Citizendia

For other uses, see Draft.
Draughts
International Draughts Board

starting position on a 10×10 draughts board.
Players2
Age rangeRecommended 5 years and up.
Setup time10-60 seconds
Random chanceNone
Skills requiredTactics, Strategy

Draughts IPA: /drɑːfts/ (British English) or checkers[1] (American English) is a group of abstract strategy board games between two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over the enemy's pieces. A tactic is a conceptual action used by a military unit of no larger than a division to implement a specific mission and achieve a specific objective or to advance toward a A Strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often "winning British English or UK English ( BrE, BE, en-GB) is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the Phonology North American English regional phonology In many ways compared to English English, North American English is conservative in its Phonology. An abstract strategy game is a board or card game with Perfect information, no chance and (usually two players or teams A board game is a Game in which counters or pieces that are placed on removed from or moved across a "board" (a premarked surface usually specific to that game

The most popular forms are international draughts, played on a 10×10 board, followed by English draughts, also called American checkers, played on an 8×8 board, but there are many other variants. International draughts (also called Polish draughts or international checkers) is a Board game, one of the variants of Draughts. Draughts developed from alquerque. Alquerque (also known as Quirkat) is a Board game that is thought to have originated in the Middle East. [2]

Contents

General rules

Checkers is played by two people, on opposite sides of a playing board, alternating moves. One player has dark pieces, and the other has light pieces. It is against the rules for one player to move the other player's pieces. The player with the dark pieces makes the first move unless stated otherwise. Pieces move diagonally and pieces of the opponent are captured by jumping over them. The playable surface consists only of the dark squares. A piece may only move into an unoccupied square. Capturing is mandatory in most official rules, however, many people still play with variant rules that allow capturing to be optional. A piece that is captured is removed from the board. In all variants, the player who has no pieces left or cannot move anymore has lost the game unless otherwise stated.

Uncrowned pieces ("men") move one step diagonally forwards and capture other pieces by making two steps in the same direction, jumping over the opponent's piece on the intermediate square. Multiple opposing pieces may be captured in a single turn provided this is done by successive jumps made by a single piece; these jumps do not need to be in the same direction but may zigzag. In English draughts men can only capture forwards, but in international draughts they may also capture (diagonally) backwards. International draughts (also called Polish draughts or international checkers) is a Board game, one of the variants of Draughts.

When men reach the crownhead or kings row (the farthest row forward), they become kings, marked by placing an additional piece on top of the first, and acquire additional powers including the ability to move backwards (and capture backwards, in variants in which they cannot already do so). [3]

In international draughts, kings can move as far as they want in diagonals like a bishop in chess. A bishop (♗♝ is a piece in the Board game of Chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops Chess is a recreational and competitive Game played between two players. However, they cannot capture like a bishop, but jump over the captured piece, moving over as many empty fields as the player wants but jumping over only a single, opposing piece in each jump. (As with men, a king may make successive jumps in a single turn provided that each is a capture. ) This rule, known as flying kings, is not used in English draughts, in which a king's only advantage over a man is the ability to move and capture backwards as well as forwards. Notice that captured pieces are removed from the board only after capturing is finished. Thus sometimes the captured but not yet removed piece obliges a king to stop after capturing at a given field where he in turn will be captured by the adversary.

Variants

National and regional standard rules

National variantBoard sizePieces per sideFlying kings?Can men capture backwards?Who moves first?Capture constraintsNotes
International draughts (or Polish draughts)10×1020yesyesWhiteA sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces. International draughts (also called Polish draughts or international checkers) is a Board game, one of the variants of Draughts. Pieces only promote when they land on the final rank, not when they pass through it. It is mainly played in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, some eastern European countries, some parts of Africa, some parts of the former USSR, and other European countries
English draughts8×812nonoBlackAny sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made. The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. The post-Soviet states, also commonly known as former Soviet republics, are the 15 independent nations that split off from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Also called American checkers or "straight checkers", since it is also played in the USA. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
Brazilian draughts8×812yesyesWhiteA sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces. Played in Brazil. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld The rules come from international draughts, but board size and number of pieces come from English draughts.

In the Philippines, it is known as "derecha" and is played on a mirrored board, often replaced by a crossed lined board (only diagonals are represented).

