence with a capturing wolf and a sequence with a capturing man have the same value, the wolf must capture. The main difference with the other

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Only the dark squares of the checkerboard are used. A piece can only move forward into an unoccupied square. When capturing an opponent's piece is possible, capturing is mandatory in most official rules. If the player does not capture, the other player can remove the opponent's piece as a penalty (or

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A sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces. Although, a king has the weight of two pieces, this means with two captures, one of a king and one of a piece, one must choose the king; two captures, one of a king and one of two pieces, the player can choose; two captures with one of a

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All 64 squares are used, dark and light. Men move one cell diagonally forward and capture in any of the five cells directly forward, diagonally forward, or sideways, but not backward. Men promote on the last row. Kings may move and attack in any of the eight directions. There is also a variant with

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Checkers is played by two opponents on opposite sides of the game board. One player has dark pieces (usually black); the other has light pieces (usually white or red). The darker color moves first, then players alternate turns. A player cannot move the opponent's pieces. A move consists of moving a

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Men cannot jump kings. A sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces. If more than one sequence qualifies, the capture must be done with a king instead of a man. If more than one sequence qualifies, the one that captures a greater number of kings must be chosen. If there are still

1123:(Dutch province) historically, but in the last decade spreading rapidly over Europe (e.g. the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Russia) and Africa, as a result of a number of recent international tournaments and the availability of an iOS and Android app "Frisian Draughts". 855:

to determine whether a specified player has a winning strategy. And if a polynomial bound is placed on the number of moves that are allowed in between jumps (which is a reasonable generalisation of the drawing rule in standard Checkers), then the problem is in PSPACE, thus it is PSPACE-complete.

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with a combination of Basic and Assembly code to interactively play a round of checkers with visitors to the museum. Originally, the program was deliberately simple so that the average museum visitor could potentially win, but over time was improved. The improvements however proved to be more

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if neither player makes a mistake. The solution is for the checkers variation called go-as-you-please (GAYP) checkers and not for the variation called three-move restriction checkers, however it is a legal three-move restriction game because only openings believed to lose are barred under the

594:, meaning royal counsellor or vizier). The pieces became known as "dames" when that name was also adopted for the chess queen. The rule forcing players to take whenever possible was introduced in France in around 1535, at which point the game became known as 1930:

The resulting towers move around the board as a whole, "obeying" the upper piece. When taking a tower, only the uppermost piece is removed from it: and the resulting tower belongs to one player or the other according to the color of its new uppermost piece.

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It is played in Turkey, Kuwait, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Greece, and several other locations in the Middle East, as well as in the same locations as Russian checkers. There are several variants in these countries, with the Armenian variant (called

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draughts: Each player has 24 pieces (two full sets) – one on the light squares, a second set on dark squares. Each player plays two games simultaneously: one on light squares, the other on dark squares. The total result is the sum of results for both

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Played on a unique non-rectangular or square board of grids with 20 grid points and 18 endpoints. Played in the Republic of Khakassia. Movement and capture is orthogonal with backwards capture. The "Tobit," a promoted piece, moves like the King in

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Jonathan Schaeffer, Yngvi Bjornsson, Neil Burch, Akihiro Kishimoto, Martin Muller, Rob Lake, Paul Lu and Steve Sutphen. Solving Checkers, International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), pp. 292–297, 2005. Distinguished Paper

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was probably derived from πεττεία and latrunculi by removing the necessity for two pieces to cooperate to capture one, although, like Ghanaian draughts, the game could still be declared lost by a player with only one piece left.

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During a capturing move, pieces are removed immediately after capture. Kings stop on the square directly behind the piece captured and must continue capturing from there, if possible, even in the direction where they come from.

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wrote the first video game program on checkers. The checkers program tried to run for the first time on 30 July 1951 at NPL, but was unsuccessful due to program errors. In the summer of 1952 he successfully ran the program on

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and nearby areas of Turkey. It is played on an 8x8 grid with orthogonal movement. It is similar to Turkish Draughts, but has backwards capture and allows for men to jump over friendly pieces without capturing them similar to

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Similar to Pool checkers with the exception of the main diagonal on the right instead of the left. A man reaching the kings row is promoted only if he does not have additional backwards jumps (as in international draughts).

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piece forward to an adjacent unoccupied square. If the adjacent square contains an opponent's piece, and the square immediately beyond it is vacant, the piece may be captured (and removed from the game) by jumping over it.

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Players agree before starting the game between "Must Capture" or "Free Capture". In the "Must Capture" type of game, a man that fails to capture is forfeited (huffed). In the "Free Capture" game, capturing is optional.

