1. Straight checkers, also known as English draughts, is played on the dark squares only of a standard checkerboard of 64 alternating dark and light squares, (eight rows, eight files) by two opponents having 12 checkers each of contrasting colors, nominally referred to as black andwhite.

(Serious checker players generally use red and white checkers, and green and yellow checkerboards. These colors have been designated as official by the American Checker Federation. In any case, colors of the checkers and the board should be different in order to provide good contrast, and especially to avoid such combinations as black checkers on black squares.)

2. The board is positioned squarely between the players and turned so that a dark square is at each player's near left side. Each player places his checkers on the dark squares of the three rows nearest him. The player with the darker checkers makes the first move of the game, andthe players take turns thereafter, making one move at a time.

3. The object of the game is to prevent the opponent from being able to move when it is his turn to do so. This is accomplished either by capturing all of the opponent's checkers, or by blocking those that remain so that none of them can be moved. If neither player can accomplish this, the game is a draw.

4. Single checkers, known as men, move forward only, one square at a time in a diagonal direction, to an unoccupied square. Men capture by jumping over an opposing man on a diagonally adjacent square to the square immediately beyond, but may do so only if this square is unoccupied. Men may jump forward only, and may continue jumping as long as they encounter opposing checkers with unoccupied squares immediately beyond them. Men may never jump over checkers of the same color.

5. A man which reaches the far side of the board, whether by means of a jump or a simple move, becomes a king, and the move terminates. The opponent must then crown the new king by placing a checker of the same color atop it. A player is not permitted to make his own move until he crowns his opponent's king.

6. Kings move forward or backward, one square at a time in a diagonal direction to an unoccupied square. Kings capture by jumping, forward or backward, over an opposing man or king on a diagonally adjacent square to the square immediately beyond, but may do so only if this square is unoccupied. Kings may continue jumping as long as they encounter opposing checkers with unoccupied squares immediately beyond them. Kings may never jump over checkers of the same color. They may never jump over the same opposing man or king more than once.

7. Whenever a player is able to make a capture he must do so. When there is more than one way to jump, a player may choose any way he wishes, not necessarily the one which results in the capture of the greatest number of opposing units. However, once a player chooses asequence of captures, he must make all the captures possible in that sequence. He may not leave one or more checkers uncaptured that he could capture simply by continuing to jump. A "huff" of a checker for failure to jump properly is not permitted as it was in the past. Theincorrect move must be retracted, and a correct move must be made. If possible, the correct move must be made with the man or king originally moved incorrectly.

8. Time limits for play may be based on a fixed amount of time for each move, with less time allowed for situations in which there is one, and only one, capturing move possible, or on a fixed amount of time for a given number of moves, without regard to how much of this time is used on any one move. When the latter method is used, and the given number of moves has been made by each player, with neither having used up the allotted time, an additional allotment of time and moves is given to each. This continues until the conclusion of the game. Unused time is retained when a new allotment is given. A player loses a game if his time expires before he has completed the required number of moves.

The Chinook Checker Program at the University of Alberta in Canada is generally considered to be the world's strongest computer program for straight checkers, a.k.a. English draughts. Its home pages contain many links to other sites devoted to the game of checkers.

PC Solutions, Adrian Millett - Computer programs for many variations of checkers, including straight checkers, or English draughts

Martin Bryant is a computer program developer in the United Kingdom.. His programs for checkers and other games are described at his Internet site. There are also many links from his pages to other Web pages on checkers.

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