Checkers

An archeological dig in the Iraqi city of Ur unearthed a game that appears similar to checkers. Carbon dating puts the game around 3,000 B.C.E. No one is certain of the rules for this early version of the game. Egyptian pharaohs played a game called Alquerque on a five-by-five board, which has been traced back as early as 1400 B.C.E The ancient Greeks also had a version of checkers that goes back as far as 1600 B.C.E.

In France, around 1100 someone got the idea of playing the game on a chess board. This meant expanding the number of pieces to 12 on a side. It was then called "Fierges" or "Ferses". It was soon found that making jumps mandatory made the game more challenging. The French called this version "Jeu Force". Now the rules for checkers that we are familiar with were set, and the game was exported to England and America. In Great Britain the game was called "Draughts".

Each player gets 12 pieces in one color. All the pieces sit on the black squares. Players move pieces diagonally across the board in a forward direction.

The goal is to eliminate the other player’s pieces by “jumping” them (and taking them off of the board). A piece that makes it all the way across the board is “crowned” king, often by having another checker placed on top of it. King pieces can move either diagonally forward or diagonally backwards across the board.