Game rules Italian Checkers

Description

Checkers is a two-player game played on a board. Each player has 12 checkers to start the game.

• Players: 2
• Pieces: 24 (12 light colored pieces and 12 dark colored pieces)
• Board: One 8x8 checkered grid
• Starting position: Each player starts with 12 pieces on the dark spaces of the three rows closest to their own side.
• Object: Capture all the opponent's pieces or make him/her unable to move.

Definitions

• The Kings: When a single piece reaches the last rank on the board, it becomes a King which is differentiated as consisting of two normal pieces of the same color, stacked one on top of the other.
• The Great Diagonal Line is the longest one made up by the dark squares.
• The Move is done by moving the checkers/pieces from one square to another.
• The Capture takes place when a checker jumps over the opponent's piece and lands on an empty square.
• Multiple Jumps: Capturing two opposing pieces in a turn is called a double jump, capturing three pieces in a turn is a triple jump , and so on.

The Game

The board must be placed in a way that the great diagonal line starts at the right of each player. Thus the first square to the right of the player will always be the dark one. The player with the light colored pieces makes the first move. From then on, the players alternate their moves until game is over. The ordinary pieces can only be moved diagonally forward to an empty dark square. The kings move diagonally both forward and backward to any empty square as long as the their path is empty. The game is over when all the player's pieces are captured or when the player can no longer make any legal move.

Capture

Captures or 'jumps' are mandatory. If a square diagonally in front of a checker is occupied by an opponent's piece, and if the square beyond that piece in the same direction is empty, the checker may 'jump' over the opponent's piece and land on the empty square. The opponent's piece is captured and removed from the board. If, after making a capture, a piece is in a position to make another capture (either along the same diagonal or a different one) it must do so, all as part of the same turn. If you have a choice of jumps, you must choose athe one with most captures. In case of the same number of jumps, the player may choose then. Commom pieces can capture forward or backward and can't capture Kings. Kings can move and capture in any direction, no matter the distance, but can capture only pieces next to it.

Tie Rules

• From any given moment, 20 sucessive plays of Kings, without capture or comom pieces moving
• If the same piece ocupies the same square for the third time in a repetitive fashion, it's a tie.
• If a player has 3 kings against 1 from the other player and he can't win in 20 plays, it's a tie.