How to play on Club Checkers
Everything about using the board: starting a game, making moves and jumps, the four computer opponents, undo, hints and how your game is saved.
This page is about the controls. For the rules of the game itself, see the rules of checkers. If you already know them, just start playing.
Starting a game
The board is ready as soon as the page opens: by default you play Red against the computer on Hard. To change that, press New game and choose:
- Opponent. Computer plays against you. Friend is for two people sharing one screen, taking turns with the mouse or by tapping.
- Your color. Red always moves first. If you pick White, the board turns around so your pieces are at the bottom, and the computer opens the game.
- Difficulty, described below.
Press Start to begin. The game you were playing is replaced, so finish it first if you want to see how it ends.
Moving a piece
- Click (or tap) the piece you want to move. With hints on, every piece that is allowed to move has a gold outline, which is especially useful when a capture is compulsory and only one or two pieces can move.
- Gold dots appear on the squares the piece can move to. Click one of them.
- To pick a different piece instead, click it, or press Esc to clear your selection.
The piece slides to its new square and the move is added to the list beside the board. The status box above the buttons always says whose turn it is, and warns you when you must capture.
Captures and multiple jumps
Jumping is compulsory in checkers, so when a capture is available the board only lets you choose capturing moves. For a single jump, click the piece and then its landing square, and the jumped piece is removed.
For a double or triple jump, click each landing square in turn. After the first hop the status reads Keep jumping! and the next possible landing squares are marked. The pieces you have jumped fade out but stay on the board until the move is complete, as the official rules require: a piece can't be jumped twice in one move. If two different routes are possible, the squares you click decide which one you take. Pressing Esc partway through puts the piece back so you can start the move again.
The four computer opponents
| Level | How it chooses a move | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | Takes the capture that wins the most pieces; otherwise picks any legal move at random. | Learning the rules, young players. |
| Medium | Looks two moves ahead (its move and your reply) and counts material. | Players who know the rules and want to practice spotting captures. |
| Hard | Looks four moves ahead and counts material, the same depth the original Club Checkers server used. | Casual players who want a real game. |
| Expert | Looks eight moves ahead, calculates every capture sequence to the end, and judges position: advanced pieces, the center and the back row. | Experienced players. |
All levels except Easy look further ahead as pieces come off the board, so even Medium becomes harder to beat in the endgame. When two moves look equally good, the computer picks between them at random, so the same opening won't always lead to the same game. You can read more about how the search works on the about page.
Undo
Undo takes back moves. Against the computer it goes back to the start of your previous turn, taking back the computer's reply as well, so it is your turn again. You can press it repeatedly to go back further. In a game between two players it takes back one move at a time.
Hints
The Hints button turns the gold outlines on movable pieces on and off. With hints off you have to find the moves yourself, which is good practice for spotting compulsory captures. The landing squares are still marked after you pick a piece.
The move list and square numbers
Each dark square has a small number from 1 to 32 in its corner. The move list uses these numbers in standard checkers notation: 11-15 means a piece moved from square 11 to square 15, and 15x22 is a capture. A double jump lists every landing square, like 6x15x24. The notation guide explains the system and how to use it to follow published games.
Saving, themes and positions from this site
Your game is saved in your browser after every move, so you can close the tab and continue later on the same device. Nothing is sent to a server, and there's no account to create. Clearing your browser's data for this site removes the saved game.
The colored circles under the buttons change the color theme of the whole site. Your choice is remembered too.
The strategy pages and the puzzles have Play this position links. Following one starts a new game from that position against the computer, with you playing the side to move. It replaces the game you had in progress.
When the game ends
You win by capturing all of your opponent's pieces or by leaving them with no legal move. A game in which neither side makes progress, with forty moves each and no capture or plain-piece move, is declared a draw. A panel over the board announces the result, with buttons to play again with the same settings or choose new ones.
Questions
Why can't I move the piece I want?
Almost always because a capture is available somewhere else on the board, and captures are compulsory. With hints on, the pieces that are allowed to move are outlined.
Why did the computer move instantly?
When there is only one legal move, usually a forced capture, there's nothing to think about. The computer still waits a moment so you can see what happened.
Can I play against other people online?
Not at the moment. Club Checkers runs entirely in your browser, so two players need to share a device.