Do You Have to Jump in Checkers? The Official Rules Explained

Checkers is often the first strategy game a child learns, and it is also one of the most house-ruled. Some families let you skip a jump, some let a new king keep jumping, and some call a blocked position a draw. The official rules disagree with all three.

The rules below come from the World Checkers Draughts Federation (WCDF), which its own statutes describe as "the official world governing body for the game of Checkers." Its rulebook covers the 8 by 8 game, which it calls both draughts and checkers.

1. The board and pieces

• The board has 64 squares in 8 rows and 8 columns, alternating light and dark (Rule 1.1).
• Each player starts with 12 pieces, called men (Rule 1.8).
• Only the 32 dark squares are used for play; the WCDF numbers them 1 to 32 for recording games (Rule 1.5).
• In official play the board is green and white and the pieces are red and white, although the rules say other colors are fine if they contrast clearly (Rules 1.2, 1.9, 1.10).
• Set the board so that a dark playing square is on each player's near left (Rule 1.4).

Who goes first? The rules say the first move is made by the player with the dark (red) men, and in later games players alternate colors (Rules 1.12 and 1.13). If your set uses different colors, the darker side takes the first move.

2. How pieces move

• A man moves one square diagonally forward, left or right, to an empty square (Rule 1.15).
• A king moves one square diagonally forward or backward (Rule 1.17). Kings do not slide across the board in this version of the game.

3. Jumping: yes, you have to

This is the big one. Rule 1.20 states: "All capturing moves are compulsory." If you can jump on your turn, you must.

The same rule adds three details:

1. You may choose between jumps. If two or more captures are available, you can pick any of them, "not necessarily that which gains the most pieces."
2. A multi-jump must be finished. Once you start a multiple jump, you must carry it through to completion.
3. Each piece is jumped once. A man can only be jumped once during a multiple-jump sequence.

A man jumps diagonally forward over an opponent's piece, which can be a man or a king, onto the empty square just beyond it (Rule 1.18). A king jumps the same way but forward or backward (Rule 1.21). Captured pieces come off the board at the end of the sequence (Rule 1.19).

3.1. What about "huffing"?

Some house rules include a penalty where, if you miss a jump, your opponent removes your piece. That is not in the WCDF rules. Instead, Rule 1.25 treats a missed or unfinished capture as an illegal move: the first time, the player is cautioned and the move is taken back. A second illegal move in the same game forfeits it. Rule 1.26 adds that an illegal move stands if the opponent makes their next move without objecting.

4. Becoming a king

When a man reaches the far row, called the king-row or crown-head, it becomes a king, and that completes the turn (Rule 1.16). Either player may crown it by placing a second piece of the same color on top, and the rules note that traditionally the player whose king-row was entered does it. The rules note you may need to borrow a piece from another set.

This matters for multi-jumps. Rule 1.19 says that if a man reaches the king-row by jumping, it becomes a king "but may not make any further jumps until their opponent has moved." So a new king cannot keep jumping backward on the same turn, even if a capture is sitting right there. Rule 1.25.7 lists continuing a jump through the king-row with an uncrowned man as an illegal move.

5. Touching pieces

Rule 1.23 says that if you touch one of your pieces on your turn, you must play that piece, unless you warned your opponent first that you were adjusting it. Rule 1.22 allows either player to straighten pieces on their squares after saying so.

6. How the game is won

Rule 1.30 defines a win simply: the winner is the player who makes the last move. Your opponent loses when they have no move on their turn, either because all their pieces have been captured or because every remaining piece is blocked.

That second part surprises people. Being completely boxed in is a loss, not a draw.

7. How the game is drawn

The players can agree to a draw at any time (Rule 1.32). The WCDF also lists two ways a referee can declare one:

• Repetition: a player shows that their next move would create the same position for the third time (Rule 1.32.1).
• No progress: neither player has advanced an uncrowned man toward the king-row, and no pieces have been removed, during each player's previous 40 moves (Rule 1.32.2).

8. A quick house-rule check

9. Key takeaways

• Jumps are compulsory in official checkers, but you may choose which jump to take.
• Once a multi-jump starts, you must finish it.
• A man that reaches the far row is crowned and its turn ends immediately, even mid-jump.
• The dark (red) pieces move first, and each side starts with 12 men on the 32 dark squares.
• You win when your opponent has no legal move, whether their pieces are all captured or all blocked.