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or in card games is usually called by the same term as the kings in checkers. A case in point includes the Greek terminology, in which checkers is called "ντάμα" (dama), which is also one term for the queen in chess.

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Also called "Dama" or "Damas". It is played along all of the region of Mozambique. In an ending with three kings versus one king, the player with three kings must win in thirteen moves or the game is a draw.

1093:. Having only a single piece remaining (man or king) loses the game. It is similar to 10x10 Czech Draughts, but has backwards capture and allows winning by removing all but one piece, similar to Latrunculi. 694:: A checkers variant on a 7×7 board, with 25 fields used. Jumped pieces are placed under the jumper, so that towers are built. Only the top piece of a jumped tower is captured. This variant was invented by 2332: 670:: A variant played on an 8×8 board that utilizes all 64 squares and has diagonal and orthogonal movement. A special "sliding" move is used for moving a line of checkers similar to the movement rule in 1208:

Played in the Philippines. Similar to Brazilian Draughts but with some specifics. Usually played on a dama matrix (crossed lined board representing only the diagonals) and comes in two orientations.

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In November 1983, the Science Museum Oklahoma (then called the Omniplex) unveiled a new exhibit: Lefty the Checker Playing Robot. Programmed by Scott M Savage, Lefty used an Armdroid robotic arm by

1737:) allowing also forward-diagonal movement of men and the Greek requiring the king to stop directly after the captured piece. With this rule, there is no draw with one king and men versus one king. 1711:

A sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces. Captured pieces are removed immediately so that a sequence may even in the direction where the capturing piece comes from

897: 1560:, and the region nearby. Also known locally as "Black–White Chess". Sometimes it is played on an 8×8 board when a 12×12 board is unavailable; a 10×10 board is rare in this region. 2020:: A game in which pieces move in any direction and jump over any other piece, friend or enemy (but with no captures), and players try to move them all into an opposite corner. 928: 1606:

If there are sequences of captures with either a man or a king, the king must be chosen. After that, any sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made.

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If there are sequences of captures with either a man or a king, the king must be chosen. After that, any sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made.

2765: 1237:; traditional among African American players. A man reaching the kings row is promoted only if he does not have additional backwards jumps (as in international draughts). 1524:

The rules are similar to the Spanish game, but the king, when it captures, must stop directly after the captured piece, and may begin a new capture movement from there.

2786: 1969: 2340: 1238: 654:(which jumps with coordinates (3,1) rather than (2,1) so as to stay on the black squares), and men reaching the back rank promote to a bishop, camel, or king. 1718:. Men move straight forwards or sideways, instead of diagonally. When a man reaches the last row, it is promoted to a flying king (Dama), which moves like a 1356:

king and one of three pieces, the player must capture the three pieces; two captures, one of two kings and one of three pieces, one must choose the kings...

943: 636:: On a 9×9 board, each side has 17 guard pieces that move and jump in any direction, to escort a captain piece which races to the centre of the board to win. 3076: 243:

for two players which involve forward movements of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers is developed from

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The rules are similar to the Spanish game, but a sequence that the king can capture must be captured first of all sequences of the same number of pieces.

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It is mainly played in Italy and some North African countries. Old French draughts is the same game without the obligation to jump kings with a king.

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All pieces are long-range. Jumping is mandatory after first move of the rook. Any sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made.

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Schaeffer, Jonathan; Burch, Neil; Björnsson, Yngvi; Kishimoto, Akihiro; Müller, Martin; Lake, Robert; Lu, Paul; Sutphen, Steve (14 September 2007).

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created one of the first board game-playing programs of any kind. More recently, in 2007 scientists at the University of Alberta developed their "

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also mentions it. The method of capture was placing two pieces on either side of the opponent's piece. It was said to have been played during the

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Any sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made. Overlooking a king's capture opportunity leads to forfeiture of the king.

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Light square is on right, but double corner is on left, as play is on the light squares. (Play on the dark squares with dark square on right is

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The uppermost symbol of the cube determines its value, which is decreased after being jumped. Having only one piece remaining loses the game.

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Flying kings are not used in American checkers; a king's only advantage over a man is the additional ability to move and capture backwards.

1951: 962: 274:, played on a 10×10 board – with the latter widely played in many countries worldwide. There are many other variants played on 8×8 boards. 2662: 2363: 3071: 2721: 3103: 801: 2700:

Kok, Fred (Winter 2001). Kerry Handscomb (ed.). "Hexdame • A nice combination". Abstract Games. No. 8. Carpe Diem Publishing. p. 21.

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Pieces promote only when ending their move on the final rank, not when passing through it. It is mainly played in the Netherlands,

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Also called Spanish checkers. It is mainly played in Portugal, some parts of South America, and some Northern African countries.

