Checkers guide

A guide to Checkers on OverTime: lobby options and controls, opening shape, playing around forced captures, endgame kings and how rated games work.

How to play Checkers

  • 2 players
  • 8x8 board

Goal

Capture all of your opponent's pieces, or leave them with no legal move. Red always moves first.

Moving

  • Pieces move one square diagonally forward onto an empty dark square.
  • A piece never moves onto a light square or onto an occupied square.
  • Reach the far row and your piece is crowned a king.

Capturing

  • Jump diagonally over an adjacent opponent piece into the empty square beyond it to capture it.
  • Capturing is mandatory: if any jump is available you must take one - a plain move is rejected.
  • Multi-jump: if the SAME piece can jump again after landing, it must keep jumping until it can no longer capture.

Kings

A king moves and jumps diagonally in any direction (forward or backward). If a plain piece is crowned by a jump, its turn ends immediately even if another jump looks available - promotion ends the jump chain.

Winning & Draws

  • You win by capturing every opponent piece, or by leaving them with no legal move (a block).
  • The game is a draw after 40 moves pass with no capture and no promotion.
  • Either player may offer a draw; the opponent can accept or decline.

Before your first game

Checkers on OverTime is a game for two, with 12 pieces each on an 8 by 8 board. The game page offers Find a game, public lobbies, Create a lobby and a box to join with a code.

Pass & Play seats two people at one device, taking turns on the same board.

The host can set a turn timer of 15, 30 or 60 seconds, or No Limit. The default is 30 seconds, and the time left shows in the turn indicator.

Online, the board is turned so your own pieces start at the bottom. Click or tap a piece to see where it can go, then click a highlighted square.

On the keyboard, the arrow keys step across the dark squares. Enter or Space selects, and Escape clears the focus.

Each player bar shows how many pieces both sides have left. Captured pieces, the move history and the Offer Draw button sit under the board.

A sound way to start

Keep your back row at home for as long as you can. While those squares are filled, your opponent has nowhere to crown a king.

Aim for the centre. A central piece has two forward moves and can support its neighbours, while a piece on the side of the board has only one.

Advance in pairs. A plain piece can never step backwards, so a lone runner that gets cut off has no way home.

Reading the board as it unfolds

Because jumps are compulsory, every move can force your opponent's reply. Before each move, check which jumps it would hand them, and which jumps their answer would hand you.

That compulsion is also your best weapon. Giving up one piece can drag an enemy piece onto a square where you take two back.

A multi-jump is played one landing at a time. When more than one route is open, take a moment to pick the one that captures the most.

Once the board thins out, kings decide the game. When you are ahead, trading pieces brings the win closer, because a larger force of kings can corner a smaller one.

Mistakes that cost games

Most lost games trace back to one of these.

  • Leaving a gap behind an advanced piece. An empty square behind it is a landing spot for an enemy jump.
  • Breaking up the back row early. Once it is gone, every enemy piece that slips through becomes a king.
  • Missing a forced reply. The move you want may force you to jump straight into a trap on the next turn.
  • Drifting into the 40-move draw. When you are ahead, keep capturing or crowning, because 40 moves without either end the game level.
  • Letting the turn timer run out. When it does, play pauses and your opponent can wait for you or claim the game.

Ratings and results

Online games are rated. Your Checkers rating starts at 1500 and is separate from every other game on OverTime. The results screen shows how far it moved.

A game in which either player never moved is recorded unrated, so a leave in the first seconds costs nothing. After both sides have played, leaving hands your opponent the win.

If your connection drops, your seat is held for five minutes. Offer Draw asks you to confirm before the offer is sent, and it cannot be used in the middle of a jump chain.

Rematch opens a new lobby. Pass & Play games stay off the ratings.

Where to go next

Chess uses the same 8 by 8 board with six kinds of piece, each moving its own way.

Mancala swaps the board for pits of seeds, but keeps the same two-player habit of counting moves ahead.