Checkers

Checkers, also called draughts, is a game for two players on the dark squares of an eight by eight board. Each side starts with twelve pieces on the three rows nearest to them. Red moves first, then the players take turns. You win by capturing every enemy piece, or by leaving your opponent with no legal move. Play the computer at one of five levels, or pass one phone between two players. Tap a piece to see where it can go, then tap a highlighted square, or drag the piece there.

Classic rules

• An ordinary piece, called a man, moves one square diagonally forward onto an empty square.
• To capture, a man jumps over an enemy piece that sits diagonally in front of it, landing on the empty square just beyond. The captured piece is removed.
• Capturing is compulsory. If you can jump, you must, and if the piece that jumped can jump again, it keeps going. When there is more than one way to capture, you may choose any of them, but you must finish the one you start.
• A man that reaches the far side is crowned and becomes a king. Kings move and capture one square in any diagonal direction, backwards too. A man crowned during a capture stops there for that turn.

Flying kings

This variation follows the international style on the same board. Men still move forwards, but they may capture backwards as well. Kings fly: they glide any distance along an open diagonal, and capture a piece far away by jumping it and landing on any empty square behind it. A man only becomes a king if it finishes its move on the far row. With the "take the most" option switched on, you must choose the capture that removes the most pieces.

Draws

A game is drawn when the same position comes up three times, when both players agree, or after 40 moves by each side (the American tournament rule; 60 or 80 in Settings) in which only kings move and nothing is captured.

Tips

• Keep your back row filled for as long as you can, so the other side struggles to crown.
• Pieces in the centre control more of the board than pieces stuck on the edge.
• Because jumps are forced, you can give up one piece on purpose to drag an enemy piece into a spot where you jump two in return.
• When you are ahead, trade pieces. Every swap makes your extra piece count for more.

Your wins, draws and losses are saved in this browser for each rule set and level, along with your best win streak, and an unfinished game is kept so you can close the tab and carry on later. You get three free take-backs and one free hint per game; a hint shows the move the computer would play. Lost to a blunder? The result screen lets you take back your last three moves and play on.