Free Games Free Checkers Online, With No Time Limit
Most online Checkers has a clock on it. Someone decided that a board game invented for two people at a kitchen table needed a countdown, and now half the versions online will forfeit your game if you think too long about a jump.
Checkers here has no clock. Take a minute over a move, or take ten. Get up and make tea. The board waits.
Two ways to play
A short setup screen comes first. Choose a mode, then press Start Game.
Against the computer. Pick Easy, Medium or Hard. The computer replies straight away, so there is no waiting on either side.
Against a person, on the same screen. Two players, one tablet or laptop, taking turns. This is the mode most online Checkers has quietly dropped, and it is the one that suits a kitchen table or a visit from a grandchild.
There is also a Version choice, because Checkers is not one game everywhere. English rules are selected for you, which are the ones described below and the ones most people mean. Italian rules are the other option: there, an ordinary piece cannot capture a King, and when several captures are available you must take a specific one. Worth knowing the switch exists, and worth leaving alone unless you grew up with the Italian game.
The rules, if it has been a while
Checkers, also called Draughts, comes back quickly:
- Pieces move one square diagonally forward, onto an empty dark square.
- If an opponent’s piece sits diagonally in front of you with an empty square behind it, you jump it and remove it.
- Land in a position to jump again and you keep jumping, all in one turn. This is where games are won.
- Reach the far row and your piece is crowned a King, which can then move and jump backwards as well.
- You win by taking all your opponent’s pieces, or by leaving them with no legal move.
The one habit worth having
Beginners chase pieces. Stronger players think about the back row.
Keep your own back row intact for as long as you sensibly can, because an opponent who reaches it gets a King, and a King is worth roughly two ordinary pieces. Trade pieces when you are ahead in material and avoid trades when you are behind. Those two ideas alone win most casual games.
Playing it comfortably
The board and pieces are drawn large enough to read at arm’s length, with clear light and dark squares rather than a decorative pattern that makes the pieces hard to pick out. Tap a piece, then tap where it should go. On a phone or tablet, Focus mode clears everything else off the screen so the board has the whole display.
Nothing to install, no account, and no advertising over the board.
Other board games here
If you want something else two people can play at one screen, or a quick game against the computer:
- Four in a Row takes about three minutes and everybody already knows it.
- Dominoes against the computer, with big tiles that show both pips and numbers.
Both are on the board games page with Checkers.
Start a game of Checkers. No clock, no sign-up, nothing to download.