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A sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces, and the maximum possible number of kings from all such sequences.

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Played in Brazil. The rules come from international draughts, but board size and number of pieces come from American checkers.

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Fraenkel, Aviezri S.; Garey, M. R.; Johnson, David S.; Yesha, Yaacov (1978). "The complexity of checkers on an N × N board".

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In an ending with three kings versus one king, the player with three kings must win in thirteen moves or the game is a draw.

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In an ending with three kings versus one king, the player with three kings must win in thirteen moves or the game is a draw.

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a man that enters the kings row during a jump and can continue to jump backwards, jumps backwards as a king, not as a man;

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Kings stop on the square directly behind the piece captured and must continue capturing from there as long as possible.

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Board Game Studies: Das Säulenspiel Laska: Renaissance einer fast vergessenen Dame-Variante mit Verbindungen zum Schach

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Casual games usually last 10 to 30 minutes; tournament games last anywhere from about 60 minutes to 3 hours or more.

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A game in international draughts (10×10 board), featuring a flying king (the move "Les Blancs prennent 6 pions...")

2364:"From circle and square to the image of the world: a possible interpretation or some petroglyphs of merels boards" 2802: 1982: 805: 704: 31: 761: 2058: 695: 385:

In most non-English languages (except those that acquired the game from English speakers), checkers is called

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Two variations exist: one with the double-corner on player's near-right and the other on player's near-left.

514:, with similar play to modern checkers, was played on a 5×5 board. It is mentioned in the tenth-century work 566: 498: 3206: 3187: 3135: 2236: 1496: 1030: 889: 756: 685: 328: 271: 237: 87: 1338: 2893: 860: 3222: 3145: 1249: 1183: 1064: 3255: 3170: 1743: 1467: 2831: 1882: 1664: 1609:

Occasionally mislabeled as Hungarian, this variant remains distinctly Slovak in origin and practice.

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three-move restriction. As of December 2007, this makes American checkers the most complex game ever

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board which the game is played on, whereas "draughts" derives from the verb "to draw" or "to move".

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Also called "straight checkers" in the United States, or "English draughts" in the United Kingdom.

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A free Application that allows you to play 15 popular checkers variants with a human or a computer

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checkerboards, found with their pieces in burial chambers, and the game was played by the pharaoh

3108: 2857: 2407: 2309: 2301: 1768: 1153: 908: 809: 675: 671: 294: 3153: 473:, or the game of the Little Soldiers. The pieces, and sporadically the game itself, were called 431:

Similar games have been played for millennia. A board resembling a checkers board was found in

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The most popular forms of checkers in Anglophone countries are American checkers (also called

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games is that the captures can be made diagonally, but also straight forwards and sideways.

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Play online draughts, Russian draughts or giveaway draughts. Online tournaments every day.

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Captures are mandatory. Failing to capture results in forfeiture of that piece (huffing).

793: 738: 515: 248: 233: 598:, identical to modern American checkers. The game without forced capture became known as 297:. From the standard starting position, perfect play by each side would result in a draw. 2835: 2538: 2044: 1314:

choosing a sequence that captures the maximum possible number of pieces is not required.

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American checkers (English draughts) has been the arena for several notable advances in

2266: 1565: 912: 833: 708: 698: 647: 643: 606: 532:, the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name. It was maybe adapted into a derivation of 436: 3282: 3067: 3062: 2403: 2305: 1723: 1213: 920: 651: 587: 545: 410: 145: 2861: 707:: A variant on a 9×9 board, game ending with capturing opponent's king. Invented by 2465: 2050: 1719: 1365: 1305: 867:

Can one player remove all the other player's pieces in one move (by several jumps)?

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approach that took hundreds of computers working nearly two decades was used to

661: 621: 540:(in about 1100, probably in the south of France, this was done once again using 290: 2531: 729:): A variant where the objective of each player is to lose all of their pieces. 53: 3123: 2915: 2297: 2040: 817: 735:: A complex variant which allows players to upgrade their pieces beyond kings. 541: 537: 460: 444: 240: 92: 82: 574:

The rule of crowning was used by the 13th century, as it is mentioned in the

3080:. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 547–550. 2844: 2819: 2613: 2485: 2166: 1557: 1240: 1120: 528: 486: 244: 2853: 2029: 2738: 2953: 2432: 2063: 1553: 1415: 1328: 1318:

There is also a 10×8 board variant (with two additional columns labelled

1052: 714: 639: 397:, or a similar term that refers to ladies. The pieces are usually called 660:: A variant utilising math principles and numbered chips popular in the 17: 3270: 1994: 1848: