CHECKERS!!

 

Did you know, September 23 is checkers/draughts day!! 

(British is Draughts, Checkers is American.) 

Whenever we would go to Cracker Barrel my youngest son and I would always sit at a checkerboard and play while we waited for food.  When he was younger he wasnt much of a challenge for me, always just pushing pieces to empty spaces and not thinking about the consequences of those moves, or anticipating my moves. I used to trounce him. (I dont believe in holding back just because of their age. They need to learn that life is about losing too).  Now that he is 17 it is rare that I can beat him as soundly as I used to. He has definitely matured and gained more strategy. He now thinks 2 and 3 moves ahead and uses that logic to his advantage. This is a great educational tool!!

HISTORY AND HOW TO PLAY:

This game has been played for over 5000 years!! WHAT???  The first known game of checkers (or a variant) was played in 3000 BCE in the city of Ur (a Mesopotamian city now in present day southern Iraq)    The game we know as checkers today was developed around the 12th century. Checkers is a strategy board game for 2 players, played on an 8x8 checkerboard.  Each player has 12 uniform game pieces,( placed on dark squares closest to their side of the board)  and is responsible for capturing the opponents pieces by diagonal moves and jumping them. Winner is last person standing with pieces.

how to play: (from wikipedia)

Checkers (or Draughts) played by two opponents, on opposite sides of the gameboard. One player has the dark pieces; the other has the light pieces. Players alternate turns. A player may not move an opponent's piece. A move consists of moving a piece diagonally to an adjacent unoccupied square. If the adjacent square contains an opponent's piece, and the square immediately beyond it is vacant, the piece may be captured (and removed from the game) by jumping over it.

Only the dark squares of the checkered board are used. A piece may move only diagonally into an unoccupied square. When presented, capturing is mandatory in most official rules, although some rule variations make capturing optional.  In almost all variants, the player without pieces remaining, or who cannot move due to being blocked, loses the game. Regular pieces may only move forward and not backwards, unless they are a king. (see below)

When a man reaches the kings row (also called crownhead, the farthest row opposite side of the board from your starting side), it becomes a king, and is marked by placing an additional captured piece on top of the first man (crowned), and acquires additional powers including the ability to move backwards and (in variants where they cannot already do so) capture backwards. Like men, a king can make successive jumps in a single turn provided that each jump captures an enemy man or king.

Here is a great video overview of How to Play Checkers.

RULES:  For complete list of rules click HERE

Most kids can learn to play checkers around age 4 or 5, earlier if you have the patience!!  Some form of checkers is played around the world, and there is even interntional checkers(or draughts) competitions. 

Enjoy a game of checkers with your family today!!