2 Player Checkers

Checkers is the classic board game for two: easy to learn in a minute, and still interesting after hundreds of games. Master Checkers lets you play it in your browser in two ways:

• Two players on one device. Pick the player vs player mode and take turns on the same screen, so it works well on a tablet laid flat on the table between you.
• Against the computer. Pick player vs computer when you want to practise alone.

The board is a classic 8×8 wooden board with the rows and columns labelled (A–H and 1–8), and each player has a timer that shows how long they have been thinking. Light pieces move first.

One thing to know before you start: the developer built this game on the Italian checkers ruleset. It plays almost the same as the checkers most Americans grew up with, with a couple of differences explained below.

Want to play two player checkers online with a friend somewhere else? Try Master Checkers Multiplayer, which also lists an online mode.

Checkers rules

1. Each player starts with 12 pieces, placed on squares of one colour in the three rows closest to them.
2. Players take turns moving one piece. A regular piece moves one square diagonally forward onto an empty square.
3. Capturing: if an opponent's piece is diagonally next to yours and the square behind it is empty, jump over it and remove it from the board. You can keep jumping in the same turn if another capture is available.
4. Captures are mandatory. If you can capture, you must.
5. Kings: when a piece reaches the far row, it is crowned a king. A king can move and capture diagonally forwards and backwards.
6. You win when your opponent has no pieces left or cannot make a legal move.

How the Italian rules differ

If you learned American checkers (also called English draughts), watch out for these rules of the Italian version:

• A regular piece can't capture a king. Only a king can jump another king.
• You must make the biggest capture. When you have a choice, you must take the sequence that removes the most pieces.
• Light moves first, while in American checkers dark usually starts.

How to play 2 player checkers on one screen

• Choose the player vs player mode and decide who takes the light pieces (they move first).
• On a phone or tablet, lay the device flat between you so each player sits behind their own side.
• Swap colours after every game so both of you get to start.

Tips

• Control the centre. Pieces in the middle of the board have more options and are harder to trap.
• Keep your back row as long as you can. It stops your opponent from getting a king cheaply.
• Move in pairs. A piece with a friend behind it can't be jumped.
• Use forced captures. Because captures are mandatory, you can offer one piece to pull an opponent's piece into a position where you jump two.

More classic games for two: Connect 4 two player and tic tac toe 2 player.