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Checkers Games for Kids

The game of checkers might appear to be very simple. In the traditional American-English version, players use 12 checkers on an eight by eight grid trying to capture opposing pieces. Landing in your opponent's row closest to where he is sitting allows your checker to be "kinged," which is the only way a piece has the ability to move backward in checkers. Non-kings may only move forward. Once your child has learned the basic game, there are other variations with rules unique to each variation.

Suicide Checkers
- Teach your children that it's okay to lose pieces when playing checkers. In suicide checkers, the goal is to lose all your pieces before your opponent loses his. Instead of trying to capture your opponent's pieces in this game, you want to leave your opponent with her only legal moves being to jump and remove your checkers. The first player to have all of his checkers removed from the board is the winner. If there are no legal moves left for either player and checkers remain on the board, the player with the fewest checkers remaining wins.
Italian Checkers
- In traditional checkers, the advantage of getting your checker to the other player's end of the board and becoming a king piece is the ability to move backward. In Italian checkers the kings have one other advantage: they can only be jumped and removed from the board by other king pieces. A standard checker piece that is not a king cannot jump over another player's king.
International Draughts
- You can teach your children the game of International Draughts, which is a version of checkers in which more pieces are used than the traditional game. Each player starts with 20 checkers instead of the standard 12 in English or American checkers. The game is played on a 10 by 10 playing grid instead of an eight by eight grid. In International Draughts, kings have the ability to move as many empty spaces as they wish in a single direction. Players are required to make the move that will capture the most checkers, and pieces that land in the opponent's last row to be "kinged" may not remain in that row if there is a legal backward jump they can make to capture another piece. This is the only time a non-king checker can move backward. That checker is not "kinged" though, because it did not finish in the opponent's last row. To be "kinged" it must land in and remain in the last row of the opponent.

Kids Games