What Is Draughts? Rules, Pieces & Difference from Checkers
Two players, a chequered board, and twenty-four small discs facing one another across the dark squares. The scene has repeated itself in parlours, pubs and schoolrooms for centuries, and the game at the centre of it is draughts.
It is one of the oldest strategy games still played in its original form, and it remains a fixture among our traditional games for good reason. The rules are learned in a minute; the depth takes a lifetime.
If you are buying a set for a child, every wooden game within our board games is made and tested to meet UKCA and CE safety standards, so a first game of draughts can begin with no worry about the pieces themselves.
Where Did Draughts Come From and Who Invented It?
Draughts has no single inventor, and no founding date that historians can point to with confidence. What we can trace is a long line of ancestors played on gridded boards.
The earliest relatives appeared in the ancient world. A game called alquerque, played on a lined board with opposing rows of pieces, was recorded in the Middle East and later across the Mediterranean. It shared the central idea that still defines draughts: pieces advancing toward the enemy, capturing by jumping.
At some point in the medieval period, someone married alquerque's movement and capture rules to the familiar sixty-four-square chessboard. That marriage produced something very close to the game we play now.
Because the change happened gradually and in several places, there is no inventor to name. The game grew out of shared habits of play rather than a single flash of genius.
This slow, communal origin is part of what makes draughts so enduring. It was shaped by the people who played it, and refined over generations until the rules settled into the form carried by sets within our traditional games today. We have written more about these deep roots in our account of the history of draughts, Britain's oldest family game, for readers who want the longer story.
How Did Draughts Spread Across Europe and Reach Britain?
Once draughts had found its home on the chessboard, it travelled quickly. By the later medieval and early modern periods it was being played across France, Spain and the Italian states, each region adding small refinements to the rules.
The French called it jeu de dames, and it was in France that the compulsory capture rule took firm hold — the idea that if you can take a piece, you must. That single rule transformed the game from a gentle pastime into a sharp contest of foresight.
From the Continent the game crossed to Britain, where it was simply called draughts and played on the standard eight-by-eight board. It became a staple of ordinary life, found wherever people gathered to pass an hour.
Britain took to it so thoroughly that it earned a quiet place in the national character, sitting alongside chess as a game of patience and calculation. You can read how it settled into this role in our piece on the history of draughts, Britain's most underrated strategy game.
That shared heritage is why draughts and chess so often appear together on the shelf. Many households keep both, and our chess sets frequently stand beside a draughts board as the two classic tests of thinking at the table.
What Are the Rules of Draughts and How Many Pieces Do You Start With?
Standard English draughts is played on an eight-by-eight board, but only the thirty-two dark squares are used. That gives each game thirty-two playable squares across which every move is made.
Each player begins with twelve pieces, arranged on the dark squares of the three rows nearest them. With both sides set up, that makes twenty-four pieces on the board at the start of play.
Pieces move diagonally forward, one square at a time. Captures are made by jumping over an opponent's piece into the empty square beyond, and in the standard game a capture must be taken when it is available.
When a piece reaches the far side of the board, it is crowned and becomes a king, gaining the ability to move both forward and backward. A second piece is stacked on top to mark the promotion.
The aim is simple to state: capture all your opponent's pieces, or leave them with no legal move. Reaching that goal against a capable player is the hard part.
For a fuller walkthrough with examples, our guide to the draughts game covers setup and strategy step by step. A proper wooden set from our board games makes learning these rules far more pleasant than a flimsy folding board ever could.
Is Draughts the Same as Checkers or Are They Different Games?
They are the same game. Draughts and checkers are two names for one set of rules, played on the same board with the same pieces and the same aim.
The difference is geographical. Draughts is the term used in Britain and across most of the Commonwealth, while checkers is the name used in the United States and Canada. A player in Manchester and a player in Michigan would understand one another perfectly at the board.
There are regional variants with genuinely different rules — international draughts on a ten-by-ten board, for instance — but these are distinct versions, not a difference of name. English draughts and American checkers share the same eight-by-eight game.
The game's simplicity made it an unlikely landmark in computing. Arthur Samuel's draughts-playing programme, developed at IBM from 1952, was one of the earliest demonstrations of machine learning and is widely regarded as a milestone in the history of artificial intelligence.
The story reached a striking conclusion in 2007, when researchers at the University of Alberta announced in the journal Science that English draughts had been solved: with perfect play on both sides, the game always ends in a draw. A game simple enough for a child had resisted a full solution until computers caught up with it.
None of which dims the pleasure of a real match. It remains a fine choice for an evening of family game night in the UK, and a lovely first strategy game among our wooden toys.
Why Is the Game Called Draughts in Britain but Checkers Everywhere Else?
If draughts and checkers are the same game, why the two names? The answer lies in the English language itself, which drifted apart on either side of the Atlantic.
