Free Checkers Game, Play Draughts Online
Is it hard for you to find a worthy checkers opponent? Looking for an ice cool machine mind that will challenge you all the way? If that's the case, you really must play this free checkers online game. It has a variable difficulty setting and a computer that will play at a range of skill levels for as long as you want, day in, day out, without telling you to get a life or that checkers isn't a real game anyway.
Checkers (also known as draughts by people in the UK and descendants of theirs in the loyal colonies) is a simple game to play. It is played on a chess board, but unlike chess, which features a variety of pieces with different rules applying to each piece, checkers can only move one space diagonally, and always in a forward motion. The exception to this rule occurs in cases where a checker is able to 'jump' the opponent's piece, in which case the checker moves two places, or in the case of a double jump (which is also allowed if it is possible to jump two of the opponent's pieces in diagonal fashion) four places.
This computer version plays by the rules that one must jump if one is able to do so. This is a rule that is often a point of contention amongst siblings and family members, but there's no point arguing with a computer, it doesn't care.
If one manages to gets ones checkers to the opposing side of the board without being taken, the checker becomes 'kinged'. In a traditional board game, this means that another checker is placed on top of the original checker, creating a double thick checker that is able to move forwards and backwards.
Checkers is won when all the opponent's pieces are taken, or nor more legal moves are possible. Draws are common in draughts as it is easy to get into a stalemate in which both players have kings that can move forwards and backwards for eternity but never take one another. I know this because of many happy days as a child playing checkers with my brother. We would sit there and move those pieces back and forth for what seemed like hours until someone admitted defeat. Thusly we added another level to the game of checkers, a stamina / endurance / denial level that I feel can be justly credited with the person I am today.
Something interesting I learned during the course of this review is the fact that Checkers has been solved. What does that mean? It means that there is a way to play a perfect game, and it also means that if you set the game on the highest difficulty setting, you'll never be able to beat the computer. Never. Don't believe me?
