How to Play Checkers Like An Expert

Checkers can be a game of strategy, fun, and excitement. There are specific ways to set up the game, how to play, and determine the winner.

So, how do you play checkers like an expert? After some research, you can take specific steps to set up the game correctly and take care of the game, ways to strategize, and how to win the game with certain moves. I hope this article teaches you something or helps you win the next time you play checkers.

Keep reading to learn more about how to play checkers!

How To Take Care Of Your Checkerboard

Your checkerboard should be clean and dry before it is stored away for a while or not in use. You can clean the board with a piece of cloth moistened with water and baking soda, then leave it to dry naturally.

If it is dirty, you can clean the checkerboard with very little water by using a cloth or sponge. You can also use plain clear water without cleaning agents to wipe the board after every game. The board should be stored away in a dry place until ready for use again.

How To Take Care Of Your Checkers

To ensure that your checkers don’t get damaged, they should be stored in a container such as a box. The container must have enough room inside for the pieces to turn and come out easily when you take them out or put them in.

How To Determine A Winner in Checkers

There are two ways of determining the winner, the first way is to add up all the number of men on the board and the player with more checkers wins. The second way is if a player manages to capture all his opponent’s pieces, he is known as the winner by ‘crowning’. This process involves placing one’s pieces in a row or a circle after they have been captured to signify the win.

How to make your first move: The beginning player should try making his or her first move on the center square of the board, otherwise, they should go for a corner square.

Why Are There Two Kings?

Each color has two kings that appear on opposite sides of the board. This helps both players see and remember where their pieces are and what the opponent’s checkers look like. They can turn their board upside down to make it easier for them to keep track of the movements of the different players’ checkers.

How to Capture Your Opponent’s Pieces

If you land on a square occupied by your opponent’s piece, you are allowed to remove the opposing man from the board. However, both pieces should be of equal value.

How To Play Checkers

Here are some common questions about how to play checkers:

How many checker pieces are used in a game?

A checkers game can have 12, 24, or 48 depending on the player’s preference. Two players usually play a game with 12 men.

Where your men should be placed?

You can place your pieces anywhere around the board except in the middle of the two rows closest to you on each side, called ‘home’ or crown head. Your checkers should not cross over into your opponent’s territory on the other side of the board until the end of the game.

How many men can a player move?

The player can make as many moves as he or she wants, with each piece being able to move only one time during a turn unless it has been captured by his/her opponent before their turn comes back around.

However, if a player’s move results in the capture of an opposing man, they are allowed to make another move with any one or more of their pieces.

How are pieces captured?

If a player lands on a square occupied by his opponent’s piece, he is allowed to remove them from the board. A piece can be captured if it is sandwiched between two opposing pieces, or if it is on the edge of the board and the player’s piece lying next to it belongs to his opponent.

How To Win The Checkers Game

A checkers game ends when one player manages to capture all their opponent’s pieces or they have managed to move all their pieces into their ‘home’ row.

If a player uses all twelve of their pieces in or around his/her ‘home’ or crown head, they are said to have made a crown. If one player has captured all twelve of their opponent’s checkers, they are said to have ‘crowned’ them and they win the game.

Checkers: Best Game Ever Created

The element of luck is a major factor in a checkers game because each player has to abide by how their opponent moves their pieces during a turn. The element of skill is also another important factor that comes into play in a checkers game because, when you land on your opponent’s piece, they have to give you one of theirs in return.

Checkers is a really exciting and challenging game to play with anybody. It is also an inexpensive game that can be played anywhere there is room for the board and two players who want to play.

There are a few variations on the rules for checkers, but this how-to will cover the most popular version.

Game Set-Up

First, you need to make sure your checkerboard is divided up correctly. The two players should sit across from each other with the checkered side of the board in between them. Each player has twelve pieces that they can move in a counter-clockwise direction.

Your opponent’s pieces are the black pieces, and your pieces will be colored red.

To set up the board, have each player take six of their twelve men to start on the black squares nearest them. The rest of the checkers can wait at home base. This is where you should go after you’ve finished your turn. Keep in mind, the center square is not a home base but acts as a conduit between both sides of the board.

A checker piece can move forward one space at a time if there are no pieces to block them. If they come across another piece that is diagonally next to it, then they can take it. The opponent’s piece will then be taken off the board, and your pieces will jump over it to get to their new spot.

Checkers Strategies

• You can move backward if you wish, but it is harder to go forward again. If you plan on moving back two spaces or more, make sure there isn’t another checker piece blocking your path.
• However, if you want to stay on the same spot, with your checker handily blocking an opponent’s piece or pieces, then make sure there is only one of theirs in front of you.
• If you jump another player’s piece and it is taken off the board, make sure to move your checker to where their jumped piece used to stand. That will be a point for you during the scoring phase at the end of the game.
• The player who can get all twelve pieces off of the board first will be declared the winner. If this happens by accident, have one more round so that both players can get their men home safely.
• If neither party succeeds in moving all of their pieces off the board, then one player will have to give up their remaining men. Whoever has fewer pieces on the board at this time, must leave them where they stand.
• The losing player can either take their checkers home or pass them over to the winner so that they can finish out the game for them.
• If you need to take a break during the game, just move your checkers home and start over when you return.

Draw Lots

Another way of finishing up the game is by agreeing to set or draw lots. If this happens, then each player will roll one die. The person with the highest number gets to choose whether they want to be first or second. Whoever gets to go first will then get another turn after their opponent has gone.

If you lose a piece while you are trying to jump another player, then that counts as your turn. If it happens by accident, the person who took off your piece will have to move back two spaces so that you can go again.

There is one more way to win or lose, and that’s if one of the players doesn’t have a legal move. This means you either have no checkers on the board left to jump, or there isn’t any space for your remaining man to go safely home.

If this happens it is called being “cheated” or being “kinged”. If you were cheated, and there is no way to win, then it is a draw. Kinging happens when someone could win if they only had one more checker on the board.

So that’s how you play Checkers! Have fun and happy gaming!