Draughts, in every name it goes by
Draughts
One game, thirteen national codes — from the 10×10 international board to Turkish dama on all sixty-four squares.
The tournament code: a 10×10 board, twenty men a side, flying kings and the majority-capture rule.
Jugar contra el ordenadorFanorona
Madagascar's national game, where a piece captures by moving towards a line of enemies — or away from it.
The full game on the 5×9 board: twenty-two pieces a side, approach and withdrawal captures, and chains that clear half a rank.
Jugar contra el ordenadorAlquerque
The mediaeval ancestor drawn in Alfonso X's book of games — the board every European draughts code grew out of.
Twelve pieces a side on a lined 5×5 board: steps forwards and sideways, and every jump that is offered must be taken.
Jugar contra el ordenadorSurakarta
From Java, the only game in the family where a piece captures by travelling around a loop rather than over an enemy.
Six by six, twelve pieces a side, and captures made by riding a corner arc all the way round onto an enemy.
Jugar contra el ordenador
What is draughts?
Draughts is a family, not a game. Every code on this site moves men diagonally and takes by jumping, and after that they disagree about everything: how far a king may fly, whether you must take the longest line, whether a man may capture a king at all. Fanorona and Surakarta capture without jumping at all.
One family, many boards
Alquerque begat draughts; draughts spread and split into national codes; Fanorona and Surakarta answered the same question — how do you take a piece? — in ways Europe never thought of.