This table uses English and American draughts: dark squares only, Black to move, a jump you cannot decline, and a king that still steps one square. It is not the 10×10 flying-king game, not the star-shaped parlour game, and not chess. The sections below follow the order a real game actually happens. Read them once, then try a local computer game and force yourself to take every capture.
How you move a piece here
Select one of your men that can actually move, then select the dark square it is allowed to reach. If nothing happens, that piece has no legal walk, or a capture somewhere on the board is still waiting to be taken.
Uncrowned men travel toward the row where the other side started. They do not step sideways onto a light square, and they do not retreat until they have crowned.
Dark squares and the first move
Sixty-four squares, but only the dark ones matter. Each side begins with twelve men on the three closest dark rows. Black moves, then White, and so on. A tap on a light square is ignored; that is the rule, not a fault in the page.
Walking forward, hopping over
An uncrowned man steps one dark square diagonally toward the far side. To capture, it hops the enemy man sitting on the next diagonal and lands on the empty dark square immediately beyond. The hopped piece comes off at once. If that same man can hop again from the new square, the turn is not over.
Before you look two captures ahead, ask the shorter question: can any of your men hop something right now? If yes, the next section applies. If not, pick a man that either advances or still guards the last row.
When a quiet slide is illegal
If any legal hop exists, you must play a hopping move. You may choose among several jumping lines; English draughts does not force the longest massacre. Once a multi-jump has started, that piece keeps hopping while another hop is available from the square it just reached.
What crowning does and does not grant
A man that reaches the farthest row becomes a king. A king may step one dark square diagonally in either direction and may hop backward as well as forward. It cannot travel an empty diagonal the way a 10×10 international king does.
If a man crowns in the middle of a capturing run, the turn ends on that square. The new king does not keep hopping in the same turn. Against the computer you hold Black; on a shared device or in a room, the two players simply alternate. The rules do not change between those modes.
When the game is over
You win when the other side has no men left, or when it is their turn and they have no legal move. You may also agree a draw. This board records a draw after a long stretch with neither a capture nor a crowning.
For a first sitting, ignore the score. Stay on the dark squares, take every hop you are required to take, and notice when a man reaches the last row. That is already a complete game of English draughts.
Questions people ask before the first game
Is this the same game as Chinese checkers?
No. Chinese checkers is played on a star, and pieces hop along lines of empty holes to race home. This board is 8×8 English draughts. You are trying to take the other side’s men or leave them with nowhere to go.
Can I ignore a jump and move a different man?
No. If a legal hop exists, you have to hop. When more than one hopping line is available you may pick which one to take, but you cannot answer with a quiet step instead.
Does a king fly the length of a diagonal?
Not on this board. A king steps or hops one square at a time. Flying kings belong to 10×10 international draughts and are not used here.
Who starts, and can a piece sit on a light square?
Black starts. Pieces only rest on dark squares. Tapping a light square does not place anything.