Play Czech Checkers

How to Play Czech Checkers

Czech Checkers (Česká dama) is played on an 8×8 board with 12 pieces per side. White moves first. It is the national draughts game of the Czech Republic and belongs to the Spanish family of checkers: men move and capture forward only, while kings fly the full length of a diagonal. Its signature rule is absolute king priority — when both a man and a king can capture, the king's capture is the one you must play.

Rules

• Men move and capture diagonally forward only — no backward jumps
• Capturing is mandatory, and you choose freely between capture sequences — no maximum-capture rule
• The signature rule: if any of your kings can capture, you must capture with a king, not a man
• Kings are "flying" — they move and capture any distance along a diagonal
• A man that reaches the far row mid-capture stops there and crowns

Winning

Capture all opponent pieces, or leave them with no legal moves.

You can also play against a real opponent: hit Play Online to be paired with another player, or create a private game and share the link or code with a friend. No account needed.

Curious how the king-priority rule compares to American Checkers or the other national rulebooks? Our guide to checkers variants lines them all up side by side.

Want to get better? Read our Czech Checkers strategy guide, or browse every strategy lesson.