Ghanaian checkers10×1020yesyesWhiteAny sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made. Accidentally passing up a king's capture opportunity leads to forfeiture of the king. Played in Ghana. The Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa. It borders Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast to the west Burkina Faso to the north Togo to the The board is mirrored (the left side is flipped to the right side and vice versa). You lose if you are left with a single piece (man or king).
Canadian checkers12×1230yesyesWhiteA sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces. International rules, on a 12x12 board. Mainly played in Canada. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page
Frisian checkers10×1020yesyesWhiteA sequence of capture must give the maximum "value" to the capture, and the king has a value of slightly less than 2 men. If a sequence with a capturing king and a sequance with a capturing man have the same value, the king must capture. The main difference with the other games is that the captures can be made diagonally, but also straight forward and sideways. Only played in Netherlands.
Pool checkers8×812yesyesBlackAny sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made. Pool checkers, also called "American pool checkers" is a variant of Draughts, mainly played in the southeastern United States. It is mainly played in the southeastern United States. The US Southeast is the eastern portion of the Southern United States, but the Census Bureau does not provide a standard definition of a "Southeast" region In many games at the end one adversary has three kings while the other one has just one king. In such a case the first adversary must win in thirteen moves or the game is declared a draw.
Spanish checkers8×812yesnoWhiteA sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces, and the maximum possible number of kings from all such sequences. Also called Spanish pool checkers. The board is mirrored (the left side is flipped to the right side and vice versa). It is mainly played in some parts in South America and some Northern African countries.
Russian checkers8×812yesyesWhiteAny sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made. Russian draughts (also known as Shashki or Russian shashki is a variant of Draughts (checkers played in some parts in Russia, some parts of the former USSR Also called shashki or Russian shashki checkers. If a man touches the kings row from a jump and it can continue to jump backwards, it jumps backwards as a king, not as a man. It is mainly played in some parts in Russia, some parts of the former USSR, and Israel. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. In many games at the end one adversary has three kings while the other one has just one king. In such a case the first adversary normally wins if (s)he occupies the main diagonal first and then builds the so-called Petrov's triangle. 2 variants must be signaled : the 10x8 variant(wide 10, high 8), and the poddavki, which is the give away variant of shashki (it has official championships).
Italian checkers8×812nonoWhiteIf there are many sequences to capture, one has to capture the sequence that has the most pieces. If there are still more sequences, one has to capture with a king instead of a man. If there are still more sequences, one has to capture the sequence that has the most kings. If there are still more sequences, one has to capture the sequence that has a king first. Men cannot jump kings. The board is mirrored (the left side is flipped to the right side and vice versa). It is mainly played in Italy, and some Northern African countries. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest
Czech checkers8×812yesnoWhiteIf there are sequences of captures with a man and other ones with a king, it is necessary to capture with a king. After that, any sequence may be chosen, as long as all possible captures are made in the chosen sequence. This game is from the family of Spanish game.
Argentinian checkers8×812yesnoWhiteA sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces, and the maximum possible number of kings from all such sequences. The rules are similar to Spanish game, but the king, when it captures, must stop after the captured piece, and may begin a new capture movement from there.

With this rule, there is no draw with 2 pieces against 1. The board is mirrored.

Thai checkers8×88yesnoWhiteA sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces, and the maximum possible number of kings from all such sequences. The rules are similar to Spanish game (but with 8 pieces on each side), but every piece is taken away from the board at each jump, and the king, when it captures, must stop after the captured piece, and may begin a new capture movement from there, even in the direction where it comes from.
Turkish draughts8×816yesnoWhiteA sequence must capture the maximum possible number of pieces. Turkish draughts (also known as Dama is a variant of Draughts (checkers played in Turkey. In this form of the game (also known as Dama), men move straight forward or sideways, instead of diagonally. When a man reaches the last row it promotes to a flying king (Dama) which moves like a rook. A rook, (♖ ♜ borrowed from Persian رخ rokh, Sanskrit rath, "chariot" also known as a castle is a piece in the The pieces are placed on the second and third rows. It is played in Turkey, Kuwait, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Greece and several other locations of the Middle-East, as well as the same locations as Russian checkers. There are several variants in these countries, and in Armenian variant (called tama), pieces can move straight forward or sideways, but also diagonally.

Invented variants

Games sometimes confused with draughts variants

History

The game has been played in Europe since the 16th century, and a similar game was certainly known to the ancients. In the British Museum are specimens of ancient Egyptian checkerboards.

In most non-English languages (except those that acquired the game from English speakers), draughts is called dames, damas, or a similar term that refers to ladies. Men are usually called stones, pieces, or some similar term that does not imply a gender; men promoted to kings are called dames or ladies instead. In these languages, the queen in chess or in card games is usually called by the same term as the kings in draughts.

Computer draughts

English draughts (American 8×8 checkers) has been the arena for several notable advances in game artificial intelligence. Game artificial intelligence refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the Illusion of intelligence in the behavior of Non-player In the 1950s, Arthur Samuel created one of the first board game-playing programs of any kind. Arthur L Samuel (1901 – July 29, 1990) was a pioneer in the field of computer gaming and artificial intelligence More recently, in 2007 scientists at the University of Alberta[4] evolved their "Chinook" program up to the point where it is unbeatable. Chinook is a computer program that plays English draughts (also known as checkers developed around 1989 at the University of Alberta, led by Jonathan Schaeffer A brute force result of hundreds of computers working nearly 2 decades to solve,[5] a game of draughts will always end in a stalemate if neither player makes a mistake. In Computer science, brute-force search or exhaustive search, also known as generate and test, is a trivial but very general problem-solving technique A two player Game can be " solved " on several levels; Ultra-weak In the weakest sense solving a game means proving whether the first player will win [6][7] As of December 2007, this makes English draughts the most complex game ever solved. A two player Game can be " solved " on several levels; Ultra-weak In the weakest sense solving a game means proving whether the first player will win

Further information: English draughts#Computer players

See also

References

  1. ^ When this word is used in the UK, it is usually spelt chequers (as in Chinese chequers); see further at American and British spelling differences. American and British English spelling differences are one aspect of American and British English differences.
  2. ^ The Online Guide to Traditional Games
  3. ^ The Rules of Draughts from Masters Games
  4. ^ Chinook - World Man-Machine Checkers Champion
  5. ^ Checkers Is Solved - Schaeffer et al. 317 (5844): 1518 - Science
  6. ^ 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 Prize
  7. ^ Chinook - Solving Checkers Publications

External links

Dictionary

draughts

-noun

  1. plural of draught

-noun

  1. (board games, UK, uncountable) A game for two players played on a chessboard in which the players each have 12 pieces, known as men, and the object is to capture each of the opponent's pieces by jumping one's own pieces over the opponent's pieces. (See the Wikipedia page for the full rules of the game. There are various variants of the game.)
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