The game of draughts is played between two opponents who move their pieces alternately on a square board with 100 dark and light squares called a ‘draughtboard’. Only the dark squares are used. The player with the white pieces commences the game. A player is said to ‘have the move’, when his opponent’s move has been made.
The objective of each player is to capture all the pieces, or to prevent the opponent from making a move by encapsulating all his pieces. The player who achieves one of these situations wins the game. If neither player can possibly achieve the game objective, the game is drawn.
A move consists of moving a piece forward diagonally to an adjacent unoccupied square. If the adjacent square contains an opponent’s piece, and the square immediately beyond it is vacant, the opponent’s piece must be captured and removed by jumping over it. Jumping can also be done backwards. In case of multiple capture possibilities, the majority capture must be chosen.
When a piece reaches the rank furthest from its starting position, it is crowned king. The king can move over multiple squares on the same diagonal and it can move forwards and backwards.
