👑 Kings Row
Real checkers rules: mandatory captures, forced multi-jumps, king promotion.
How to play
- Tap a piece, then tap a highlighted square to move or capture.
- If any of your pieces can capture, you must capture, no simple moves allowed.
- After a capture, if the same piece can jump again, you must keep jumping with it.
- Reach the far row to crown a piece king, kings move and capture in all 4 diagonal directions.
- Win by capturing all of your opponent's pieces, or leaving them with no legal move.
Real checkers rules, not a simplified version
Kings Row is free online checkers (English draughts) built with the actual rules, not a simplified approximation. Captures are mandatory: if any of your pieces can jump an opponent's piece, you have to, simple non-capturing moves are only allowed when no capture exists anywhere on the board. Multi-jumps are enforced too, if the piece you just moved can capture again from its new square, you must keep jumping with that same piece rather than switching to a different one, exactly like the real tabletop game. The one exception is promotion: a piece that reaches the far row and becomes a king ends its turn immediately, even if another jump would technically have been available, the standard rule used in most casual and tournament rule sets alike.
The computer opponent is a genuine alpha-beta minimax search, not a set of scripted responses. Hard difficulty thinks 6 full turns ahead and plays a strong, difficult game. Medium searches 4 turns ahead for a fair, beatable challenge, and Easy searches only 2 turns ahead and sometimes plays a random legal move instead, better suited to players just learning the rules. Prefer to play a friend instead? Switch to 2 Players for local pass-and-play on the same screen, no second device or account needed.
One rule note worth being upfront about: when a capture is mandatory, any legal capturing move satisfies it, you don't have to specifically find and play the single longest capture chain available. That's the more common casual ruleset; some competitive tournament rules require the maximum chain specifically, which this version doesn't enforce.
Free, no download, no account. See more strategy and logic games on the Puzzle Games page, or try Triple Threat for tic-tac-toe against the same kind of real computer opponent.
Frequently asked questions
Are captures mandatory in Kings Row?
Yes, real checkers rules. If any of your pieces can capture, you must play a capturing move, you can't make a simple non-capturing move instead. Any legal capture satisfies this, not necessarily the longest chain available.
Do multi-jumps work correctly?
Yes. After a capture, if the same piece can capture again from its new square, you must continue jumping with it. The only exception is if that jump crowns the piece as a king, which ends the turn immediately even if further jumps would have been possible.
How good is the computer opponent?
It uses a real alpha-beta minimax search, not a scripted bot. Hard searches 6 full turns ahead and plays a genuinely strong game; Medium searches 4 turns ahead; Easy searches only 2 and sometimes plays a random legal move instead.
Can two people play on the same device?
Yes, switch to 2 Players for local pass-and-play, no second device or account needed.
Can a game end in a draw?
Yes. If 60 moves pass in a row with no captures, most often a late-game shuffle between a couple of kings, the game ends in a draw automatically, the same purpose as the real game's traditional no-progress rules.