The name "Checkers" originated with European settlers in the United States and is derived from the dislike pieces used in play.
Although almost everyone has played checkers, which is enjoyed all over the world, nobody knows exactly how old it is or even where this granddaddy of boardgames started. The discovery of heiroglyphic drawings on King Tut’s pyramid in Egypt depicting two checker players matching wits on identifiable checkerboard has been archeologically traced back to around 3000 B.C., making the game at least 5000 years old! But it might easily predate that calculation by millebbiums and may very well have originated elsewhere. This probably makes checkers the oldest boardgame in the world. It’s older than chess, older than dominoes, and even older than Chineses checkers. It must be a wonderful game to have lasted this long and still be going strong today.
Checkers has many different names in various parts of the world, such as draughts (pronounced drafts) in England and juego de damas or fechas in Hispanic (get ready) countries. But no matter what name it’s known by, people around the globe recognize the familiar checkerboard pattern.
The captivating charm of the game is directly related to its elegantly simplistic rules that even a youngster can easily understand, combined with beautifully concieived combinations of movement, great depth of stratigic thought, and surprising tactics that make checkers extremely difficult, if not impossible to master.
Because their playing boards are identical, checkers and chess have often been compared with each other. Checlers almost always suffers in these comparisons by many who elevate chess, because of its much more convoluted rules structure, onto a pedestal of greater intellectual superiority. In fact, both checkers and chess have countless numbers of intricate, mind-boggling plays.
Edgar Allan Poe weighed in on the side of checkers when he wrote in his Murders in the Rue Morgue that "I hereby take occasion to assert that the higher powers of human intellect are more decidedly and more usefully tasked by the unostentations game of Draughts, than by all the elaborate frivolity of Chess. In the latter, where the pieces have different and bizarre motions, with various and variable values, what is only complex is mistaken (a not unusual error) for what is profound.”
Rules Of Play And Laws For Standard American Checkers
The following rules and laws govern the play and conduct of the participants in officially sanctioned ACF tournaments. Over the years, the game and the rules have evolved to the point where a large majority of checker players follow the dictates of the American Checker Federation (ACF) and the British Draughts Federation (BDF), which are practically identical.
Each checker player'a usual objective is to win the game by capturing all of the opponent's pieces or blocking them so that the opponents cannot move or jump when it his turn to go. If neither of these results can be achieved by one player of the other, the game is a tie.
The official checkerboard to be used in national tournaments and official matches shall be green and buff with two-inch squares. The board shall be placed for playing so that the green double corners are on the right-hand side of the players.
Checkers can be played on boards with squares of almost any size as long as there are 32 dark-colored squares alternating with 32 light-colored in the famous checkerboard pattern. Buff is an off-white or very light yellowish color.
The official checkers to be used in national tournaments and official matches shall be turned and round, red and white, and of a diameter not less than one and one-quarter inches nor more than one and one-half inches. The pieces shall be placed on the green squares.
The 12 light and 12 dark checkers can be made up of any two contrasting colors. They should be disk-shaped and sized to fit easily within the dark squares. Checkers go on dark squares.
At the beginning of the contest, the players shall toss for colors. The first move is made by the player having the red checkers. Thereafter, the players shall alternate in leading off with red in each succeeding opening balloted.
Most informal games will not involve the ballot system, but players do continue to alternate in leading off with the darker checkers, from game to game, regardless of who won the previous game of it it was tied.
Each player must make thirty moves per hour. Upon completion of each set of thirty moves, the player completing the thirty moves adds one hour to his/her clock. If a player's time expires before he/she makes the allotted thirty moves, that player forfeits the game, and his/her opponent is declared the winner by default.
In casual play, there may be no time limit, or the opponents may pick whatever suits their circumstances.
The men can move only diagonally forward, one space at a time, to an unoccupied adjacent dark square in the row ahead. If there is an opponent's checker or king on an adjacent square in the row ahead with an unoccupied square on the same diagonal line in the following row, that piece (checker or king) must be jumped. Checkers and kings cannot jump over their own pieces.
When there are two or more ways to jump, five minutes shall be allowed for the move. When there is only one way to jump, time shall be called at the end of one minute, and if the move is not completed at the end of another minute, the game shall be adjudged as lost through improper delay.
If a player has more than one way to jump, he may select whichever one he wants, regardless of the number and type of pieces that can be captured.
There is no advantage to extensively deliberating when there is only one way to jump, since it has to be taken, and delaying gives the opponent more time to think about his subsequent response.
At the beginning of a game, each player shall be entitled to arrange his own or his opponent's pieces properly on the squares. After the game has opened (a move has been made), if either player touches or arranges any piece without giving intimation, he shall be cautioned for the first offense and shall forfeit the game for any subsequent offense of this kind. If a person whose turn it is to play touches one of his playable pieces, he must either play it or forfeit the game.
Intimation is saying "adjusting" or "I adjust." A more easygoing interpretation of this rule is to allow a player to touch, move, or even jump with a piece and declare his turn ended only when he removes his hand from the piece that has been repositioned to another square.
If any part of a playable piece is played over an angle of the square on which it is stationed, the play must be completed in that direction. Inadverdently removing, touching, or disturbing from its position a piece that is not playable, while in the act of jumping or making an intended move, does not constitute a move, and the piece or pieces shall be placed back in position and the game continued.
When a checker reaches the crownhead of the board by reason of a move or as the completion of a jump, it becomes a king. That completes the move or jump. The checker must then be crowned by the opponent by placing a piece on top of it. If the opponent neglects to do so and makes a play, then any such play shall be put back until the piece that should have been crowned is crowned. Time does not start on the player whose piece should have been crowned until the piece is crowned.
The crownhead is the same as the king row or the last row at the opposite end of the board.
A king once crowned can move in any direction as the limits of the board permit. A king can jump one or more pieces in any diagonal direction as the limits of the board permit. When a piece is not available for crowning, one must be furnished by the referee.
A king cannot jump over their own checkers or kings. If a piece is not available for crowning purposes, one of your opponent's capture pieces can be placed below the new king or a coin can be put on top.
A draw is declared when neither player can force a win. When one side appears stronger than the other, and the player with what appears to be the weaker side requests the referee for a count on moves, then, if the referee so decides, the stronger party is required to complete the win, or to show to the satisfaction of the referee at least an "increased" advantage over his opponent within 40 of his own moves, these to be counted from the point at which notice was given by the referee. If he fails to do this, he must relinquish the game as a draw.
After an opening is balloted, neither player shall leave the board without permission of the referee. If permission is granted to a player, his opponent may accompany him, or the referee may designate a person to accompany him. Time shall be deducted accordingly from the player whose turn it is to move.
Anything that may tend to annoy or distract the attention of an opponent is strictly forbidden, such as making signs or sounds, pointing or hovering over the board either with the hands or the head, or unnecessarily delaying to move a touched piece. Any principal so acting, after having been warned of the consequences and requested to desist, shall forfeit the game.
Common courtesy is all that is necessary to fulfill the "spirit of the law" regarding this rule.
Players shall be allowed to smoke during the conduct of a game, but care must be exercised not to blow smoke across the board, lest it annoy an opponent. If a player is thus annoyed, he may object to his opponent smoking, in which case neither player shall be allowed to smoke.
Any spectator giving warning either by signs or sound or remark on any of the games, whether playing or pending, shall be ordered from the room during the contest. Play shall be discontinued until such offending party retires. Spectators shall not be allowed to smoke or talk near the playing boards.
