How to play American Pool Checkers?

American Pool Checkers is a popular variant of checkers played in the southeastern parts of the United States and Puerto Rico. The game is a hybrid of International Draughts and English Draughts and VERY similar to both Russian Checkers and Brazilian Draughts. In this article, we will discuss the rules of American Pool Checkers.

The Board

The game is played on an 8x8 board with a double corner on the right of each player.

The Pieces

The pieces are called men, and they move diagonally one square forward left or forward right if the square is empty. When a man reaches the last row on the opponent's side and end its turn on it, it becomes a king.

Kings

Kings are flying kings, meaning that they can move in any number of spaces diagonally as long as the squares are unoccupied. However, they must stop before the first occupied square in their path if not capturing.

Capturing

A player can capture an opponent's piece by jumping over it diagonally, provided that there is an empty square beyond it. A player can capture multiple pieces in one turn as long as the piece being captured is in the same diagonal direction. If a player has a choice between multiple captures, they can choose which one to take. However, they must complete the capture sequence and cannot stop in a square where there are more pieces to capture.

Backward Capturing

If a man reaches the last row on the opponent's side and becomes a king, it can also make backward captures. Backward captures are made by jumping over an opponent's piece diagonally in any direction, as long as there is an empty square beyond it.

King Capturing

A king can capture an opponent's piece in any diagonal direction as long as the squares between the king and the opponent's piece are unoccupied. The king can stop on any square along the same diagonal.

Winning and Drawing

The game ends when one player cannot move any of their pieces or all their pieces are blocked. In either case, the opponent wins. A draw can occur if both players agree to it, the same position is repeated three times, or if one player has three kings while the other has only one king, and the player with three kings does not win within 13 moves.

American Pool Checkers is an exciting and challenging variant of checkers. With its unique rules and gameplay, it provides a fun and engaging experience for players of all levels. Whether playing casually or competitively, American Pool Checkers is a game worth playing.