Moroccan Checkers Rules
Moroccan Checkers (Dama) plays on an 8×8 board with flying kings and forward-only men. Maximum capture is mandatory. It is the North African branch of the Spanish family, played in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia — but unlike Spanish, it has no most-kings tiebreak.
Play Moroccan Checkers free →The Board and Setup
The game uses an 8×8 board and only the 32 dark squares. Each player has 12 pieces (men) on the dark squares of their three nearest rows. The board sits in the mirrored orientation of the Iberian game: the double corner is on each player's left, so the near-left corner square is light. White moves first, then players alternate.
Moving
- Men move one square diagonally forward to an empty dark square.
- Men capture diagonally forward only — a man may not jump backward.
Capturing
- You capture by jumping over an adjacent enemy piece into the empty square beyond it.
- Capturing is mandatory, and multi-jumps continue until no further capture is possible.
- Maximum capture: when several capturing sequences are available, you must take the one that captures the most pieces.
- No most-kings tiebreak: when two or more sequences capture the same number of pieces, any of them is legal — the choice is yours. (This is the one rule that sets Moroccan apart from Spanish, which forces the line capturing more kings.)
- Captured pieces are removed only after the full jumping sequence is complete, so you cannot jump the same piece twice in one turn.
Flying Kings
A man promotes to King when it reaches the far row. If a man lands on the far row in the middle of a capture sequence, the sequence ends there and the man crowns — the new king can only be played after the opponent has moved. Kings are "flying": they move any number of empty squares along a diagonal, and they capture by jumping an enemy piece from a distance — forward or backward — and landing on any empty square beyond it along the same diagonal.
How to Win
Capture all of your opponent's pieces, or leave them with no legal move. Draws occur by threefold repetition or when no progress (no capture or man move) is made for 40 moves by each side.
Browse more games in our guide to checkers variants and the rest of the strategy lessons.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who moves first in Moroccan Checkers?
White moves first, then players alternate turns.
Is Moroccan Checkers the same as Spanish Checkers?
Almost. Both use forward-only men and flying kings on a mirrored board, but Moroccan uses plain maximum capture with no most-kings tiebreak, while Spanish breaks equal-length ties by the number of kings captured.
Can a man capture backward in Moroccan Checkers?
No. Men move and capture diagonally forward only.
Is capturing mandatory in Moroccan Checkers?
Yes, and you must take the line that captures the most pieces (maximum capture).
What happens when a man reaches the far row mid-capture?
The sequence ends there and the man crowns; the new king can only be played after the opponent has moved.
How do kings move in Moroccan Checkers?
Kings are flying: they move any number of empty squares along a diagonal and capture from a distance, forward or backward.
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