# Checkers From Zero

You have played checkers. Move diagonally, jump when you can, get a king. Then someone beat you in four moves by handing you a piece, and you could not see how. Checkers looks like a children's game and plays like a puzzle box: one rule, "you must capture," turns every move into a question about what your opponent is about to be forced to do.

This guide teaches you to see that. It starts with the exact rules and the 1 to 32 notation that lets you read any game ever written down, then builds up through forced-capture tactics, strategy, and endgames. It ends with a surprise: in 2007 a team proved that if both sides play perfectly, checkers is a draw. You can play every idea on this page against the site's engine at [play checkers](/games/checkers), which has a coach mode to help you along.

## Which checkers is this?

"Checkers" names a family of games. This guide teaches **American checkers**, also called **English draughts**: an 8x8 board, twelve pieces each, men that move and capture only forward, kings that move one square at a time, and captures that are mandatory. It is the exact ruleset the site's playable game uses. International draughts (10x10 board, men that can capture backward, "flying" kings that glide across the board, and a rule that you must take the most pieces), Russian draughts, and Brazilian draughts differ. Everything here is about the 8x8 game.

## How to read this

- **Brand new?** Read in order. Phase 1 is five minutes of rules, and every later phase assumes it.
- **Know the rules, lose to shots?** Start at [Phase 2](02-forced-captures.md) and [Phase 3](03-tactics.md).
- **Want to know why it is a draw?** Jump to [Phase 5](05-endgames-and-the-solved-game.md).

## The phases

1. **[The Board, the Pieces, and the Numbers](01-the-board-the-pieces-and-the-numbers.md)** - exact rules, how captures and crowning work, and the 1 to 32 notation.
2. **[Forced Captures: The Rule That Makes Checkers Tactical](02-forced-captures.md)** - why a mandatory capture lets you move your opponent's pieces for them.
3. **[Tactics: Exchanges, Shots, and Breakthroughs](03-tactics.md)** - the patterns that win material, and how to spot them before your opponent does.
4. **[Strategy: Center, King Row, Tempo, and the Move](04-strategy.md)** - what to aim for when no shot is on the board.
5. **[Endgames and the Solved Game](05-endgames-and-the-solved-game.md)** - kings against kings, trapped corners, and what "checkers is solved" really means.

Computers and games are a big topic of their own: [How Computers Play Games](/guides/how-computers-play-games) explains the search ideas behind the program that solved checkers. If you like boards, [Chess From Zero](/guides/chess-from-zero) is next door.