Checkers/Draughts Variants

A comparison of American/English, Brazilian, and International checkers/draughts rules.

Rule	American / English	Brazilian	International
Board	8×8	8×8	10×10
Pieces per side	12	12	20
Men move	1 diagonal square forward	Same	Same
Men capture backward	No	Yes	Yes
Kings	1 diagonal square at a time	“Flying” kings: any distance diagonally	Flying kings
Capture required	Yes	Yes	Yes
If several captures exist	Any legal capture sequence	Must capture the maximum number of pieces	Must capture the maximum number of pieces
General character	Compact, relatively restrictive	International-style rules on a small board	Larger board and longer-range tactics

The easiest way to think about it is that Brazilian draughts is essentially International draughts compressed onto an American-sized 8×8 board. Brazilian and International both allow ordinary men to capture backward, use long-range flying kings, and enforce the maximum-capture rule.

American checkers, also called English draughts, is substantially different. Ordinary men only move and capture forward; kings move and capture only one diagonal step/jump at a time; and although capturing is compulsory, you do not have to choose the sequence that captures the most pieces.

There are many other variants:

• Russian draughts — 8×8; backward captures and flying kings, but no maximum-capture requirement.
• Pool checkers — 8×8; flying kings and backward captures, without International's maximum-capture rule.
• Spanish draughts — 8×8; flying kings, forward-only captures for men, and maximum-capture rules.
• Italian draughts — 8×8; short-range kings and strict capture priorities.
• Canadian draughts — International-style rules on a 12×12 board with 30 pieces per side.
• Turkish draughts — pieces move orthogonally rather than diagonally.
• Frisian draughts — 10×10; captures can be diagonal, horizontal, or vertical.

And Chinese checkers is not actually a checkers/draughts variant**. It belongs to a different game family and has no capturing.