Giant Checkers Rules Card

How to play

1. Set up the board. Lay the board so each player has a dark square in their near-left corner. Place your 12 pieces on the dark squares of the three rows closest to you. Both players use only the dark squares for the whole game.
2. Move diagonally forward. Players alternate turns, and one move means sliding a single piece one square diagonally forward to an empty dark square. Regular pieces, the ones that are not yet kings, can only move forward, never backward or sideways.
3. Jump to capture. If an opponent's piece sits diagonally next to yours with an empty square directly beyond it, you jump over it and remove it from the board. You jump forward over a single piece into the empty square on the far side.
4. Chain your jumps. If your piece lands and another capture is immediately available, you must keep jumping in the same turn. A double or triple jump can clear several of your opponent's pieces in one move, which is where the game is won.
5. King me. When one of your pieces reaches the far row, your opponent's back row, it is crowned a king by stacking a second piece of your color on top. A king can move and jump both forward and backward, which makes it much stronger.
6. Win the game. You win when your opponent cannot make a legal move, either because all of their pieces have been captured or because every remaining piece is blocked. If neither side can make progress, players can agree to a draw.

Set it up

Giant checkers has no throwing distance. What matters is floor space. A large roll-out board runs roughly 5 to 6 ft on a side, so give yourself about 6 by 6 ft total plus walking room around the edges, since you move pieces by reaching or stepping in. A flat patio or deck keeps the board from wrinkling, and on grass pick a level, mowed spot so the mat lies flat and pieces sit square on their squares.