Italian Draughts

The Italian draughts is a variant of the board game Draughts. It is a multiplayer strategy game played on a checkers board of 64 squares, black and white alternately with 24 pieces, 12 for each player. The left down square of the board on both sides must always be dark. The first Italian draughts Championship was organized in 1925.

Italian draughts rules

The game is played by two opponents each one on a side with his 12 pieces.

Moves of the pieces

1. The player with the white pieces makes the first move.
2. Alternately, players make one move at a time: white, black, white etc.
3. The pieces always move diagonally forward one square on the dark ones and when they reach the opposing last row they become kings.
4. The king is marked by putting another piece of the same color on top of it.
5. The king can move forward or backward always one square at a time.

Capturing rules

1. Simple pieces can jump only forward diagonally.
2. The lady can jump one square forward and backward, always diagonally.
3. In the Italian draughts, the capturing is mandatory. When you encounters a different colored piece, with a free square next to it, on the same diagonal line, you must take it by jumping over it.
4. After the first jump, if you still have another eligible piece to capture, you must take it and so on (up to a maximum of three opponent pieces).
5. The king can not be captured by simple pieces, they can be jumped only by another king.
6. If a player has to choose which captures to make, he must go with the option that let him capture the maximum opponent pieces.
7. If a player has two capturing options with equal number of pieces with either a man or king, he must do so with the king.
8. If a player has to capture an equal number of pieces with a king, in which one or more options contain a number of kings, he should go for the maximum number of kings eligible.
9. If a player has to capture an equal number of pieces (each sequence containing a king) with a king, he must capture wherever the king occurs first.

How to win the game

There are two possible results at the end of a game:

• Victory of one of the two opponents;
• The game is considered a draw.

A player wins when:

• The opponent has no more pieces to play with, or, has no possibility of making any legal move because all his pieces are blocked by his opponent.
• The opponent abandons by surrender.

A game is considered a draw when:

• The two opponents agree and decide to declare the game as a draw;
• The positions of the pieces on the board are repeated 3 times during the game, even if not consecutively (in some regulations 4 times).