Checkers
Play Checkers against a rule-based AI. Jump, capture, and king your pieces to win — free to play in your browser.
How to Play Checkers
- Red moves first. Click a piece to select it, then click a highlighted square to move diagonally.
- Capture an opponent's piece by jumping over it to the empty square beyond. Multiple jumps in one turn are allowed.
- Captures are mandatory — if a jump is available you must take it.
- Reach the opponent's back row to crown your piece a King; kings move in all four diagonal directions.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What happens if I can jump but don't?
- Captures are mandatory. The game will only offer capturing moves when one is available, so you cannot skip a jump.
- Can I choose which jump to make if several are available?
- Yes — when multiple captures are possible you choose which piece to move and which chain of jumps to follow.
- How does a piece become a King?
- Any piece that lands on the opponent's back row is immediately promoted to King and gains the ability to move backward as well as forward.
- What CPU strategies are available?
- Two. Best follows the rule-based priority order — multi-jumps first, then safe king captures, then kinging, then safe captures — and always takes the strongest move for the rule that fires. Random plays any legal move with no rules or scoring.
- How does the rule-based AI choose a move?
- It works down a priority list: take a multi-jump, capture a king safely, king a piece, capture safely, escape a threatened piece, then advance toward promotion and hold the centre. Within whichever rule fires it ranks moves by the material they win — counting a king as two men — and subtracts a penalty for landing somewhere the opponent can immediately jump.
- Does the AI prefer a longer jump chain?
- Yes. Multi-jumps are the top priority, and among several the AI takes the one that wins the most material, counting a captured king as double a captured man.