The British name comes from the old word for the act of drawing a piece across the board — a draught, in the sense of a pull or a move. Over time the game simply took its name from the action at its heart.
The American name comes from the board. A chequered pattern of light and dark squares is a checkerboard, and the game played upon it became checkers. One nation named the game after the move; the other named it after the surface.
Both names are centuries old and both are correct. Neither is a mistake, and neither is more authentic than the other — they are simply the vocabulary of different places.
For British players, draughts remains the natural word, carried through generations of families who learned it at the kitchen table. That continuity is part of its charm, and part of why it still deserves a place beside chess rather than being left to gather dust.
A well-made set is the surest way to keep the tradition alive. Whether as a gift tucked into a Christmas Eve box for a five-year-old or a lasting addition to our traditional games shelf, draughts rewards the people who sit down to play it.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Is Draughts The Same As Checkers
Is draughts the same as checkers?
Yes, draughts and checkers are the same game. The name 'draughts' is used in Britain and most of the Commonwealth, while 'checkers' is the term preferred in the United States and Canada. The rules of standard English draughts and American checkers are identical: two players compete on an 8×8 board, each starting with 12 pieces, moving diagonally and capturing by jumping. Despite the different names, players from either tradition are playing exactly the same game.
How many pieces do you have in draughts?
In standard English draughts, each player starts with 12 pieces, giving a total of 24 pieces on the board at the beginning of the game. One player's pieces are typically light-coloured and the other's dark. The pieces are arranged on the dark squares of the three rows closest to each player. When a piece reaches the opposite end of the board it is crowned, becoming a king with enhanced movement.
Where did draughts originate?
Draughts has ancient roots, with early forms of diagonal board games discovered in archaeological sites across the Middle East and Mediterranean world. A precursor game played on a board resembling draughts was found in ancient Egypt. The game evolved considerably through mediaeval Europe, where the familiar diagonal-capture rules and the chequered board became established. By the 12th century, a recognisable form of the game was being played in France before spreading across the rest of Europe.
Who invented draughts?
No single inventor of draughts is recorded. The game developed gradually over centuries, with early diagonal board games traceable to ancient Egypt and the Middle East. A significant step came in 12th-century France, where players began combining the movement rules of an older game called Fierges with the board used for chess, creating a form much closer to the draughts played today. The game then spread and was refined across Europe over subsequent centuries rather than being invented by one person.
When was draughts invented?
A recognisable form of draughts is believed to have emerged in France around the 12th century, when diagonal movement and capturing rules were applied to a chequered chess board. However, ancestral games sharing similar principles have been traced back thousands of years to ancient Egypt and the wider Mediterranean region. The standardised rules of English draughts as played today were codified much later, during the 18th and 19th centuries, when formal competitions and rule books began to appear.
Is draughts a British game?
Draughts is closely associated with Britain, and the word 'draughts' is the standard British and Commonwealth term for the game. However, the game itself did not originate in Britain; it evolved in France during the mediaeval period before spreading across Europe, including to Britain. British players did play a significant role in standardising the rules of English draughts and establishing competitive play. The game is popular worldwide under various names, most notably 'checkers' in the United States and Canada.
Why is it called draughts?
The word 'draughts' derives from the old verb 'to draw' or 'draught', referring to the act of moving or drawing a piece across the board. This terminology reflects mediaeval English usage in which making a move in a board game was described as taking a draught or draw. The plural form acknowledges the sequence of moves that make up the game. In contrast, the American name 'checkers' refers to the chequered board on which the game is played.
What is the difference between draughts and checkers?
Draughts and checkers are the same game; the difference is purely one of language and geography. 'Draughts' is used in Britain and most of the Commonwealth, while 'checkers' is used in the United States and Canada. Both terms describe the same standard game: two players on an 8×8 board, each with 12 pieces, moving diagonally on dark squares and capturing by jumping. Rules, board, and piece counts are identical, so a draughts player and a checkers player can compete without any adjustment.
How old is the game of draughts?
In its modern form, draughts dates to around the 12th century when a recognisable version developed in France. Ancestral diagonal board games, however, are considerably older, with archaeological evidence pointing to similar games in ancient Egypt thousands of years ago. The standardised rules of English draughts were established during the 18th and 19th centuries. In 2007, researchers at the University of Alberta announced in the journal Science that English draughts had been computationally solved, meaning perfect play by both sides always ends in a draw.
What board do you play draughts on?
Draughts is played on a standard 8×8 board — the same board used for chess — giving 64 squares in total. However, only the 32 dark squares are used during play; pieces move and capture exclusively on these dark squares and never occupy the light ones. Players sit on opposite sides, and each arranges their 12 pieces on the dark squares of their nearest three rows at the start of the game, leaving the two central rows empty.