English Checkers Online Multiplayer

Three ways to play

The computer opponent comes with ten difficulty levels, from Beginner all the way to World Champion, which covers players of every standard. If you would rather face people, the online mode pits you against real players and lets you climb a rating ladder. For a match with someone sitting beside you, two players can share one screen. Before a game starts you pick whether to play black or white, and there is a choice of time controls: unlimited, bullet, blitz, rapid or classic.

The rules

Ordinary pieces move one square diagonally and only forwards, and they can only capture forwards too. To capture, you jump over an enemy piece that has an empty square directly behind it and land on that square. Capturing is compulsory, and when a jump leaves you able to make another, you must carry on in the same turn until no captures remain. If several captures are possible, you decide which one to take.

A piece that reaches the far row is crowned a king, and a king moves and captures diagonally both forwards and backwards. One detail is easy to miss: a piece crowned in the middle of a capture stops there and cannot move again that turn.

Victory comes from taking every one of your opponent’s pieces, or from blocking them so they have no legal move left.

Help as you learn

The game can show the moves open to you, it offers interactive tips, and an undo option lets you take back a mistake and try again. After each match an analysis of the game picks out your errors, and the move history lets you look back through games you have already played.

Personal touches

You can choose designs for the checkers and the board, send emotions back and forth with your opponent, and even place bets to win gold from the players you face. Handicap options are available as well.