The only differences between Neo-Checkers and Anglo-Saxon draughts/checkers are the four extra pieces per side and the enlarged board, which is an 8x10 Capablanca/Gothic chess board stood on end. The object is to capture all your opponent's pieces ("Checkers" or "Kings") by jumping over them, or stalemate the opponent so he has no moves. Checkers can only move diagonally forward, either by sliding to an adjacent empty square or by jumping over an enemy piece to a vacant square on the other side. Jumping over a piece captures it. Capturing is mandatory, and you must keep jumping and capturing as long as it is possible. When your Checker reaches the other end of the board, it becomes a King and can then also move diagonally backwards.
Checkers or Draughts has been played since medieval times, but was derived from a much older Arab game, Alquerque. Strategy: plan ahead and try not to leave your opponent with multiple jumps. As long as possible, keep two guards at positions c1, g1, and b10, f10, respectively. Try to conquer space, especially in the centre, but avoid advancing too rashly because the advanced pieces may be attacked.
Traditional checkers is a superb game while it is suitable for both amateur and expert. Neo-Checkers retains all the fine qualities of checkers whilst introducing greater complexity. This could be interesting to the experts.
For more on checkers see:
The Checker Maven
You can download my free Neo-Checkers program here , but you must own the software Zillions of Games to be able to run it (I recommend the download version).
© M. Winther 2008
